New Duty to God Program
The LDS Church just came out with a NEW Duty to God Program. I’m just now starting to read through the requirements. The New DTG booklet is way different than the old booklet. As I read through the requirements, I’ll let you know if the similarities and the differences.
The first major difference I found was that all 3 sections of the Duty To God program are all bound together. There are no longer 3 separate books. The Deacons, Teachers and Priests sections are all bound together by a spiral binding. So, each young man will have one book for all 6 years of his Aaronic Priesthood years.
The Deacons Duty to God section is split up into 3 categories. Spiritual Strength, Priesthood Duties, For the Strength of Youth. In each category there are requirements to follow. For example for the Spiritual Strength category there are 3 requirements which include a “Learn” section, “Act” section, and “Share” Section. At the end of each category, there is a “Review” section that allows the Young Man to talk about what they have learned while working on these items in their lives. For example, the first requirement is entitled “Pray and Study the Scriptures”. The Deacon is then given several scriptures to read and advised to make a list of words and phrases that describe how he should approach studying and what blessings will come from studying the scriptures. He would then “ACT” and develop a habit of regular prayer and scripture study. There is a section where he can write down this goal. Then, at the end of this section the Deacon is invited to “Share” what he has learned with a family member of church leader to strengthen his testimony.
One of my first questions was, “What do we do with Aaronic Priesthood holders that are more than half way through the old program?” A number of questions just like this one have been answered in a memo that was sent out several months ago. This memo is also available on the LDS website. Here is the link to Commonly Asked Questions. In general, the answer is that young men can continue in the old program until the program has been fully implemented in their Ward or Stake. From what I understand, if they are close to finishing, they can continue with the old program and finish what they were working on and then move into the new DTG program. That is not the official church policy but it is what I understand. You will need to go to the DTG website to get the exact wording.
As I learn more, I’ll post more information.
hmmmm. I’ve taken the boys through cub scouting……mike takes them the rest of the way.
Its interesting to read the articles over the last week and hear the concerns of parents regarding the transition to the new Duty to God program. The concern I’ve heard most is “but he’s about half through the requirements, do we have to switch”. With this perspective, the program will continue to only be a list of items that a boy needs to check off as completed, and carry on with life.
But what if a different perspective was taken. What if we had the vision that we’ve been given NEW instruction, NEW Inspiration, and NEW Revelation. This revelation was given to us to help us grow our testimony, make us stronger in our faith, make us better sons, brothers, missionaries, and ultimately fathers. Would we be concerned about checking of “requirements”? Or, would we be racing to absorb as much as possible with what’s been given to us by the Lord’s servants?
It’s clear to me that for each of the areas of focus, there is no end point. There is no place to say that “your’re done”, other than the FSY Projects. But isn’t that like life where we can’t ever say we’re ever truly done?
I do agree that “requirements” are not normally part of everyday life. I think it will take some adjusting to get familiar with how the New DTG program will work. My guess is that it will be fairly difficult to get 12 year old boys to think about goals on their own and write them down. In my experience, it was hard enough to get the boys to plan activities around very specific requirements. I would imagine it will be even more difficult for them to think of activities that will help everyone in the quorum fulfill their individual goals. My guess is that the parents will need to be MUCH more involved than in the previous program. We will just have to see how that works out.