Building Zion - BYU Pathway Worldwide

I've mentioned Pathway frequently. My wife and I are Pathway missionaries, and we train Pathway missionaries in South America. Pathway is one of the real-world, practical methods the Lord is using to build Zion in our day.

Here's an awesome talk by Brian and Melinda Ashton about "Building Zion."

https://www.byupathway.org/speech/build-zion

Excerpt:

Sister Ashton: Elder D. Todd Christofferson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gives us another answer to the question, “What is our role in building Zion?” He taught:

Zion is Zion because of the character, attributes, and faithfulness of her citizens. Remember, “the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them” (Moses 7:18). If we would establish Zion in our homes, branches, wards, and stakes, we must rise to this standard. It will be necessary 

(1) to become unified in one heart and one mind; 

(2) to become, individually and collectively, a holy people; and 

(3) to care for the poor and needy with such effectiveness that we eliminate poverty among us. 


We cannot wait until Zion comes for these things to happen — Zion will come only as they happen.21

BYU-Pathway, along with parents, families, and other Church entities and programs, must help students to learn to be of one heart and of one mind and to live righteously. Learning these skills is a crucial part of your education and helping you to do so is essential to our mission as an institution.

In addition, BYU-Pathway has a unique role in making sure that there are no poor among us. No other Church institution has the worldwide reach and access to spiritually-based, job-ready certificates and degrees like BYU-Pathway. BYU-Pathway can provide higher education that will help our students get out of spiritual and temporal poverty in nearly every place that the Church is organized. Those students in turn can help others to become self-reliant until there are no poor among us.

Some Thoughts on Where You Can Start

President Ashton: So, what can you do today to build Zion?

We want to start by addressing BYU-Pathway’s instructors, missionaries, employees, and academic partners. Because we must help our students learn to build Zion in their lives, homes, congregations, and communities, we must begin by first building Zion in our own lives and homes. We must be pure in heart. We must incorporate Zion principles into our curriculum and teaching models. And we must do all we can to help students get jobs. We invite each of you to examine your lives, teaching, curriculum, and programs to see if they are in harmony with building Zion and then seek the Lord’s help to make necessary changes.