On Oct. 24, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced nine women and men were newly called to serve on the Sunday School Advisory Council.
Three of the newly called leaders are BYU students: Sara Acosta (24), Isaak Camargo (22) and Fritz-Carl Morlant (24).
Church Newsroom explains “the leaders will assist the Sunday School General Presidency — President Paul V. Johnson; Chad H. Webb, First Counselor; and Gabriel W. Reid, Second Counselor — who are responsible for religious instruction in the Church.”
The Doctrine and Covenants explains that before they were born, leaders of the Church “received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord” (D&C 138:56) Now, in this calling, these leaders continue to receive and give training to help Church members worldwide “teach in the Savior’s way.”
Pointing to the "General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Acosta explained “the Sunday School helps accomplish God's work of salvation and exaltation, and it does this by helping God's children learn and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
“The Lord cares a lot about Sunday School. The purpose of it is to accomplish God's work of salvation and exaltation — that's how important it is," Acosta said. "It's not just that the Lord wants to entertain us from time to time when we learn something cool. But this is a way for us to reach salvation and exaltation, to become more like God, to become more like Jesus Christ.”
Acosta, who is studying linguistics with a Spanish minor at BYU, was first called by General Authority Seventy Elder David P. Homer. She said serving on this council as a young adult has helped develop her into a stronger disciple of Jesus Christ. She sees Him giving younger people more opportunities to serve.
“The Lord really wants young adults and even youth to be involved in the work. He wants them to participate and be active,” she said. “I have felt that the Lord feels that the young members of the Church are very, very capable — just as much as all of the other more experienced members. He really values their contribution, our contribution. So to me, it’s further evidence that the Lord has a lot of trust in us to be able to learn and serve in this kind of capacity.”
Morlant, who studies business and computer science at BYU, said having young adults on the council helps Church leaders know how to teach the younger generations.
“The council is representative of different experiences,” he said. “How do YSAs learn and teach, or what are some better ways to reach them, whether it is with communication or getting content to them.”
Camargo, a chemical engineering student at BYU, said in their regular meetings with the Sunday School General Presidency, they often talk about the application of principles taught in the Church’s handbook for teaching: "Teaching in the Savior’s Way."
“The principles in the handbook apply to teaching young women's [sic] and young men's [sic] and elder quorum and relief societies,” he said. “The Sunday School presidency in a ward or in the stake are responsible for teaching in all organizations, not just in Sunday School.”
Camargo wishes that people better understood how powerful "Teaching in the Savior’s Way" is.
“The book has a lot of resources and honestly, I feel like it's a very hidden secret. I feel like we sometimes know about its name, but I feel like a lot of times we don't take time to actually read it,” he said. “In the Gospel Library app, there's even video resources that you can watch like examples and a lot of other things as well.”
Acosta loves being able to serve with the Sunday School General Presidency. She feels they are “the Lord’s instruments.”
“I have just been amazed with how in tune the Lord's servants are with just what goes on,” she said.
Most importantly, Acosta explained the presidency members always go back to “God’s purposes.” Everything comes back to “that which matters the most, which is Christ’s doctrine.”
“They just always turn our attention back to Christ. That's really what it's all about. It's all about Jesus Christ and his doctrine and becoming deeply converted to Him,” she said. “Even just through their whole demeanor, they're constantly bringing the focus back to Christ and the purpose of the purposes of God. Even back to the eternal purposes of salvation and exaltation."