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

30-minute lesson · Youth · Ages 11–18: classes, quorums, or home

Come As You Are

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

Watch the talkRead the full talk

The big idea

Jesus Christ invites us to come to Him as we are; we do not fix ourselves first, because He is the one who perfects us.

Objective

Youth will explain in their own words why they do not need to be perfect to come to Christ, and will choose one way to come to Him and one person to invite this week.

Before you teach

  • Read Elder Dube’s talk, “Come unto Christ.”
  • Write Trespassers will be prosecuted on a sheet of paper and tape it to the classroom door at eye level before anyone arrives.
  • Bring paper, pens or markers, and tape. Youth will need their scriptures or phones.
  • Write three headings on the board: Come. Deny yourselves. Be perfected in Him.

Lesson plan

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

3 min0–3

What does the sign say about us?

  1. As youth come in, say nothing about the sign on the door. After the prayer, hand each pair a sheet of paper and give them 60 seconds to list as many keep-out messages as they can think of from daily life: signs, locked accounts, group chats they are not in, tables where there is no seat.
  2. Have the pair with the longest list read theirs. Then ask the question.
Ask
  • How does it feel to be on the wrong side of a keep-out sign?
4 min3–7

The sign comes down

  1. Tell the story: in 1987 Elder Dube was a young missionary, only two years a member of the Church. The sign on the gate of the mission office said exactly what is taped to our door. President Oaks asked that it be removed to avoid any impression of exclusion, because we invite all to come unto Christ.
  2. Ask a youth to go and take the sign off the door and bring it to the front. Keep it; you will use it again.
  3. Read President Oaks’s words from the aligned quotes about why the Savior suffered for us. If you wish, have someone read Luke 22:44 and ask what it shows about how devoted He is to each person in the room.
Ask
  • Why do you think one sign mattered so much to President Oaks?
7 min7–14

Three teams, three truths

  1. Have everyone find Moroni 10:32 and read it aloud together.
  2. Form three teams and give each one heading from the board. Read each team what Elder Dube said about its phrase (key quotes T23.07 to T23.09, including T23.08: surrender, and let go of the things that are holding us back).
  3. Give teams three minutes to make a poster for their phrase: a six-word summary and a quick sketch that would make sense to a friend who has never read the Book of Mormon.
  4. Each team presents in 30 seconds. Let the class vote by applause for the clearest poster. Tape all three to the wall.
  5. Read Elder Dube’s one-line summary (T23.10) and ask two youth to say it back in their own words.
Ask
  • Which of the three is hardest for people your age: moving, letting go, or believing He can change you?
7 min14–21

Do I have to fix myself first?

  1. Tell the story of the ministering visit: Elder Dube, on his way to the airport, was asked to visit Brother Randall Child, a good man trying very hard to stop smoking. Elder Dube had no idea what to say and prayed for words. He asked Brother Child how much he loved his wife, Laurin, and invited them to choose a date to be sealed in the house of the Lord. They chose one, and two months later they were sealed.
  2. Have a youth read Sister Child’s answer to prayer (key quote T23.21).
  3. In pairs, discuss the first two questions for three minutes. Then take a few answers from the whole group.
  4. Be honest that Elder Dube also spoke of a former missionary who wrote that his testimony is not as certain as it once was. Elder Dube did not scold him. He invited him, and all who feel that same ache, to come unto Christ and embrace His promise of joy. Read John 15:11 together.
  5. Share Elder Rasband’s line from the aligned quotes and ask the last question.
Ask
  • Why do we sometimes think we have to clean ourselves up before we pray, come to church or talk to the bishop?
  • What is the difference between doing your very best and pretending to be perfect?
  • If a friend told you his or her testimony was not as sure as it used to be, what would you say after hearing this talk?
4 min21–25

Take your own sign down

  1. Hold up the sign from the door. Explain that Elder Dube said the adversary wants to hang it on the gate of our heart, telling us that doubt, pride, pain, guilt, addiction or whatever is holding us back makes us unworthy to come unto Christ.
  2. Give each youth a small piece of paper. In silence, for two minutes, they write one thing that makes them feel they should stay away from the Savior. No names, and no one will read it.
  3. Invite them to fold it and write on the outside one way they will come to Him this week anyway. They keep the paper.
  4. Tear the door sign in half and put it in the bin.
5 min25–30

The one-person challenge

  1. Read Elder Dube’s invitation to us all (T23.28) and his promise: as you lose yourself in helping someone come unto Christ, you will find solutions to your current problems. Have someone read Matthew 16:25.
  2. Ask each youth to think of one person and one real invitation they could give by next Sunday: come to a youth activity, sit with me at church, come to seminary, meet the missionaries at our house. They may type a draft message on their phone now but do not need to send it in class.
  3. Invite two or three to share their plan, without naming the person if that would embarrass anyone.
  4. Tell them you will ask next week: Whom did you invite, and what happened to your own week when you did? Bear a short testimony that the Savior wants them as they are, and close with prayer.
Ask
  • What usually stops us from inviting, and what would make it easier?

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

“Come: It’s an action. We choose to move from our current place to a better place.”

Elder Dube’s talk, paragraph 7

“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

“Randall doesn’t need to be perfect. He needs to do the very best he can.”

Elder Dube’s talk, paragraph 21

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 Read aloud together, then have three teams each make a poster for one phrase: come, deny yourselves, be perfected in Him.
  • John 15:11 Read after talking about the former missionary; ask what the Savior promises those who come to Him.
  • Matthew 16:25 Read with the one-person challenge; ask how helping someone else could help with our own problems.
  • Luke 22:44 Optional: read after the sign comes down to see how much the Savior was willing to suffer for each of us.

Other voices that agree

“Jesus Christ did all of this because He loves all of the children of God.”

President Dallin H. Oaks, quoted in this talk (paragraph 4)

“We fail only when we give up and stop trying”

Elder Rasband · Love Like Jesus, paragraph 23

Three things to remember

  • I come to Christ as I am; He does the perfecting.
  • The Lord asks for my very best and a willing heart, not a flawless record.
  • When I help one person come unto Christ, He helps me with my own problems.

Ways to act this week

  • Do the thing you wrote on the outside of your paper: come to the Savior this week in that one way, even if you do not feel ready.
  • Invite your one person to something specific before next Sunday.
  • When you mess up this week, pray that same day instead of waiting until you feel better about yourself.
  • Tell one friend who is hard on himself or herself what Sister Child learned in her answer to prayer.

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

Music

  • Come unto Jesus
  • I'm Trying to Be like Jesus

Adapting the lesson

  • At home or with one or two youth: skip the teams; each person takes one phrase from Moroni 10:32, writes a six-word summary and explains it.
  • Short on time (15 minutes): do the sign on the door, the six-word summaries without posters, Sister Child’s answer to prayer, and the one-person challenge.
  • Large class: make six teams, two per phrase, and let the paired teams compete for the clearest poster.

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.