Brandon Jackson raises money for orphans in Honduras. Pamela Hirwa of South Africa writes poetry. McKay Hatch started a “no cussing” club at his California middle school that has expanded to include tens of thousands of people worldwide. These young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are involved in very different activities, but they are all motivated by their faith. And now there is a redesigned website to help youth in their quest to follow Jesus Christ.
There are more than one million Mormons ages 12 to 17 who are trying to live faithful lives in a world that often does not share or even respect their beliefs and religious standards. Young Men president David L. Beck and Young Women president Elaine S. Dalton hope the revamped LDS.org youth website will provide tools and resources for youth, as well as their parents and leaders.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
“As young men learn about the standards of the Church and the doctrines of the gospel through the resources on this site, they will be inspired to act on what they have learned,” Brother Beck said. “The website also makes it easy for them to share the articles and videos with their friends, and it allows them to share the experiences they are having.”
Sister Dalton says the same is true for young women.
“On the youth website, young women can see that they aren’t alone in standing for truth and righteousness. Here they can see examples of other youth who are living the [Church] standards in For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and making a difference in the world,” she said. “With all the evil influences on the Internet, the youth website is a positive place where youth can go online and be uplifted.”
The site features a variety of content, including inspirational videos showing how Latter-day Saint teenagers like Brandon, Pamela, and McKay are serving others, developing their talents and sharing their faith.
New content will be added to the website every week, including videos, articles and resources designed to help young men and women learn more about basic Church doctrines. For example, there is a page for each of the standards explained in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet, such as dating, dress and appearance, sexual purity and media. These topic pages feature related videos, scriptures, articles and quotes from Church leaders.
Sixteen-year-old Sean Lambert of Kamas, Utah, says he is excited about all the content on the updated website.
“I like how easy it is to use. The format is really nice,” Sean said. “I think it will be a really good tool for the youth if they’ll use it.”
Sean’s mom, Deborah Lambert, says there are several things on the site that will help her in raising her teenage son.
“There are some good resources on there for starting a conversation,” Lambert said. “For example, there are articles on choosing your friends and dating. Those are topics I deal with. We can both look at those articles and then talk about it. It’s a good starting point to get a gospel discussion going.”
Both parents and leaders will find many useful things on the site to help Mormon teenagers, Sister Dalton said.
“The website is also a wonderful resource for leaders, with links to Personal Progress and Duty to God and countless articles and videos to help them teach the doctrines and standards of the Church,” she said.
Although the website is primarily focused on Mormon youth, there are several features that will appeal to people of all ages and faiths. For example, there are free music downloads from seminary videos, general conference and independent artists who donated their music. The site provides easy ways for visitors to share the content with their friends through e-mail or social media tools like Facebook and Twitter.
“A lot of youth want to share the gospel but don’t know how,” said Mike Madsen of the Church’s Curriculum Department, who helped develop the website. “This website provides the tools to help them have a dialogue with their friends.”
Sean Lambert said the resources on the site are definitely something he would share with his friends of all faiths.
“This would be a great thing to share with my friends,” he said. “If anyone has questions about the gospel, the question and answers section would be awesome.”
An application is also available to allow mobile phone users to quickly view the videos and use the tools on the site. The site is currently available only in English but will soon be translated into 10 languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German.