Photo supplied, Intellectual Reserve

As October’s general conference approaches, many are taking stock of how the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has evolved in recent years.

One of those evolutions has been a growing emphasis on the words “covenant path.”

Brigham Young University professor Kerry Muhlestein explained the covenant path isn’t necessarily something new.

“God most fully connects with us, his children, through his son, and through covenant,” Muhlestein said. “He wants to heighten his relationship with all of us through this priesthood power-enabled bond. There is an overarching covenant which we often call the New and Everlasting Covenant or the Abrahamic Covenant. We enter into that at baptism, but there are other covenants we make in temples that are parts of that larger covenant.

“The covenant path consists of making and keeping the covenants the Lord has asked us to make, and then being worthy of continually renewing that covenant. We make covenants at baptism and in the temple. We renew those covenants weekly as we partake of the sacrament. You are on the covenant path if you are keeping covenants you have made and are working towards making the next covenant available to you, or are worthy of renewing the covenants you have already made.”

Photo supplied, Brigham Young University

Muhlestein said covenants have always been a part of Latter-day Saint theology.

“The notion of covenant has been part of LDS teachings since Joseph Smith,” he said. “God spoke to Joseph in the Sacred Grove about covenants. Thus, from the beginning of the restoration of the gospel, the idea of covenant has been an important part of our revealed beliefs.”

He acknowledged that this teaching has grown in emphasis over the last few years.

“Although a covenant emphasis has always been part of our teachings, we have been blessed by a renewed and greater emphasis under the prophetic leadership of Russell M. Nelson,” he said. “References to the covenant path have exponentially increased since he became the prophet, and the introduction of the program called ‘the covenant path’ took place under his inspired leadership.”

As the times change and the covenant path becomes integral to guiding Latter-day Saints, the church has also embraced technology.

“Recently The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started a program, that has an app associated with it, which is designed to help people who are in the process of moving from baptism to making temple covenants,” Muhlestein said. “The program is useful and wonderful, but its point is to help us really make and keep covenants. As useful as the app and program are, they should not be confused with the actual covenants. It is a blessing to have something that helps us focus on making and keeping covenants.”

He said that there have traditionally been similar programs within the church.

“The church has long had programs designed to help people progress in their conversion and making of covenants through ordinances,” he said. “This new program has a more specific covenant path emphasis than programs of the past.”

General conference is set for Oct. 5-6.

For more information on My Covenant Path, visit https://tinyurl.com/4zs8b8x9.