Two years ago our family took on a yearlong project that had quite an impact on us. At the time, our son was a high school junior and my youngest daughter was living at home attending college. We committed together to read and discuss “Jesus the Christ” by apostle James E. Talmage. This inspired book was written inside an office in the Salt Lake temple at the request of the First Presidency.
And just as you can’t eat an elephant in one meal, we started nibbling away at this project one bite at a time. There are 42 chapters in this book, so we read four chapters each month and then discussed those chapters the last Family Home Evening of each month. I bought paperback copies through Deseret Book. My kids did a lot of their reading on Sundays. It took us nearly eleven months, but what an amazing experience we had studying and discussing the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
I love this quote by Sister Julie Beck. I believe this is even more pertinent as our missionaries are leaving at an even younger age.
Easter would be a perfect time to begin this family project. (Something really meaningful for those baskets!) For families with teenagers, newlyweds, or empty nesters, it’s a simple but incredible addition for your Family Home Evenings. If you have kids of various ages, I would encourage you to find a way to do this with your teenagers, maybe on a Sunday evening (in addition to your regular FHE with the entire family). This project fits perfectly with this year’s youth theme: Come Unto Christ. Your youth can also use this as a 10 hour project for personal progress and a Duty to God goal. Celebrate the completion of the book with a really special dinner (maybe at Temple Square)!
I’d like to do this — do you know where I can find the broken down weeks/teaching materials of this please?
Hi Jen! Thanks for stopping by. There aren’t any teaching materials-or at least any that we used or have. There are 42 chapters, so we aimed to get 4 chapters in a month and then would set aside one Family Home Evening a month to discuss those 4 chapters. We would each talk about things that stood out to us or questions we still had. Good luck! It’s a great experience!!