How Church Education Is Part of Preparing the World for the Savior’s Second Coming

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This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media. 

By Rachel Sterzer Gibson, Church News 

During the most recent general conference, Church President Russell M. Nelson declared that now is the time for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and make discipleship their highest priority.

“My dear brothers and sisters, in a coming day, Jesus Christ will return to the earth as the millennial Messiah. So today, I call upon you to rededicate your lives to Jesus Christ,” he said.

“I call upon you to help gather scattered Israel and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord. I call upon you to talk of Christ, testify of Christ, have faith in Christ and rejoice in Christ.”

Looking to the future with characteristic optimism, the Lord’s Prophet assured Latter-day Saints, “The best is yet to come, my dear brothers and sisters, because the Savior is coming again. The best is yet to come because the Lord is hastening His work. The best is yet to come as we fully turn our hearts and our lives to Jesus Christ.”

In a recent interview with the Church News, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of the Prophet’s call and said that the Church’s rising generation is essential to that work.

Listen to this related podcast from the Church News Episode 218: Elder Christofferson, Elder Gilbert on the Church Educational System

The youth and young adults of the Church “have a crucial role to play in all that is happening in the Lord’s plan in this dispensation,” Elder Christofferson said, “and as we are hastening toward the end, toward the conclusion of that, they are crucial. Their role is crucial. Individually, each one matters, and it is not just for what they are contributing, although that is crucial and vital, but it is because they have infinite worth. Every one of them.”

Elder Christofferson, who serves as the chairman of the executive committee of the Church board of education, said he becomes energized with his contact and association with the young people of the Church and sees the good they are doing in the world.

“The Lord is doing something powerful,” agreed Elder Clark G. Gilbert, General Authority Seventy and the Church commissioner of education. “He’s hastening the work, and one of the ways He’s doing it is through the future of this Church, which are youth and are young adults, and it’s inspiring to see what’s happening in their lives.”

Both Elder Christofferson and Elder Gilbert spoke with the Church News of their confidence in the rising generation and the Church’s ongoing commitment to both their spiritual and educational growth.

Young Adults in the Church Buck the Trends

A common narrative in national media is that today’s young adults, colloquially known as Generation Z, are losing interest in spirituality and organized religion, as well as higher education. Campuses across the country are reporting declining enrollment.

“But in the Church and in the Church Educational System, we are seeing the opposite. The trends are all upward, and there are various reasons for it,” said Elder Christofferson.

As indicators, Elder Gilbert cited a growth in both seminary and institute and participation in Church education.

This year, seminary reported the highest percentage of youth registered and attending in the history of the Church, he said. A year ago, the Church News reported on how over the last two years, institute enrollment has grown by over 57,000 students. Between the ages of 18 and 30, 95% of Church-attending young adults will also attend institute.

Some might argue that the growth is only happening in Africa, where BYU–Pathway Worldwide is growing at “amazing” rates, Elder Gilbert said. “But it’s right here in the U.S. institutes — the University of Utah, Arizona State, the institutes in the U.S. are growing.”

At the same time, this past fall, every single Church university had record enrollment rates, Elder Gilbert reported.

In October, BYU–Idaho welcomed the largest incoming class in the school’s history — 24,111 campus-based students, roughly 3,500 more students or a 3.4% increase over enrollment last fall. In a news release on October 16, Ensign College reported a 4.5% increase in on-campus enrollment in fall 2024 over last year — its sixth consecutive semester of growth.

Young people want safe havens to practice their faith, Elder Gilbert said. “They want a place where their values and their belief can be reinforced, and they can safely grow in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Elder Christofferson noted that half the workers in the Rexburg Idaho Temple are students at BYU–Idaho. “That is just one indicator that shows you what is happening in their spiritual lives.”

The Lord is working with and through them, he said. “It is a generation, I think, that is more and more attuned to the holy life and to the whole plan of life as our Heavenly Father has established it. They are reacting to it in a very, very positive way.”

Youth and Young Adults Are a Priority to the Church

The youth and young adults of today are smart and are looking for ways to strengthen a relationship with Jesus Christ, Elder Gilbert said. “And we’re trying to respond with resources.”

The Church Educational System — which comprises Brigham Young University in Provo, BYU–Idaho in Rexburg, BYU–Hawaii in Laie, Ensign College in Salt Lake City and BYU–Pathway Worldwide as well as seminaries and institutes across the globe — serves about 1 million students.

In his remarks to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in 2022, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles noted that the Church contributes more than $1 billion each year to education.

The Church also offers EnglishConnect, a program to teach English, and Succeed in School, a new program primarily found in Africa but growing in other areas of the world that offers basic skills mentoring — reading, writing, math — to students after school.

The First Presidency also approved changes to the seminary curriculum that will roll out globally in January. New life preparation lessons will help better prepare youth for the complexities of the modern world by teaching topics such as mission, temple and college preparation; scripture study skills; emotional resilience and other life skills.

But besides providing physical resources, the Church is striving to support the spiritual needs of young people, said Elder Christofferson.

For example, earlier this year, Elder Christofferson spoke at the Red Mountain Institute of Religion near Mesa, Arizona. “I was just blown away with the numbers that were there when we had a devotional. They filled the chapel, the classrooms and the hallways, it seemed like. But there was an energy there, great, vibrant energy and spiritual energy, and it was a highlight for me. I will never forget that experience.”

Later he also spoke at the institute adjacent to Weber State University and then Snow College. During a week in September, five members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke in the same week to different young adult audiences.

“The commitment from the Quorum of the Twelve to this generation is exceptional,” Elder Gilbert said, adding, “And the young adults feel it. They feel they are a priority, and they want to be around prophets, seers and revelators. The response to these devotionals has been remarkable.”

Watch this related Church News video. Video: Elder Christofferson challenges narrative, says Spirit working in youth

The rising generation is a priority, Elder Christofferson agreed. “We are devoting … a lot of resources, financial and so forth, but I think the most important are the spiritual resources, responding to the spiritual needs and desires that we see there.”

There are many unique challenges facing young people today. “What they’re facing is hard, but the Lord is pouring out blessings, resources and His Spirit in unprecedented ways,” Elder Gilbert said. “And we see that happening, and it’s inspiring.”

Elder Christofferson said he hopes the younger generation feels “how much we care about them, how much we are working to help them and what we are investing — every kind of resource, including time and prayer and tears and love and everything that we can bring to pass.”

However, these manifestations of concern, care, interest and love are just a fraction of what Heavenly Father feels for them, Elder Christofferson said, “and the Savior who gave His life for [them], and the Holy Spirit who can and wants to be with [them] continually. Those things are real. Those are the basic fundamental truths of our existence.”

Related Articles

• President Nelson calls upon Latter-day Saints to ‘rededicate your lives to Jesus Christ’ and prepare for His Second Coming
• What an increase in institute enrollment says about the rising generation

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