Sunday School, second hour, Fall 2026
Gospel Foundations
You are a child of God. You came here to receive a body, to be tested, and to become like Jesus Christ. This class is about the restored gospel that makes that possible, and about knowing it well enough to explain it to someone else.
Taught by Richard LeDuc and Brandon Huston. Twelve Sundays, 25 minutes each.
Show of hands: how far could you get?
Learn it. Understand why it matters. Share it.
Every principle we study this fall goes through those three steps. It is the order Preach My Gospel gives a missionary: obtain the word before you declare it, teach so people understand and can see the blessing, then testify and invite. Open any scripture to read it.
Learn what we believe
Preach My Gospel, chapter 10: "Seek to obtain my word"
"It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another."Joseph Smith, King Follett discourse, April 1844
"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge."Joseph Smith, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, chapter 22
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Understand why it matters
Preach My Gospel, chapters 10 and 11: teach for understanding, promise blessings
"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."Boyd K. Packer, "Little Children," October 1986
"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."Joseph Smith, Teachings: Joseph Smith, chapter 3
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Share it
Preach My Gospel, chapter 11: testify, invite, promise blessings
"The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear."Joseph Smith, the Wentworth Letter, March 1842
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How every Sunday works
Same shape every week, so you always know where we are. If you have watched missionaries teach, you will recognize it. Open a segment to see what happens in it.
Who did last week's invitation? What did you find?
A question much of the Christian world struggles to answer, and the restored gospel answers.
Two or three passages, read aloud by someone in the room. We find the doctrine in the text before anyone states it.
The principle we just found, stated plainly. Terms defined.
A short clip or story, one discussion question, and one sentence on how this changes your life.
What Catholics and Protestants believe about the same principle, in their own words, next to ours.
A testimony, one invitation with its promised blessing, and the sentence you could say to a friend.
Segment height matches its minutes.
This seven-part shape is our own way of teaching both manuals together each week. You will not find it printed in either book; it is how your teachers chose to pace the material, not a structure either manual specifies.
Across the Christian world
Here is what that segment looks like, using the question we open with next week: where does authority to act for God come from? Each column is that tradition's own answer.
Catholic
Christ gave Peter the keys; every bishop since stands in an unbroken line of ordination from him, so the Church has never lost its authority.
Matthew 16:18–19; Catechism 861–862
Protestant
Scripture is the final authority and every believer is a priest. Authority comes from properly believing in Jesus, not from anyone laying hands on your head. That is one of the least understood differences between Latter-day Saint theology and the rest of Christianity: most Protestants reject lineal, hands-on-head, passed-down authority entirely.
1 Peter 2:9; the Reformation, 1517 onward
Restored
Authority was lost after the apostles died and given back by heavenly messengers: John the Baptist in 1829, then Peter, James, and John.
Hebrews 5:4; D&C 13; 27:12–13
We won't knock anyone's faith. We will learn what our friends believe accurately enough to say it back to them, then say plainly what the Restoration adds.
The twelve Sundays
Open a lesson to see its page. Each week's page goes out the week before.
- Sep 6Today: what this class isThe purpose, the pattern, the twelve Sundays, and your first invitation.
- Sep 131Why a Restoration, and who holds the authority?Why are there so many churches, and if Christ built one, where did it go?
- Sep 20No class; stake conference
- Sep 272Who God is, and who you areIf God is a spirit "without body, parts, or passions," how am I made in His image?
- Oct 4No class; general conference
- Oct 113The plan, part 1: before birth, the Fall, and why you have a bodyWhere was I before I was born, and is my body a gift or a problem?
- Oct 18No class; both teachers away
- Oct 254The plan, part 2: why mortality, what comes after, and becoming like ChristIs heaven just being with God forever? Then what did Paul mean by "joint-heirs with Christ"?
- Nov 15The Atonement of Jesus ChristFaith or works: why has Christianity argued about this for 500 years, and what did Nephi actually say?
- Nov 86The doctrine of ChristWhy was Jesus baptized if He had no sins to wash away, and who had the right to do it?
- Nov 157Personal revelation: how truth is knownDid God stop talking when the last apostle died?
- Nov 228Scriptures, prophets, and the Book of MormonWho decided what went in the Bible, and why would God stop at 66 books?
- Nov 299Covenants, the Sabbath, and the sacramentWhat actually happens to the bread, and why does it matter who blesses it?
- Dec 610The temple, eternal families, and our ancestorsWhat happens to the billions who never heard of Jesus, and does "till death do us part" mean it?
- Dec 1311Becoming like Him: Christlike attributes, service, and sacrificeWhat does "be ye therefore perfect" mean if perfection is impossible?
- Dec 20No second hour; Christmas
- Dec 2712Inviting all: the Light of the WorldIf every church shares Jesus, what exactly are we inviting people to?
This week
Will you read Joseph Smith History 1:5–20 before next Sunday?
Notice what a fourteen-year-old was actually asking, and what he was told. Lesson 1 opens with it.
Read
The promise he acted on: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5)
Three quick questions
Try these after you read. Each week's page ends the same way.
How old was Joseph Smith when he went into the grove?
Which verse sent him there?
What was he told about the churches?