October 2026 General Conference › Lessons › Elder Edward Dube › Adults

30-minute lesson · Adults · Relief Society, elders quorum, Sunday School, or home

Taking Down the Sign on the Gate

From “Come unto Christ,” by Elder Edward Dube · Sunday morning session, October 2026 General Conference

Watch the talkRead the full talk

The big idea

We do not have to perfect ourselves before we come to Jesus Christ; we come to Him as we are, with a willing heart, and He perfects us.

Objective

Learners will name one thing that makes them feel unworthy to come to the Savior, choose one way to come to Him anyway this week, and choose one person to invite.

Before you teach

  • Read Elder Dube’s talk, “Come unto Christ,” and mark the three truths he draws from Moroni 10:32.
  • Write on a sheet of paper: Trespassers will be prosecuted. Tape it to the board or the door before class.
  • Write on the board, covered or folded back until needed: Come. Deny yourselves. Be perfected in Him.
  • Bring a slip of paper and a pencil for each person.
  • Pray by name for the people you will teach, especially any who may feel they do not measure up.

Lesson plan

Thirty minutes in 6 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.

4 min0–4

The sign on the gate

  1. After the prayer, point to the sign and ask the first question. Take two or three short answers.
  2. Tell the story in your own words: in 1987 Elder Dube was a young missionary who had been a member of the Church for only two years. That sign hung on the gate of the mission office. President Oaks asked that it be removed to avoid any impression of exclusion, because we invite all to come unto Christ.
  3. Say that Elder Dube gained in that moment the desire to love others as the Savior does. Then ask the second question and let it sit in silence for a few seconds before moving on. No one needs to answer aloud.
Ask
  • If you saw this sign on a gate, what would it tell you about the people inside?
  • Is there any part of your life where you have felt a sign like this between you and the Savior?
8 min4–12

Three truths in one verse

  1. Uncover the three phrases on the board. Invite everyone to open to Moroni 10:32 and have one person read it aloud.
  2. Divide the room into three groups (or three rows). Give each group one phrase and read them what Elder Dube said about it from the key quotes: Come is an action; Deny yourselves means surrender and letting go; Be perfected in Him means coming as we are with a willing heart.
  3. Give the groups three minutes to talk about their question below, then ask one person from each group to report in a sentence or two.
  4. Read together Elder Dube’s summary: “We do not need to perfect ourselves to come to Christ. We come to Christ to be perfected.” Ask a learner to restate it in his or her own words as a quick check for understanding.
  5. Read President Nelson’s words, which Elder Dube quoted, from the aligned quotes. Ask how the phrase about perfection being pending changes the way we feel about our present weaknesses.
Ask
  • Come: What does moving toward the Savior actually look like on an ordinary Tuesday?
  • Deny yourselves: Why does letting go feel like losing something, when Elder Dube calls it surrender?
  • Be perfected in Him: What is the difference between a perfect heart and a willing heart?
7 min12–19

One more ministering visit

  1. Retell the story faithfully: on the way to the airport, a stake president asked Elder Dube to make one more ministering visit, to Brother Randall Child, a good man trying very hard to stop smoking. Elder Dube prayed that Heavenly Father would put words in his mouth. He asked Brother Child how much he loved his wife, Laurin, and then invited the two of them to find a quiet room and choose a date to be sealed in the house of the Lord. They came back with a date, and two months later they were sealed.
  2. Ask a good reader to read what Sister Child later shared (the key quote from T23.21).
  3. In pairs, have learners discuss the first two questions for three minutes.
  4. Invite one or two pairs to share. Then read Elder Dube’s conclusion that Brother Child came to Christ with prayer, with trust and with a willing heart, and that the Savior through His grace helped him let go of what was holding him back.
Ask
  • Sister Child watched her husband suffer from wanting to be perfect in every way. Where do you see that same suffering among people you love, or in yourself?
  • How is doing the very best we can different from giving up on change?
  • Notice that the invitation was to choose a date, not to be finished first. What does that teach about how the Lord works with us?
5 min19–24

The sign on the gate of the heart

  1. Explain that Elder Dube said the adversary wants to hang the sign on the gate of our heart. He named addiction, doubt, pride, pain, grief, guilt and materialism, or whatever is holding us back, and said the adversary tells us this makes us unworthy to come unto Christ.
  2. Hand out the slips of paper. Invite learners to write privately, for two minutes, one thing that has made them feel they must stay away, and beneath it one way they could come to the Savior this week as they are. Assure them no one will collect or read the slips.
  3. While they write, read Moroni 10:33 aloud slowly, and then President Oaks’s words from the aligned quotes: “His grace is for all.”
  4. Take down the paper sign from the board or door and set it aside without comment.
Ask
  • What would it look like to take that sign down this week?
4 min24–28

