It was at the tail-end of 2020 as churches were opening back up that I heard someone say this.

They were explaining how the pandemic made them realize they didn’t need the church as much as they thought.

The thing is— I get it!

This can be such a tempting thought to have and to entertain, especially when attending church feels like a big sacrifice or inconvenience.

I didn’t respond to the person at the time.

But I had many many thoughts fill my mind, most of them informed by beautiful conference talks throughout the years that have highlighted the need for a church.

Today I want to point to the scriptures for an answer.

The Lord didn’t just want “the gospel” restored to the church.

His plan, from the very beginning, was to restore the fullness of His gospel along with a church to administer it.

“For in them are all things written concerning the foundation of my church, my gospel, and my rock.” – D&C 18:4

Elder Renlund taught:

“The gospel is perfect, but a divinely commissioned church is required to preach it, maintain its purity, and administer its sacred ordinances with the Savior’s power and authority.”

Could you probably complain about “the church” if I asked you to?

It can be so tough to deal with other imperfect people, conflicting personalities, unrighteous dominion, strong differences of opinion, weaknesses, pride, and so much more.

But this is how the Lord wants us to do it.

He wants His perfect gospel administered through a church filled with very normal people.

And we have to learn how to soften our hearts and deal with (and maybe even like and love) each other.

Because HE deals with (and even likes and loves) each of us with our imperfections.

So if we want to be like Him, we can work on that, too.

The church isn’t an obstacle to the perfect gospel—

This is exactly how it’s all meant to work, and maybe we can learn some lessons from trying to embrace BOTH the perfect gospel and the divinely commissioned church.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Gospel vs. the Church  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

The “Church” and the “gospel” are technically two separate things.

And we need BOTH.

While we can love belonging to the Church, we have to become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But I also believe that while we can become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we also must fully participate in, embrace, and even love the Church.

Moroni reflected on these questions at the end of his life.

He said that after being baptized, “. . . the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.” (Moroni 6:5)

He also mentions teaching each other the scriptures, taking the sacrament, and getting rid of all iniquity.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is what it’s all about.

But we wouldn’t have this gospel in its fullness without the Church.

I love the Church.

I love that we can coordinate to serve and respond to disasters better.

I love that we can build temples and perform temple work.

I love that we can send out missionaries.

I love that we can make covenants with God and build holy temples.

What else would you add to the list of why you love the Church?

Of course, dealing with mortal humans with pride, weaknesses, sins, egos, and misunderstandings can make things very (very very) tough.

Separating the gospel of Jesus and the Church can often be helpful in rooting our love and commitment to the Savior above all else.

Loving God, Jesus, and Their gospel of truth is absolutely essential.

But administering the gospel in its fullness through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a beautiful and absolutely essential element, too.

“One cannot fully achieve [the doctrine of Christ] in isolation, so a major reason the Lord has a church is to create a community of Saints that will sustain one another”. – D. Todd Christofferson

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Why a Church?  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Why does it matter that we have living prophets and apostles on the earth today?⁣

Why does it matter that we receive continued revelation in our lives?⁣

Honestly— someone asked me these questions recently and it took me a bit to figure out why I felt all of these things were so important.

I want to share what I think, but I also invite you to ponder about your own responses.

I believe the answer is because the gospel is alive and relevant!

We have a LIVING Savior with LIVING prophets and REAL-TIME guidance from the Spirit.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ care about us right now, living our lives.

They care about our “modern” problems.

⁣The Savior can offer us grace right now!

Sometimes when we read about Christ living 2,000 years ago, it’s easy to keep Him 2,000 years ago in our mind.

Just like the prophets we read about in the scriptures, we keep Him in the time period where we read about His stories.

Sandals. Walking in Galilee. Robes.

Jesus isn’t with everyone else we’ve read about who has since passed on.

He is alive!

“And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5)

He rose from the dead so He could be on our journey with us as much as He was on the streets in Jerusalem.

I’m grateful for a living Savior, with living prophets, with ever-present personal revelation that can help me in my immediate times of need.

So what help, guidance, love, or impressions do you need today?

It’s all available right now in this living gospel!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Three important questions  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I was doing great: reading the scriptures each day, praying, serving in callings, not fighting with my siblings…

It was great to sit in an interview and feel really great about what I was doing.

And then, my bishop wisely asked me what I was working on to try and improve in my life right now.

I naively responded, “Nothing right now!”

Oh, to have that confidence that I had then.

Living “the gospel” was simple in my mind, and I was checking all the boxes I had in front of me.

This makes me think of the wise saying in Proverbs 1:22.

“How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?”

Now I totally have compassion on younger Cali, and subsequent life lessons were given to me that very much highlighted the unending plethora of things in my life that needed to be improved.

The gospel really is simple.

