Free Printable Gospel Questions Study Journal for Youth

Help youth learn to answer their gospel questions for themselves with this free printable study journal for young men and young women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has recently released an updated version of the Strength of Youth guide, and they are directing all young men and young women classes to study it each Sunday at church (beginning in September 2026).

Each chapter of the new Strength of Youth guide is broken down into sections that follow the doctrine, principles, and applications format that Elder Bednar explains in his books “Act In Doctrine” and “Increase in Learning,” as well as the blessings that come from following the Lord’s counsel.

Youth today are filled with questions, and they get questioned by friends and others they know. It’s such an important time of life as they develop their testimonies. There are also so many adults today with gospel questions and misunderstandings because they were always told WHAT to do without being told WHY they were doing it.

Doctrine, Principles, & Applications

Every single gospel thing we do falls under these categories, according to Elder Bednar. Every application of the gospel to our lives is based on principles and doctrine.

The Church is no longer telling the youth exactly what to do: earrings, covering shoulders, etc., were all gospel applications, but people followed them without understanding why they should. So now, the Church is focused on helping the youth learn about the why of the gospel, so they can then work out the how between themselves and God.

Doctrine: the why of the gospel. This is gospel truth that never changes.

Principle: the what of the gospel. These are directions from prophets and apostles, and it can vary based on the current times.

Application: the how of the gospel. This is determined by individuals using personal revelation. At times, however, prophets will clarify specifics (like not drinking tea or coffee).

Here is a chart with examples:

Topic	Doctrine	Principle	Application
Tithing	God created everything; everything we have is because of Him.	In Joseph Smith’s day, the Law of Consecration. Today: pay 10% of your yearly interest, which is understood to mean income.	Calculate tithing before or after taxes? Pay tithing on scholarships? Proceeds from selling a house or car?
Diet	God made our bodies, and He knows the proper way for us to care for them.	Ancient times: clean and unclean foods. Today: Word of Wisdom	From prophets: no coffee, tea, tobacco, harmful drugs, etc. Personal revelation: Meat sparingly, caffeine, energy drinks, gluten-free, etc.

As you can see, trying to find answers to how to live the gospel of Jesus Christ can all follow this same format. If you have a question of how to live the gospel, start looking back to the doctrinal why that it is based on.

The new Strength of Youth guide follows this same pattern. Each of the twelve chapters has the doctrine and principles, and then it has the blessings that come from obedience.

What is now “missing” is the applications, which is what the youth are to study out for themselves.

To learn more about this pattern of receiving answers, Elder Bednar’s books “Act In Doctrine” and “Increase in Learning.

Some of that can be found in this PDF from BYU’s website:

Elder Bednar also gave a Provo MTC devotional on this subject as well entitled “The Answer is the Doctrine”, which you can read in this PDF:

Free Printable Study Journals for Youth

I was recently called into the Young Women’s presidency in our ward. We discovered that some of the young women had been telling one another that the choices they were making weren’t in line with gospel principles. Things like playing in a sport game on Sunday, or having multiple ear piercings, were being criticized and condemned.

And it was affecting the harmony and unity of our girls.

I decided that I would teach the next lesson about this concept of doctrine, principles, and applications so that the Young Women could see the process of making decisions. I also wanted to make it clear that the applications part was individual and based on personal revelation.

To help the girls begin to answer questions on their own, and to help them realize that this is a lifelong process, I decided to make them these study journals. Each page has an area for their question, as well as space to research the doctrine and principles. The applications area is for examples they find of how others apply it, and then

I actually made each girl their own notebook based on their favorite colors and favorite flowers (which we had from a “getting to know you” activity a few months prior).

So that you can make similar changes, I’m providing you with the Canva template. This will allow you to customize these journals how you would like.

I am providing these for free (as opposed to selling them on Etsy or something). All I ask in return is that you please leave the logo on them, and then share the link to this blog post as opposed to the Canva link itself.

Note: some of the images may have watermarks, since I use Canva premium. If you have a watermark, then you can switch that image out for another one.

How to Print and Bind the Study Journals

For printing, make sure you choose for your printer to print double-sided on the SHORT side of the paper.

• Make your changes, and then download pages 1 and 2 as a PDF. You will print ONE copy of this per book.
• Then download pages 3 and 4 as a PDF. You will print ONE copy of this per book.
• Last, download pages 5 and 6 as a PDF. You can print as many of these as you would like. I chose to print 30 pages.

Now you need to put the books together. Depending on your printer settings, you may need to trim the pages. I used my Swingline paper cutter to do that, as well as cut each of the printed pages in half.

I used my Trubind coil binding machine (which I LOVE), along with the spiral coils. The custom front pages with their names on them were laminated with my laminator, and I used these generic binding covers for the last page.

Here is the order of the pages for the books:

After 2A and 2B, you are going to put all of the inside pages so that when you open your notebook, you see the question/doctrine page on the left, with the application/blessing page on the right.

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I hope you enjoy these free printable study journals. If so, I would really appreciate you sharing the link on Pinterest and other social media platforms.