Church education plays a central role in developing disciples of Jesus Christ.

By Elder Clark G. Gilbert

Illustration by Emily Hansen

This is an exciting and inspiring time for the Church Educational System (CES). As total enrollments approach one million students, we’re in a season of growth and increased spiritual alignment for each of the six CES institutions: Brigham Young University (BYU), BYU–Idaho, BYU–Hawaii, Ensign College, BYU–Pathway Worldwide, and Seminaries and Institutes of Religion. Although they serve people with different educational needs, the CES schools share a common mission: “to develop disciples of Jesus Christ who are leaders in their homes, the Church, and their communities.” This mission is accomplished through unique learning environments that combine faith and reason, offer religion classes, and provide opportunities to participate in weekly devotionals.

In this special publication, we celebrate the power of these prophetically guided institutions of learning to help God’s children achieve their divine potential.

A Religious Responsibility

Our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, taught, “In the Church, obtaining an education and getting knowledge are a religious responsibility. We educate our minds so that one day we can render service of worth to somebody else.”¹ In a 2010 devotional, President Nelson also encouraged young adults, “Pursue your education as a priority of the highest order. Gain all the education you can. . . . Your personal intelligence—your personal identity—is everlasting and divine. . . . Your mind is precious! It is sacred. Therefore, the education of one’s mind is also sacred.”² (Read the full address here.)

Involving the Lord in Learning

In For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices, we are taught: “Heavenly Father wants His daughters and sons to always be learning. . . . Involve the Lord in your efforts, and He will guide you.”³ When individuals involve the Lord in their education, He will take them places they could never imagine, providing opportunities for them to serve their families, the Church, and their communities.

A Place for Everyone

Because of the Lord’s love for young people, the Church invests significant resources into a diverse system of educational offerings. Each CES school or program is unique in its approach and in whom it is designed to serve. Rather than replicating the same model again and again, we seek to amplify each school’s distinctive strengths.

• Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah) is academically rigorous with selective admissions requirements.
• BYU–Idaho (Rexburg, Idaho), with small class sizes and an affordable tuition, has a central focus on teaching undergraduate students.
• BYU–Hawaii (Laie, Hawaii) largely serves students from Asia and the Pacific and cultivates intercultural unity.
• Ensign College (Salt Lake City, Utah) has an innovative curriculum that helps students along the Wasatch Front develop job-ready skills.
• BYU–Pathway Worldwide serves students around the world with affordable online offerings that help them build academic confidence.
• Seminaries and Institutes of Religion provides a spiritual complement and social connection for those who attend high school, non-Church higher-education institutions, or no school at all.
  

Learn how these different offerings relate to each other here or at cesinfo.byu.edu.

You Can Help

As a graduate of one or more of these Church Educational System entities, you play an important role in helping others develop into disciples of Jesus Christ through education. You can help your children, your grandchildren, and other youth and adults in the Church understand the eternal importance of education, witness of how the Lord helps His children in their educational efforts, and explain the options available through the Church Educational System. This magazine can help you do just that.

Thank you for your help as we extend the blessings of education even further. Like you, our Church leaders and those of us in the Church Educational System pray for the youth and young adults around the world. We are grateful to witness how the Lord is guiding students across CES to learn and fulfill their divine potential as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Elder Clark G. Gilbert is a general authority seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the commissioner of the Church Educational System. 

Notes 

1. Russell M. Nelson, “The Message: Focus on Values,” New Era, February
2013, 4.
2. Russell M. Nelson, “Education: A Religious Responsibility,” talk given at BYU– Idaho, January 26, 2010.
3. For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices (booklet, 2022), 31.