POCATELLO — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has created a new digital curriculum for its Sunday school classes attended by young men and women and youths, and is changing the way that curriculum is administered, a local church official said Wednesday.

The LDS Church announced in October that it’s new curriculum, “Come Follow Me: Learning Resources for Youth,” would be implemented with the start of 2013. Church officials said the new material, with its focus on doctrinal topics comes with lesson outlines patterned after the way Christ taught.

It also features more flexibility, including more topics that can typically be used during a month that will allow local wards to determine which of those lessons best suit the needs of their respective congregations.

Another significant change, said Ralph Cottle, media specialist for the multistake public affairs council in Pocatello, is the availability of all those learning materials online. The idea, Cottle said, is that individuals can access those lessons online, prior to Sunday, and be prepared to talk about the lessons during class.

“Traditionally, you would have a teacher who presents a lesson on Sunday,” Cottle said, “but now it’s going to be more of a discussion, more student driven.”

Cottle said he’s under the impression that the shift is to help better prepare the church’s youth for serving a mission. The LDS Church, in October, also announced it was lowering the allowable age for men to serve a mission from 19 years old to 18, and for women from 21 years old to 19.

Cottle said the changing curriculum will continue to focus on the scripture but will give church youth more opportunity to study on their own.

“The change will create a situation where the young people can raise the bar for themselves,” he said.

He said the change will not affect the time frame of the classes.