Surely one of the most interesting and fulfilling aspects of God’s work of salvation is the care and support of our Youth and Pillars.  A simple explanation of these two groups is that our youth range in age from fourteen years until nineteen years and our Pillars range in age of nineteen years until approximately thirty-five years of age.

The church endeavors to provide a nurturing culture for our young people, one where they can learn about and apply the gospel of Christ by using their many gifts.  Some examples might include our youth helping out in their local communities by feeding the less fortunate and volunteering their time for various community causes.  Many of our youth have wonderful musical talents and participate in church choirs and orchestras.  Others help out with teaching Sunday school classes and helping out in other ways in their congregations.  Together with the spiritual aspects of youth care are the many social activities that they participate in.  One look at a monthly youth calendar describes this perfectly.  Everything from camping trips to getting together at someone’s home for nacho’s and a games evening.

Importantly, our youth are not only the future of our church but today they help form the church of the future.  Please allow me to share with you an excerpt from our Chief Apostle.   Here he is addressing the youth at a convention in Australia.

My dear young Brothers and Sisters, it’s common to say you are the future of the church, but I would like to change that and be a bit more precise. You are not only the future of the church, today you are designing the church of the future and that’s important to know today… Today you decide how the church will be in the future. It will be as it is in your midst in the circle of the youth.

The way you love, the way you help, the way you forgive, the way you treat one another that’s the way things will happen in the future in the church. So I repeat it; please young Brothers and Sisters, be ambitious. We want the church to be better and greater, more holy and full of love in the future and that depends on you. But don’t worry you are not alone we pray for you and want to help you.

Reading this excerpt from the Chief Apostle is not only encouraging for our Youth and Pillars but causes all of us entrusted with youth/pillar care to realize, what an amazing responsibility we have.