The Sunday school classroom looked awfully homey for the Ryan and Maranna Hollist family on a recent weekend.
And no wonder. With four kids and the parents snuggled comfortably on a couch and matching love seat, this was indeed the family’s home on Woodland Parks Drive in Columbus. For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints these days, home is more than where the heart is.
It’s where more of the learning is, too.
At least that’s the case with a new home-centered instruction program that began in January.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“When we’ve studied the lesson beforehand (at home), then we go to church, we’re learning more of the same lesson,” dad Ryan Hollist said. “So the kids are able to understand more, they’re able to participate (at church) more, and they’re really able to glean more.
“They’re just more involved — and seem to gain more from this.”
After almost 40 years of meeting each Sunday for three hours at church, worldwide leaders have announced a condensed. two-hour meeting schedule for the worldwide church. The change moves that third hour of teaching to the home for the denomination’s believers, including more than 1,000 locally.
Latter-day Saints are encouraged each Sunday — or any other day of their choosing — to study a course of Scripture-oriented instruction called “Come Follow Me” that will enhance what is being presented at church. The guidance includes discussion points, questions to ask, and points that the readings are designed to highlight.
Local First Ward Bishop Jack Bartnett mentioned that the program already is reaping benefits.
“The response from our members has been very positive,” Bartnett said. “Regular family Scripture study is a powerful way to help your family learn the gospel. How much and how long you read as a family is not as important as being consistent in your efforts.”
The Hollists attest to that. For example, a recent Sunday morning left the children battling elements of the flu. So they simply took a few moments to share a few Scriptures together and a moment of prayer instead of forcing a one-hour lesson amid miserable conditions.
“We realize that there are going to be days when we’re human, and we’re struggling to just get out of the door (to church),” Maranna Hollist said.
Normally, the family also spends a few minutes together in the living room at 6:30 a.m. on other days for a few minutes of prayer and Scripture.
“Sometimes, there’s pillows and blankets everywhere,” Ryan Hollist said. “And occasionally some snoring.”
He grinned. His dry wit is as loose as his necktie worn for the upcoming Sunday service. He interjected light humor about every 15 minutes with a wisecrack. But he also paid close attention to the discussion, and gently encouraged his brood as they read Scripture aloud.
“That’s good, Chloe girl,” he said when his 7-year-old daughter read a passage.
What Maranna Hollist sees as especially good about “Come Follow Me” is how it can impact sharing the faith with others.
“One thing that’s really wonderful about this program is that it allows us to individualize and to strengthen our testimony (to others),” the mother said.
This particular morning’s lesson focused partly on how God the father provided the Holy Spirit to strengthen and empower his follows to do the work of the church in its infancy, and how He still provides assistance today. To illustrate this, Ryan Hollist had his oldest daughter, Lillian Hollist, 11, try to pull a heavy container of exercise equipment across the room.
She struggled to do so — until her brother was instructed to pick up one end of the container for her, lightening the load. One feature especially evident in the family’s relationship is its love and tenderness toward the youngest, 3-year-old Eliza, who was not feeling well.
Siblings took turns holding her, hugging her and gently kissing the top of her head as if she were the most precious child in the universe. At the end, the little one finally felt well enough that, with the help of her mother’s guidance, she closed the session in prayer as everyone knelt on the floor with eyes closed.
“We like to be on our knees just as a form of respect to our heavenly father,” Maranna Hollist said, “even though sometimes one if the children might be flopping around.”
Eliza Hollist softly repeated one of her mom’s closing lines of prayer: “Thank you for the lessons — so that we can be more like you.”
Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the worldwide church’s 12 Apostles, sees the at-home focus as homing in on something especially significant.
“Perhaps most important,” Holland said in a media statement, “is that the home is—or can be—an echo of heaven, a reminder of the eternal goal we came here to pursue.”
