In my last LDS Faith and Beliefs post I talked all about the Young Women program in my church, and I mentioned that the I was going to dive into some of the specifics of the program in later posts. So today, I want to share more about the Personal Progress program, which is an amazing and inspired program.
There are 8 values that the Personal Progress and Young Women programs are centered around, and they are Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue. The idea is that studying these values will help the girls to understand more fully who they are, who they can become, why they’re on earth, and how to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Personal Progress program helps the girls learn about these values and create habits that they will hopefully take with them throughout the rest of their lives.
The requirements to complete the Personal Progress program are as follows:
- Attend sacrament meeting regularly (where possible).
- Live the standards in For the Strength of Youth.
- Complete the value experiences and value project for each of the eight values.
- Keep a personal journal.
- Attend seminary or participate in independent study (where available).
- Read the Book of Mormon regularly.
- Record your testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ.
(You can view the For The Strength of Youth pamphlet here. It is a pamphlet of standards for youth and a wonderful resource. Read more about sacrament meeting here, and more about the Book of Mormon here. Seminary is a four year religious education program for youth. They meet each weekday during the school year for a class during all four years of high school. In some highly populated LDS areas, high school students are allowed “release time” where they attend their seminary class as one of their high school classes. I was privileged to do so. In other parts of the country and world, students attend early morning seminary each day before school starts. I’ll be posting about it at a later date, but you can read more here if you’d like.)
For each value there are 3 required value experiences and 3 additional value experiences that each girl needs to complete, along with a 10 hour value project. As an example, here is a required value experience for Faith:
The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Learn about faith from the scriptures and living prophets. Read Hebrews 11; Alma 32:17–43; Ether 12:6–22; and Joseph Smith—History 1:11–20. Read two general conference talks on faith. Exercise your own faith by establishing a habit of prayer in your life. Begin by regularly saying your morning and evening prayers. After three weeks of following this pattern, discuss with a parent or leader what you have learned about faith and how daily personal prayer has strengthened your faith. In your journal express your feelings about faith and prayer.
As you can tell, the goal through this experience is for the girls to learn about faith through scripture study and then create a habit of personal prayer. This is the pattern of most value experiences. Here’s another example, this time from the value of Individual Worth:
Read Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 and 121:45. Do all you can to build others and make them feel of worth. Every day for two weeks notice the worthwhile qualities and attributes of others. Acknowledge them verbally or in writing. In your journal write what you have learned about the worth of individuals and how your own confidence grows when you build others.
This time the emphasis is building up those around us. Aren’t these great goals? After the girls complete the 6 value experiences, it’s time for them to create and complete a 10 hour value project. The girls have free reign on this, and can create any project they’d like, as long as it takes at least 10 hours and is Gospel based. The goal of these projects is for them to put into practice all they’ve learned about the value. Depending on the value these projects can include learning a new skill (cooking, sewing, gardening), performing service or visiting nursing homes, putting together an event, etc.
Once the girls complete all the requirements, they are presented with a certificate and necklace with the Salt Lake Temple on it. It’s such a high achievement, the girls put so much work into their experiences and projects. I know, because I received my award when I was 16, and I am currently doing it again now, as a leader.
This program is so inspired. If they really strive to complete all the requirements, they will grow closer to their Heavenly Father and Savior, they will develop habits that will serve them well throughout their lives, and they will gain a deep testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I, myself, have a strong testimony of the Personal Progress program. It helped me progress so much during my time as a teenager, and helped keep me grounded in the Gospel, and grow my testimony of my Savior and His Gospel. Without the Young Women and Personal Progress programs to help lead and guide me as a teenager, I’m not sure where I would be!
If you’d like, you can look through the whole program here. Tell me what you think! I’d love to hear from you.
More in the series:
Intro and I am a Christian | Joseph Smith, The Restoration, and the Book of Mormon | The Plan of Salvation
The Godhead | Grace and Good Works | Logistics and Programs | Families and Family Home Evening
General Conference | Jesus Christ | Prophets | #ASaviorIsBorn | Young Women Program Overview
