The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
This week, the Church Educational System reiterated an important message in a fun way.
The original message was offered by President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, who, sitting with his wife, Sister Kristen M. Oaks, taught of the doctrinal significance of marriage and parenting and reiterated to young adults across the globe that dating precedes marriage.
In an effort to amplify that prophetic teaching, the Church Educational System invited each of its institutions — Brigham Young University, BYU–Idaho, BYU–Hawaii and Ensign College, even BYU–Pathway Worldwide and Institutes of Religion — to host a date night event, planning it in a unique way that would meet the needs of their students.
“We have so many young people now who are more connected than ever on Instagram, but they don’t talk to people in real life,” Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a General Authority Seventy and Church commissioner of education, told the Church News.
Throughout the last week, BYU, BYU–Idaho, BYU–Hawaii, Ensign College, BYU–Pathway and 15 of the larger institutes in the United States all hosted or participated in a date night event, prompting thousands of Latter-day Saint young adults to go on a date.
While Elder Gilbert said he realizes a one-night event won’t be “a silver bullet,” the hope is that it will be a catalyst to help re-instill a culture of dating.
And based on the impressive turnouts at the events, “If we were tracking the largest date night in the history of the Church, that maybe happened,” Elder Gilbert said. “But what was more important is we are teaching principles of “The [Family] Proclamation”, principles of the family and amplifying a message from prophets.”
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
