Church Magazines’ New Series to Highlight For the Strength of Youth Standards

The Young Men and Young Women general presidents are introducing the series in this month’s issue of the Liahona and New Era, and the series will appear in both magazines each month thereafter, excluding the May and November issues.

Each of the other 10 months, a different standard in the booklet will be featured in an article authored by a member of the Young Men or Young Women general presidencies or a member of the Seventy.

Each article will also be accompanied by specific experiences of youth around the world pertaining to For the Strength of Youth, For this reason, the Church magazines are soliciting content from youth.

Young women and young men around the world are encouraged to submit their stories or experiences in living the standards from For the Strength of Youth to the Liahona or the New Era through their websites or by e-mail at NewEra@ldschurch.org. Youth can also share brief experiences by leaving comments at youth.lds.org by clicking on For the Strength of Youth under Youth Menu, clicking on one of the 19 standards, and clicking on Share Your Experiences. Church members ages 12 to 18 can log in with their LDS Account username and password and share their experiences.

Although the new series will mainly target youth, the standards apply to members of all age groups in the Church, as Ann M. Dibb, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, recently taught.

“One of the greatest ways we can arise and shine forth is to confidently obey the commandments of God. We learn of these commandments in the scriptures, from modern-day prophets, and within the pages of the booklet For the Strength of Youth,” she said during the 2012 general Young Women meeting. “Each of you should have your own copy. On my personal copy, I have circled the words for and you [the first three letters of youth], as taught to me by a respected friend. This simple act reminds me that these standards are not just general guidelines—they are specifically for me. I hope you will take the time to … read it cover to cover and feel the Spirit testify that the standards are for you as well” (“Arise and Shine Forth,” Ensign, May 2012, 117).

A one-page article for adults about how parents can teach that month’s standard to their children will be included in the Ensign each month. And, when the topics in For the Strength of Youth correspond with topics in My Gospel Standards for Primary children, there will also be an article for children in the Liahona and the Friend.

David L. Beck, Young Men general president, emphasized the significance of For the Strength of Youth for youth, parents, and leaders.

“It is our hope that these standards will be thoroughly studied in our homes and in Church classes, and that the principles taught in them will go down into the hearts of the youth of the Church,” he said.

To help the youth better understand and apply the standards in their lives, additional resources are provided online at youth.lds.org. Here, teens, their parents, and their leaders can find statements and articles by General Authorities on each standard, as well as videos, posters, questions and answers, experiences from youth, and other resources.