That the Lost May Be Found Lesson
Plan
1. Write the title
of the lesson on the board. Ask the
sisters what they think the lesson will be about from the title. Write all the answers on the board.
2. Refer to a situation of when you were lost and how
scary it was. How did you find your way? Refer to the GPS and how handy it is.
3. Read together Luke, chapter 15. Break down the story and discuss who the
Savior was teaching, and then how he tells
of the effort of a shepherd searching for his lost sheep, of a woman searching
for a lost coin, and of the welcome received by the prodigal son returning
home. Why did Jesus teach these parables?
4. Tell the
story of talking to a missionary in Argentina.
He is in an area where there are 800 members and only 40 people will
come to church. Last month they had 5
baptisms. When asked about those
baptisms he referred to it as “Completing 5 families.” In this missionaries view, the missionary
work of finding the lost meant to complete families.
5.
Have
someone read quote #1 from
Elder Ballard’s talk: “Now, brothers and sisters, we have available to us a tool
even more remarkable than the best GPS. Everyone loses his or her way at some
point, to some degree. It is through the promptings of the Holy Ghost that we
can be brought safely back onto the right path, and it is the atoning sacrifice
of the Savior that can return us home .Being lost can apply to whole societies
as well as to individuals. Today we live in a time when much of this world has
lost its way,
particularly with regard
to values and priorities within our homes.”
6. Write the
word “families” in large letters over all the answers that you have written on
the board. Ask the sisters how they
think that families have lost their way?
7. Have someone
read quote #2: “One hundred years ago, President
Joseph F. Smith connected happiness directly to the family and admonished
us to focus our efforts there. He said: “There can be no genuine happiness
separate and apart from the home. … There is no happiness without service, and
there is no service greater than that which converts the home into a divine
institution, and which promotes and preserves family life. … The home is what
needs reforming”
8. Discuss and write on the board the statistics
from Elder Ballard’s talk: more
than half of births to American women under 30 occur outside marriage, among
couples in the United States who do marry, nearly half get divorced, those who
stay married often lose their way by letting other things interfere with their
family relationship, the gap between rich and poor,
9. Quote #3: “Equally worrisome is the
ever-growing gap between the rich and poor and between those who strive to
preserve family values and commitments and those who have given up on doing so.
Statistically, those who have less education and consequently lower incomes are
less likely to marry and to go to church and much more likely to be involved in
crime and to have children outside of marriage. And these trends are also
troubling in much of the rest of the world. Opposite of what many had thought,
prosperity and education seem to be connected to a higher likelihood of having
traditional families and values.
10. Ask the
sisters how does family life effect education, quality of life for children,
etc. What are the benefits of living in
the family unit?
11. Ask the
sister how do we keep from becoming lost?
Have someone read quote
#4: “So what can we do to not
become lost? First, may I suggest that we prioritize. Put
everything you do outside the home in subjection to and in support of what
happens inside your home. Remember President Harold B. Lee’s counsel that
“the most important … work you will ever do will be within the walls of your
own homes” Organize your personal lives to provide time for prayer and
scriptures and family activity. Give your children responsibilities in the home
that will teach them how to work. Teach them that living the gospel will lead
them away from the filth, promiscuity, and violence of the Internet, media, and
video games. They will not be lost, and they will be prepared to handle
responsibility when it is thrust upon them.
12. Write on the board the first step of “Prioritize with family
first.” Then write the next four steps
as they are discussed.
13. Elder Ballard’s
second step is “to do things in
the right order! Marriage first and then family.” He tells those who are not married to focus
on finding an eternal companion. He goes on to say “Young men, remember
something else that President Joseph F. Smith said: “Bachelorhood …
[carries] to the superficial mind the idea that [it is] desirable because [it
brings] with [it] the minimum of responsibility. …The real fault lies with the
young men. The license of the age leads them from paths of duty and
responsibility. … Their sisters are the victims … [and] would marry if they
could, and would accept cheerfully the responsibilities of family life” And to
you young women, I would add that you must also not lose sight of this
responsibility. No career can bring you as much fulfillment as rearing a
family. And when you are my age, you will realize this even more.” Discuss as a
group.
14. Have someone read quote #5 “Third,
husbands and wives, you should be equal partners in your marriage. Read often and
understand the proclamation on the family and follow it. Avoid unrighteous
dominion in any form. No one owns a spouse or children; God is the Father of us
all and has extended to us the privilege of our own family, which was
previously only His, to help us become more like Him. As His children we should
learn at home to love God and to know that we can ask Him for the help we need.
Everyone, married or single, can be happy and supportive within whatever family
you may have.” Discuss as a group.
15. Fourth, use the family resources of the
Church. What are the family
resources?
16. End with quote #6: Now, if
for any reason you individually or as a family have lost your way, then you
need only apply the Savior’s teachings from Luke, chapter 15,
to correct your course. Here the Savior tells of the effort of a shepherd
searching for his lost sheep, of a woman searching for a lost coin, and of the
welcome received by the prodigal son returning home. Why did Jesus teach these
parables? He wanted us to know that none of us will ever be so lost that we
cannot find our way again through His Atonement and His teachings. As you seek
to live the gospel and doctrine of Christ, the Holy Ghost will guide you and
your family. You will have a spiritual GPS to tell you always where you are and
where you are going. I bear witness that the resurrected Redeemer of mankind
loves all of us, and He has promised if we will follow Him, He will lead us
safely back into the presence of our Heavenly Father, of which I testify in the
name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bare your testimony if time.
