From Kathy K. Clayton’s book ‘Teaching to Build Faith and Faithfulness’:
Teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves. “Joseph Smith’s oft-quoted explanation of his theory of governance has long been a mantra most members of the Church can recite in their sleep. The energetic front-loading of instruction and subsequent letting go of control that Joseph Smith’s commitment implies is both more challenging and more liberating than it may sound initially.
We might nervously wonder,
- How old must our students or children be, to be trusted to successfully understand and apply correct principles?
- Isn’t there a risk that they will make poor choices?
- Don’t we as teachers and parents have a responsibility to be sure they don’t mess up?
- What principles are the important ones?
- Are we sure we can trust their young judgment to get it right?
Some possible answers to those important questions might be:
- Not very old.
- Yes.
- Only if we want them to be spiritually immature and dependent forever.
- First, how to seek heavenly help with the questions of their lives, and then any other principles that apply to their personal needs.
- No, but we can most definitely trust their Father in Heaven’s judgment and His willingness to help them (and us) get it right if they (and we) do it His way.
Young People Have Their Own Questions
Some years ago I was called to serve with a marvelous group of young women who lived surrounded by the rich influence of the Church. Almost all of them had been baptized at age eight and lived in homes where both parents and all of their siblings were members of the Church. I was new to the area and didn’t know those young women well, but I immediately admired their bright, eager desire to do and be good.
As the other youth leaders and I sought to know the will of heaven for those young women to help direct our efforts with them, it occurred to us that those girls had been blessed with the good fortune of being engulfed in a warm current that had carried them comfortably forward. Their need to develop strong spiritual self-reliance had been mitigated by the positive current of their circumstances. They could generally pretty comfortably coast on faith and solid traditions of their families and community. We wanted those young women to develop strong faith of their own so that when the inevitable vicissitudes of life sought to pull them under, they would have solid, proven strokes to depend upon to propel them safely to shore. We wanted them to know how to swim in deep water without depending too much upon the life rafts that had been their fortunate inheritance.
As if to confirm the rightness of our vision for those girls, a situation soon emerged that provided the perfect opportunity for them to deepen their spiritual self reliance by learning correct principles and applying them to govern themselves.
It was summer. The swimsuit season was in full tilt and those young women and others like them were making decisions about how covered or uncovered they would be at the pool. Wanting to include their leaders in the emerging debate, one young woman asked us, “So what is the real, official position of the church on two-piece swimsuits? We really want to be obedient, but everybody says different things. Just tell us and we will do it.” ~Kathy K. Clayton, Teaching to Build Faith and Faithfulness (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2012), 119-120. . . .continued
