Part explanation, part invitation, and perhaps part plaintive sigh, the Savior concludes the parable of the importune widow with a question, haunting in its vulnerability: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Prophets and poets alike have bemoaned the long-prophesied latter-day loss of faith, from Paul’s warning that “in the latter times some shall depart from the faith” (1 Timothy 4:1) to Matthew Arnold’s lament that where once “the Sea of Faith” was “at the full,” by his day he could “only hear / Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar.”[1]

Against this darkening backdrop, the Restoration burst forth as “the dawning of a brighter day,” as we see when we open our hymnals.[2] Or even more dramatically, open your Doctrine and Covenants and see the Lord answer his just-quoted question: Will the Lord find faith on the earth when he comes? Most assuredly, since one of the Restoration’s primary purposes is “that faith also might increase in the earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:21).

No wonder realizing this grand objective is one of the central aims of Religious Education in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As prophets and apostles have recently charged, teachers of the restored gospel are to “strengthen [students’] ability to find answers, resolve doubts, respond with faith, and give reason for the hope within them in whatever challenges they may face.”[3] To anyone following the troubling trends of religious affiliation—downward arrows almost everywhere we look[4]—increased efforts to fortify faith need no justification. What we need is implementation, and across the Church Educational System, that is precisely what we see.

In seminary classrooms throughout the Church, students are participating in a Doctrinal Mastery program whereby they learn and practice principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge.[5] An Innovate Institute program is increasing opportunities for college-age young adults to ask questions and explore issues in an environment that emphasizes accessibility, belonging, relevance, and above all, deep and lasting “conversion to Jesus Christ and his restored gospel.”[6] At BYU campuses, four required cornerstone classes proactively address relevant principles, exploring doctrinal issues in “Christ and His Everlasting Gospel” and “Teachings and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon,” historical issues in “Foundations of the Restoration,” and social issues in “The Eternal Family”—each course intended to fortify students’ faith.

Among members of the religion faculty at BYU’s Provo campus, individual faith-strengthening efforts abound both inside and outside the classroom. Professors are creating learning activities and giving assignments specifically intended to help students “find answers [and] resolve doubts.”[7] Books and articles—both scholarly and devotional—extend those efforts to a wider readership, while conferences and symposia offer similar blessings to all who attend. Furthermore, technology is proving that at BYU “the world is our campus,” as a growing number of faculty-led podcasts strengthen the faith of listeners worldwide. The Y Religion podcast highlights recent publications by members of the BYU religion faculty, many of whom have also appeared as guest lecturers on Hank Smith and John Bytheway’s Follow Him podcast, which follows the Church’s Come, Follow Me curriculum. Tony Sweat and John Hilton III have posted complete religion courses on YouTube, and Tyler Griffin has taught the entire standard works to Scripture Central’s worldwide audience. Other faculty-hosted podcasts address a wide variety of subjects meant to teach truth and fortify faith: Gerrit Dirkmaat’s Standard of Truth, Barbara Morgan Gardner’s Grounded, Casey Griffith’s Church History Matters (with BYU–Idaho’s Scott Woodward), Kerry Muhlestein’s The Scriptures Are Real, and Stephan Taeger’s RVVL (with Dave Butler), to name but a few. As Tyler Griffin observed in a recent conversation, thanks to technology’s ability to extend the walls of our classrooms, it is likely that more people are spending more time in the scriptures today than at any period of the earth’s history—millions eagerly “try[ing] the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5).

In my own case, the Unshaken podcast preceded my time at BYU, but from the start, my hope was to help Church members say with the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob that their faith “could not be shaken” (Jacob 7:5). My graduate work in American religious history focused on secularization and antireligious rhetoric, so I am keenly aware of the challenges faced by the faithful and have long wanted to do all I can to see that faith might increase on the earth. After nearly five years of weekly podcasting, I am amazed to see the worldwide response to these collective efforts, especially among those who had been questioning their faith or even thinking of ending their Church membership. Based on an ongoing avalanche of comments, emails, social media messages, and individual phone calls and office visits, I can affirm that despite these days of doubt, the word of God is having “powerful effect upon the minds of the people” (Alma 31:5)—just as prophesied.

Beyond witnessing the renewed faith of the formerly faltering, I have been equally inspired by the desire of so many Saints to steady those who are shaken around them. I am frequently invited to train ward and stake leaders, institute of religion faculties, and other groups interested in helping people maintain their hold on the iron rod. In what originally felt like an odd request, the BYU School of Accountancy recently asked me to present information to the faculty on helping students through a faith crisis—precisely because their students are coming to them seeking just that sort of assistance (yes, I had to ask!). Fittingly (I learned once I had made the connection), students are not taking their spiritual questions exclusively to their religion professors; rather, they are going to those who are “example[s] of the believers” (1 Timothy 4:12) within their respective disciplines, eager to know how these faith-filled mentors have balanced scholarship and discipleship in the fields these students are pursuing.

All of this bodes well for the future of faith, as parents and professors, leaders and loved ones, all embrace the spirit of James 1:5 by creating environments of openness wherein sincere seekers can ask life’s most meaningful—and vulnerable—questions. In this they are following the example of Jesus himself, whose question about faith inspires our quest to increase it. Thankfully, the end of that quest is as assured as the answers to those questions. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell once observed (calling it “the irony of ironies”), this so-called “post-Christian era . . . will come to an abrupt end” with the glorious coming of Christ.[8] And yes, in that moment, the Savior will find faith on the earth. The community of faith—every one of us—will collectively see to that.

Notes

[1] Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach,” www.poetryfoundation.org.

[2] Parley P. Pratt, “The Morning Breaks,” Hymns, no. 1, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[3] “Strengthening Religious Education in Institutes of Higher Education,” Church Educational System, approved June 12, 2019, https://religion.byu.edu/Strengthening_Religious_Education; quoted in Daniel K. Judd, “Strengthening Religious Education,” Religious EducationReview, Winter 2020, ii, https://rsc.byu.edu.

[4] See, for example, “Modeling the Future of Religion in America,” Pew Research Center, September 13, 2022, www.pewresearch.org; and Jana Riess, The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church (Oxford University Press, 2019).

[5] See “Doctrinal Mastery Core Document,” www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[6] Chad H Webb, “Reach and Impact of Seminaries and Institutes,” CES Religious Educators Conference, June 2024, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[7] “Strengthening Religious Education.”

[8] Neal A. Maxwell, “The Book of Mormon: A Great Answer to ‘The Great Question,’” in Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr., The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, the Doctrinal Foundation (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1988), 2.