2011 Mutual Theme: We Believe - Thirteenth Article of Faith
- Theme Scripture
- Theme Analysis
- Clipart and Printables
- We Believe Theme, Youth Conference, and Camp Products
- Object Lessons and Activities
- Ideas for Every Month of the Year
- Music for the 2011 Mutual Theme
- Live Like You Believe Theme
- Mutual Articles, etc.
- Other Help
2011 Mutual Theme: We Believe (Thirteenth Article of Faith
The 2011 LDS Mutual theme is
"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men. Indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul: we believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."(Article of Faith 13)
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An Analysis of Article of Faith 13 for LDS Leaders
Unlike many of the past mutual themes, the Thirteenth Article of Faith is extremely long with many great keywords. Don't get bogged down with the wordiness of it all -- just prayerfully choose a few principles you'd like to emphasize with your youth. For me, I'd pick these words: believe, hope, endure, and seek.
To me, the Thirteenth Article of Faith is Joseph's idea of how a Mormon should behave or "How do Mormons express their belief in Christ in daily life" distilled into a few lines. It is heavily based on Philippians 4, The Admonition of Paul.
What is "the admonition of Paul"?
Joseph is referencing the part of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Saints at Phillipi in Philipians 4. In this chapter Paul encourages, or admonishes, the saints on how to live. One might say Paul is teaching the members the practical application of gospel principles. In other words, he's admonishing members to express their Christian belief in daily life.
We Believe Clipart and Printables
Marié A. shared the puzzle handout she used to teach her CTR class the first Article of Faith.
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Object Lessons and Activity Ideas
There are so many object lessons and LDS Youth activities related to this theme that we've decided to list them by title. Click on the title to read the full description of each object lesson or activity:
Breaking the Theme down by Month
Please note, this is not some sort of official schedule -- it's just my ideas on how I'd run with this theme.
- January/February - "We Believe" Theme Introduction. During the first two months of the year, I'd introduce the new theme during New Beginnings and stake kick-off events. Challenge youth to find more ways to learn what Joseph really meant when he wrote the thirteenth article of faith, instead getting bogged down in long lists of words.
- March - We believe in being honest. You could emphasize honesty with an honesty object lesson, or have a Bishop's Youth Discusssion or Fireside on honesty as relates to schoolwork.
- April - We believe in being true. What are some synonyms of the word true? Honor? Faithful? Steadfast? What do those words mean to you? What people in the scriptures were "true"? Read this article on being true by James E. Faust.
- May - We believe in being chaste. It seems like Prom Season would be the perfect time to talk about chastity! You can get some object lessons on chastity or dating/marriage activity ideas here.
- June - We believe in being benevolent. What does benevolent mean? How can we organize ourselves to do good? You might even move this up to March, since the first name proposed for the Relief Society was the Benevolent Society.
- July - We believe in being virtuous. Hey wait -- didn't Joseph already say we believe in being chaste? Remind youth that virtue is more than just chastity. You can use the Virtue Section of the new Personal Progress Website to plan activities that will fulfill Value Experience requirements.
- August - We believe in doing good to all men. Consider a service project. Here's a huge list of Fun LDS Service Projects.
- September - We believe all things. Mormons are a faithful people. What does it mean that we follow Paul's admonition to believe "all things"? See Phillipians 4:7-9.
- October - We hope all things. Link the word hope to Alma 32:21. What are the "things that are not seen which are true" that we hope for?
- November - We have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. Look up stories of those in your area or in church history who have endured for the Gospel's sake. You may choose to emphasize that endurance is more than just making it through a tough time. We want to endure our trials with patience and faith and hopefulness. Cross reference this phrase with Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."
- December - We seek after these things. This is the perfect opportunity to discuss making good use of our leisure time. Are the movies we watch, the songs we dance to, the books we read, the websites we frequent of "good report or praiseworthy"?
Jenny's Tip - The items above could be great starting points for mini-classes at Camp or Youth Conference!
Articles, etc.
Music for the 2011 Mutual Theme
- Jenny Phillips
- is producing her last "in-store" CD for the 2011 mutual theme. From now on you'll only be able to get her music from her website. You can download the entire album or tracks for We Believe - Songs for the 2011 Mutual Theme
- We Believe by Hillary Abplanalp - free MP3 download
- EFY 2002 - We Believe
- the 2002 EFY theme was We Believe. You can download the songs at iTunes
- Because I Believe
- another MP3 from iTunes by Jenny Phillips
- Believe in Me by Mary Noble Cavenee - from the Idea Door
Live Like You Believe
Live Like You Believe makes a great theme for a Youth Conference or activity. Follow the links below for ideas:
- Live Like You Believe
- is a song from Jenny Phillips that you can download from iTunes. I think it would make a WONDERFUL theme for youth conference.
- Jenny's also got Jenny Phillips Live Like You Believe Journal and Activities - has a lot of information that you might use for activities.
- And you may also like the script We Believe, also by Jenny Phillips.
- Try out my Live Like You Believe logo.
- And here's a link to the Mesa Camp: Live Like You Believe video.
REMINDER - This is Jenny Phillips' last year to sell her CDs and music through Deseret Book. I STRONGLY suggest that you sign up for her email list so that you don't miss out on any of her great time-saving ideas and music.
Mutual Theme Products
2011 Mutual Theme Ideas
If you've got a great idea on how to emphasize the 2011 mutual theme, please share it or comment below!
About the Author
Jenny Smith is a geek-wife and SAHM of 2 adorable kids. She likes tomatoes, peanut M&Ms, and Star Trek. But not necessarily at the same time.
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