Find one person

  1. Read Elder Dube’s invitation to us all (T23.28) and the promise he attached to it: as we lose ourselves in helping someone come unto Christ, we will find solutions to our current problems. Have someone read Matthew 16:25.
  2. Mention that he also spoke to a former missionary whose testimony is not as certain as it once was, and to all who feel that same ache, inviting them to come unto Christ and embrace His promise of joy (John 15:11).
  3. Ask learners to turn their slip over and write one name the Spirit brings to mind, and one simple step: a text, a visit, a seat saved, an invitation to meet with the missionaries.
  4. Invite one or two to share how they have seen their own burdens lighten while helping someone else.
Ask
  • Who is one person you could invite, and what is the smallest honest first step?
2 min28–30

Witness and follow-up

  1. Bear a brief testimony that the Savior’s invitation has no sign on the gate, using Elder Dube’s witness that He suffered for us in Gethsemane and on the cross because He is completely devoted to all of us.
  2. Tell the class that next week you will begin by asking two questions: What happened when you came to Him as you were? What happened when you invited your one person? Ask them to keep the slip in their scriptures or phone case as a reminder.
  3. Close with prayer.

Key passages from the talk

“We do not need to perfect ourselves to come to Christ. We come to Christ to be perfected.”

Elder Dube’s talk, paragraph 10

“Be perfected in Him: Come as we are with a willing heart. He will give us a new heart.”

Elder Dube’s talk, paragraph 9

“In the early hours of the morning, the answer came very clear: ‘Randall doesn’t need to be perfect. He needs to do the very best he can.’”

Elder Dube’s talk, paragraph 21

“The adversary wants to hang that sign on the gate of our heart.”

Elder Dube’s talk, paragraph 24

The speaker’s direct invitations

“I invite you, please come unto Christ and embrace His promise”

Elder Dube’s talk, paragraph 27

“My humble invitation to us all: Will you find one person and invite him or her to come unto Christ by exercising faith to follow His teachings, or invite a friend to meet with the missionaries?”

Elder Dube’s talk, paragraph 28

Scriptures

  • Moroni 10:32–33 Read verse 32 aloud, then study its three phrases in three groups. Read verse 33 slowly while learners write in silence.
  • Ezekiel 36:26 Optional cross-reference for the third group: read it and ask who does the work of giving the new heart.
  • Matthew 16:25 Read with Elder Dube’s invitation to find one person; ask what we find when we lose ourselves for the Savior’s sake.
  • John 15:11 Read as the promise offered to anyone whose testimony feels less certain than it once was.

Other voices that agree

“Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord. It awaits all who love Him and keep His commandments.”

President Russell M. Nelson, quoted in this talk (paragraph 11)

“His grace is for all.”

President Oaks · The Gospel of Jesus Christ Is for All, paragraph 15

Three things to remember

  • I do not have to be perfect to come to Christ; I come to Christ to be perfected.
  • The Lord asks for a willing heart and my very best, and His grace helps me let go of what holds me back.
  • As I help one person come unto Christ, I will find solutions to my own problems.

Ways to act this week

  • Each day this week, come to the Savior as you are in one concrete way: an honest prayer, the sacrament, a visit with the bishop, a temple appointment on the calendar.
  • Choose one thing that is holding you back and take one step to let go of it, asking for the Savior’s help by name in prayer.
  • Reach out to the one person whose name you wrote, and invite him or her to something specific: church, a family meal and scripture, or a visit with the missionaries.
  • Tell someone who is struggling that he or she does not need to be perfect to come.

Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.

Music

  • Come unto Jesus
  • I Need Thee Every Hour

Adapting the lesson

  • At home or with only two or three people: skip the groups and talk through the three phrases together, one question each.
  • Large class: keep the three-phrase study in rows and use pairs for everything else so everyone speaks at least once.
  • Only 15 minutes: do the sign story, read Moroni 10:32 with the three truths, read Sister Child’s answer to prayer, and end with the two written lines on the slip.

This lesson is an independent study aid written for this site. It is not an official lesson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotations are word for word from the official talk; paragraph numbers count the paragraphs of the talk as published at churchofjesuschrist.org, not counting headings or picture captions. The activities, questions and ideas for acting are suggestions; follow the Spirit and adapt them to those you teach.