Discussion about starting a Stake Religion Class in our stake while the Church has cancelled all meetings

14 April 2020

Brethren,

I will support your decision. 

When we’re coming out of the blocks with something new like this class, we want all the positives we can gather to appeal to as many members as possible…to give them as many reasons as possible as to why they’d want to attend; and therefore gain momentum for future growth by creating a buzz among members. (President Nelson has proven to be a master at creating a buzz in the Church.)

As wonderful as the Teachings of the Presidents are, if anyone perceives it as a “rerun” that’s a negative.

I encourage you to consider a compromise approach: use the Cornerstone Course “Foundations of the Restoration.” You can easily select and focus on 8-10 of the chapters including The First Vision, Doctrine of Revelation, The Prophet Joseph Smith—a Choice Seer, The Book of Mormon—the Keystone of our Religion, Jesus Christ our Divine Redeemer, etc.

That way we are offering a class with teachings that are timely to the Bicentennial and at the same time we can tell members we’re drawing from course material that used to be taught exclusively at BYU, but is now available to all members. That removes the potential  of a negative and maybe even create a buzz.

Again, I will support your decision. I appreciate so much you moving this forward so quickly and wanting to launch the class in 10 days. Thank you!

Your prompt action is much appreciated because, as  you know, governments are already taking about reducing the social distancing. I feel there’s a fair chance we’ll be able to gather again by late June. Whenever it happens, we will be watching closely as to whether we gained enough momentum for a Stake Religion Class to carry on into the summer and possibly fall. 

Thanks for all you’re doing to provide another opportunity for the members of our stake to connect with each other and become more converted.

Crismon