'You can teach'
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Drawing upon principles emphasized by President Boyd K. Packer and Elder L. Tom Perry in their conversation earlier in the broadcast, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland stood before a simulated class to demonstrate how to apply those principles in a classroom setting.
"We all understand that the success of the gospel message depends upon its being taught, and then understood, and then lived in such a way that its promise of happiness and salvation can be realized," said Elder Holland prior to leading the class.
Quoting the Lord's command to teach all nations and baptize in the name of the Father (Matthew 28:19-20), Elder Holland said, "What the Savior stresses in that passage is that however much there is to do in living the gospel — and there is much we're to do to live it — none of that can be accomplished until we've been taught those truths and have learned the way of the gospel."
Everybody is a teacher — the leader, the follower, the parent, the counselor, Elder Holland emphasized, quoting President Packer's comments.
"Inspired instruction in the home and in the Church helps provide this crucial element of nourishing by the good word of God. And the opportunity to magnify that call exists everywhere — fathers, mothers, siblings, friends, missionaries, priesthood and auxiliary leaders and teachers, classroom instructors, including our wonderful seminary and institute teachers.... In fact, in this Church, it's virtually impossible to find anyone who is not a teacher."
Elder Holland defined teaching as "our common task in this Church," and said it is a shared responsibility. "We are all children of God, and we must teach each other; we must help each other 'find the way."'
Preparing for any class is hard work, and it takes time, Elder Holland continued, and urged teachers to start thinking about and planning early for lessons they are to give.
Elder Holland encouraged teachers to avoid a temptation that almost every teacher in the Church seems to face, the temptation to cover too much material, to stuff more into the hour — or more into the students — than they can possibly hold."
He said that an unrushed atmosphere "is absolutely essential if you are to have the Spirit of the Lord present in your class.... Too many of us rush ... right past the Spirit of the Lord trying to beat the clock in some absolutely unnecessary footrace."
Leaving the desk where he was sitting, Elder Holland then strolled to a classroom created at Church headquarters.
"Watch and listen for new ideas," he said, "things that may come to only you. And it may not have anything to do with what we're saying. But that's how the Spirit works. Be open to promptings about how you can teach. And remember, you can teach. You can do this."
Elder Holland opened his comments by using scripture and class discussion to assure that anyone called to teach, despite weaknesses and inexperience, can teach.
"I think there is a little temptation for us to deny," Elder Holland said after quoting from Moroni 10. "We kind of hang back. When a call comes, or we're to face a classroom — and that's a pretty intimidating experience for any of us — I think there's something in us that just says, 'I can't do this, and I'm going to deny...that the gift can come;...that the gift is mine. I'm going to, in a sense, deny the authenticity of the call.'...And what Moroni says here is, 'Deny not the gifts of God, for they are many."'
Elder Holland referred to the New Testament to find a "declaration repeated more than almost any other in all of scripture...."
After quoting Matthew 7:7 from the Sermon on the Mount, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," Elder Holland said, "I love the crisp, clear, declarative spirit of that promise. If we ask, we'll receive, and if we knock it'll be opened. We can do this."
Elder Holland continued the discussion emphasizing five key points to effective teaching in the Church.
1. Ask, seek and knock spiritually. This is the most fundamental requirement for a teacher in seeking this gift that God has promised.
"Let Heavenly Father do His job in speaking through us," he said.
2. Teach from the scriptures. "I don't think that we can overstate this or overestimate this in our role of teaching in the Church. Obviously, because the very substance of the gospel, the scriptures themselves, are the things that we are being called to teach."
3. Teach by and with the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord is the real teacher.
4. Help the learner assume responsibility for learning. What do you do when you come to a class cold, and there isn't much going on — where somebody just says by body language, "I defy you to teach me." Answering this dilemma, he said, "Maybe you can't teach them yet, but you can love them. And if you love them today, maybe you can teach them tomorrow.... We can love them from start to finish, and miracles will happen."
5. Testify. Elder Holland told of William E. Barrett who was among a rambunctious Sunday School class of 15-year-olds. An elderly Danish brother with a heavy accent was called to teach the class. "This man reached into the hearts of those rowdy 15-year-old kids, and changed their lives. And Brother Berrett's testimony was, 'We could have warmed our hands by the fire of his faith."'
Elder Holland counseled teachers: "Avoid self-serving performance and vanity. Don't try to dazzle everyone with how brilliant you are. Dazzle them with how brilliant the gospel is.... Worry a little more about the location of your student, what's going on in his heart, what's going on in her soul, the hunger, sometimes the near-desperate spiritual needs of our people. Teach them. And, above all, testify to them. Love them. Bear your witness from the depths of your soul. It will be the most important thing you say to them in the entire hour, and it may save someone's spiritual life."
In conclusion, he said, "I testify and I bear witness of love. I testify that this is true, and I know God loves us. And I know that in part because I love you, and I love the experience of teaching and pray that we'll be better at it."
