How to Study Come Follow Me
Come Follow Me was designed to be flexible - it works for a single adult studying alone, a couple reading together, and a family with children ranging from toddlers to teenagers. The key is not following the manual perfectly but engaging with the scriptures consistently. LDS Sunday School helps you go deeper in any passage so your Come Follow Me study is richer every week.
Start With the Scriptures, Not the Manual
The most common mistake in Come Follow Me study is opening the manual first. The manual is helpful, but it works best after you have read the passage yourself and formed your own impressions. When you read the scripture without someone else's questions already in your head, the Spirit has room to teach you directly. Read the assigned chapters first. Then let the manual fill gaps and suggest directions you might have missed.
This order matters because personal revelation is the point. President Nelson has repeatedly invited members to hear the voice of the Lord in the scriptures for themselves. A manual can tell you what a verse meant to the person who wrote the lesson. Only the Spirit can tell you what it means for the decision you are facing this week. Give yourself the first pass before anyone else's interpretation arrives.
Studying as a Couple or a Single Adult
Couples often find that reading the same passage separately, then comparing notes, surfaces more than reading together aloud. One person notices a phrase the other passed over. The conversation that follows is where the study becomes real. It also protects the habit, because you are accountable to each other to have done the reading before you sit down to talk about it.
For single adults, the danger is not distraction but drift. Without a family schedule pulling you along, a week can slip by unnoticed. Setting a fixed time helps, even ten minutes with morning coffee or before bed. Studying the same block your ward is studying keeps you connected to the Sunday School discussion, and it gives you something of your own to contribute when the class meets.
Studying With Children of Different Ages
A family with a toddler and a teenager cannot study the same way for both, and trying to usually satisfies neither. The workable approach is layered. Tell the story simply for the youngest, using a picture from the Gospel Library or the Friend magazine. Then ask the older children a harder question that assumes they already know the story. Everyone touches the same passage at their own level.
Keep it short for young children. Twenty minutes is often the ceiling before attention breaks, and pushing past it teaches children that scripture study is something to endure. With teenagers, resist the urge to lecture. Ask questions you genuinely want their answer to, and let them wrestle. When a passage raises something you cannot explain, LDS Sunday School can give you the context and plain-language answer to bring back to the table.
Key Principles
- ✓Read the passage first - before the manual, before any commentary
- ✓Ask one question of the passage and look for the answer in the text
- ✓For families with young children, focus on one story or principle per session
- ✓Teenagers engage better with questions than with lectures - let them wrestle with the text
- ✓Consistency beats length - fifteen minutes every day is better than two hours on Sunday
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Start FreeFrequently Asked Questions
In what order should I use the Come Follow Me manual and the scriptures?
Read the assigned scripture passage first, before you open the manual. Forming your own impressions gives the Spirit room to teach you directly. Once you have read the chapters and noted your questions, use the manual for background, discussion ideas, and directions you might have missed. The manual is meant to support your study of the scriptures rather than replace it.
How long should Come Follow Me study take?
There is no required length. For families with young children, fifteen to twenty minutes is usually enough before attention fades. A single adult or a couple might study thirty to forty minutes. Consistency matters more than duration. A short reading every day builds understanding and habit better than one long session on Sunday afternoon that is hard to repeat.
How do I keep teenagers engaged in Come Follow Me?
Ask questions instead of giving lectures, and ask ones you actually want their answer to. Teenagers can tell when they are being talked at. Give them a real question about the passage and let them think out loud, even if their first answer is unfinished. Connecting the reading to a decision they genuinely face makes the scripture feel relevant rather than assigned.
What if we miss a week of Come Follow Me?
Missing a week is not a failure, and there is no need to cram to catch up. You can simply join the current week's reading with your ward, or return to the missed passage later when you have time. The goal is steady engagement with the scriptures across the year, not a perfect record. Start again where the class is now.