Brother Gabriel W. Reid, Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, admitted that shortly after he was sustained, he felt inadequate, overwhelmed, and completely out of his depth. He wasn’t alone in trying to make sense of it: a headline read, “New Sunday School Leaders Include Men Involved in Church Education and an NFL Player.” He smiles each time, grateful it didn’t share names, because I really hope people think I’m one of the educators. But the humor doesn’t quiet the feeling, “Lord, I love You, but do You really have the right person?” Perhaps we have asked, “Do I know enough? Am I good enough to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ?”
Reflecting on the Master Teacher, he noticed that “Often, as He invited someone to teach His gospel, He also gave them a promise.” To ordinary fishermen on the shores of Galilee, men with willing hearts but little experience, He said, “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” “He did not expect them to become master teachers before they followed Him. He promised that He would make them into who He needed them to be.” The sons of Mosiah, whose past was marked by rebellion, had changed hearts through the Savior’s redeeming power, and when they desired to teach the Lamanites, the Lord promised, “I will make an instrument of thee in my hands.” Wherever we teach, his promise remains the same. He will help us do his work.
“Before the Savior taught His disciples where to go and what to teach, He taught them who to become.” At the heart of discipleship is love. The two great commandments, to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor, become one simple invitation. Love the Lord and love those you teach.
His first gospel teachers were his parents. Their home village in American Samoa became his first classroom, where 13 children, two faithful parents, and often extended family learned and lived the gospel together. His father joined the Church as a young man; his mother had limited formal education, but together they possessed something far more important, a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ. “They loved the Lord with all their hearts, and because they loved Him, they loved us in a way that helped us love Him too.” Many lessons were simply caught by watching them. Faithful teachers in the little village chapel reinforced those truths, and many of his earliest Primary classes were held beneath the shade of a mango tree. His teachers prepared faithfully, but what I remember most is how they loved us. “The impact of a gospel teacher is not just the message—it is the love of the messenger.”
He and his wife served in the Australia Sydney Mission alongside more than 500 missionaries from over 30 countries. They learned that the surest way to truly love those they taught was to deepen our love for the one we taught about. When the resurrected Savior appeared in the Americas, He did not begin with a sermon to the multitude but by focusing on individuals, inviting each one by one to come unto Him (3 Nephi 11:14–15). Later He invited the people to go home and ponder. “We may say that ‘class’ had ended, but His love for the people had not.” Filled with compassion, He healed the sick, blessed their children, and prayed for them one by one (3 Nephi 17). “For the Master Teacher, every lesson was inspired by love for those He taught.”
The new Sunday schedule offers weekly opportunities to love and know those we teach. “Some may ask, ‘How can I teach everything in 25 minutes?’ Perhaps the better question is ‘How can I help those I teach connect to the Savior sooner?’” President Dallin H. Oaks taught, “A gospel teacher will never obscure [a learner’s] view of the Master by standing in the way.” “The purpose of every lesson is not for people to leave talking about the teacher. It is for them to leave thinking about and loving the Savior.” Twenty-five-minute lessons are not a limitation. They are an invitation to focus on helping others come to the Savior. “If class members leave the lesson feeling closer to the Savior than when they came, we have taught enough.”
If you are wondering whether you are good enough to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the answer is yes. Not because you know everything, not because you have every teaching skill, not because you always feel capable and confident, but because you can love the master teacher. Whether you see yourself as a scholar, an athlete, a lifelong disciple, or someone who has just started again, the invitation is the same. Come unto the master teacher. As we learn of Him and love Him, He helps us love those we teach. “To teach like the Savior, we must love like the Savior!”