But that doesn’t mean that the gospel is lived simply.

Loving God and loving others is a whole lot of work.

A lot of discomfort.

A lot of trial and error.

A lot of repentance and change, over and over.

I am ALL FOR simplification…

In most areas.

How long will we long for a gospel that is more simple to actually accomplish?

Or is it time to embrace the all-in, complicated, sometimes messy, but oh-so-fulfilling gospel of Jesus Christ?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Don’t simplify! first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

We had a stake conference probably two years ago that blew my mind.

The evening adult session was all about missionary work— but with a completely new perspective that has stuck with me for a while.

One speaker kept coming back to this point:

We aren’t the ones converting people to the gospel.

There are so many prophesies and so many scriptures that are similar to what we find in D&C 135:7:

“The religion of Jesus Christ… will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations”.

There are SO MANY people out there who have willing and honest hearts, who the Spirit is working with to mold and prepare.

They are ready to hear and receive.

They are ready to completely change their lives and make eternal covenants with God.

We have such a small but important role in this entire process (because it’s really mostly between that individual and God).

We need to be examples, make friends, show love, and then extend simple but powerful invitations, as prompted by the Spirit.

That’s it.

We just need to introduce as many people as we can to what truth and godly power really mean, and the Spirit will take care of the rest— quickly carrying it unto the hearts of those who have already been prepared.

Missionary work isn’t about tons of pressure to be the perfect example, inviting to the exact right event, and then teaching every aspect of the gospel.

Isn’t that refreshing?

That’s how I’ve felt ever since I heard that message.

I don’t have to do it all. No one has to do it all.

We don’t even have to do that much.

The Gathering of Israel is going to happen, and the hearts of God’s children are being prepared throughout the world.

And all we’ve been asked to do is to love and invite, so that the Spirit can do what He does best:

Convert.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The best missionary is the Spirit first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

He probably would have been a farmer. Probably wouldn’t have received any more education than he did. He was pretty charismatic and passionate, so I’m sure he would have gotten involved in some groups or causes.

And yet, because of his calling, his words, prophecies, and teachings have been studied for 200 years by millions of people.

Does the Doctrine and Covenants make you think Joseph Smith was totally perfect and the best ever?

Not me.

In fact, this year, I’ve really been struck by how often Joseph was corrected by the Lord.

But most revelations we’ve read haven’t even made mention of Joseph.

Although Joseph Smith was not perfect, I think he did a pretty-near perfect job at using every privilege that God blessed him with to point others towards the gospel.

And not to point people to himself.

What blessings and privileges do you have right now?

You might not think you are very #blessed right now.

But do you have the blessing of having children?

Do you have the blessing of being married?

Do you have the blessing of having friends?

Do you have the blessing of having a church calling or ministering assignment?

Do you have the privilege of working or volunteering somewhere?

The list goes on.

“For unto this end have I raised you up, that I might show forth my wisdom through the weak things of the earth.” D&C 124:1

We are weak things without God!

And every blessing, every privilege, every platform we have been so graciously blessed with should be used to point people, our children, our students, our spouses, our friends, all back to Christ.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Our privilege is for Jesus first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

In March, it seemed crazy that we would be going a few weeks without church.

And now…

I don’t think I’m alone when I say I’ve really had to examine my “why” for attending church.

If the sacrament can be administered at home, if we take away many of the social aspects from church, if the way we fulfill callings has dramatically shifted…

Why do we go to church?

Moroni reflected on this exact question at the end of his life.

He said that after being baptized, the members of the church would meet together for these reasons: (Moroni 6:4-7)

• To be nourished by the word of God
• To pray and fast together
• To speak about their welfare
• To take the sacrament
• To get rid of all iniquity

Elder Christofferson added in his 2015 talk, “Why the Church?”:

• To be called out in our faults and then repent
• To combine our efforts for more effective responses to poverty and disasters
• To take the gospel to all the earth
• To take part in essential ordinances
• To perform temple work for those who have passed on
• To build up the kingdom of God on the earth

I’ve come to a new realization this year of the separation between the Church and the gospel.

Because they aren’t the same thing.

We can love the Church, but we become converted to the gospel.

Even though the Church’s functions have changed dramatically this year, the gospel of Jesus Christ has never been shut down.

We certainly apply the gospel principles as we interact with our family members, but the Church helps us take that to the next level.

Working and serving with imperfect people, trying to learn and teach from different perspectives…

It’s the perfect place to put all that we know in our head about the gospel into practice.

Now, the thought of corralling two young kids to sit still on a chapel pew for an hour is never one that I think will excite me.

But I’m laying that foundation for my kids.

I’m teaching them the doctrine the best that I can – but I’m showing them that the best applications can come from the way we choose to show up at Church.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Why the Church? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.