Latter-day Saint families will see a simpler Children and Youth program in January
Children will set one goal a month, youth will act on one invitation a month, and the current guidebooks are being retired.
Latter-day Saint families in Cache County will see changes to their children's and teenagers' church goals starting in January 2027. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the refinements to its Children and Youth program on Nov. 3, according to Church News, the church's news outlet.
Goal setting will no longer be organized around the four areas of growth drawn from Luke 2:52. Instead, children will set one goal each month and youth will act on one invitation each month. New year-end gatherings will mark what they learned. Service, activities, camps and conferences continue, the church said.
What changes at home and at church
- The current guidebooks will not be used after January 2027. Youth resources move to the Youth Tool Kit at youth.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, in the Gospel Library app and in the January 2027 For the Strength of Youth magazine.
- Children's resources move to a Parent and Leader guide at children.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, in the app and in the January 2027 Friend magazine.
- Primary children get a new lesson on fast Sundays, found in an appendix to the Come, Follow Me materials.
- Children ages 8 to 11 will help plan Primary activities and a yearly Primary service activity. Activity Days leaders will now be called Valiant Activity leaders.
- At the end of each year, those children will share what they learned with leaders and parents at a new event called Celebration of Growth.
- Youth keep the For the Strength of Youth curriculum that began in September and will take one invitation from each month's chapter on fast Sunday.
The change is churchwide and was not a local decision.
Source: Church News, Nov. 3, 2026.