Reorganized Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints

Membership Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter

Susan Easton Black and associates researched Latter-day Saint historical resources and compiled a 50-volume set of information on early members of the church. It is a good beginning point to identify available information and sources for an early Latter-day Saint ancestor. It is available in hard copy in the Family History Library and Brigham Young University collections and is also available digitally. While this compilation is massive, it is not complete. It is indexed in the Early Church Information File.

Temples And Historical Sites

The church owns two temples: the Kirtland Temple, dedicated in 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio , and the relatively new Independence Temple, which serves as the church’s headquarters in Independence, Missouri. These structures are open to the public and are also used for education and gatherings. The church also owns and operates some Latter Day Saint historic sites in Lamoni, Iowa, and Plano and Nauvoo, Illinois. The Auditorium in Independence houses the Children’s Peace Pavilion and is the site of the major legislative assembly of the Community of Christ, which convenes during the World Conference. The church sponsors Graceland University, with a campus in Lamoni and another in Independence, where the School of Nursing and the Community of Christ Seminary are based.

Overview Of The Collection

Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Collection

Dates

1 box,

Collection Number

UUS_COLL MSS 369

Summary

This collection contains various typed and handwritten manuscripts ostensibly originating from members of the RLDS church in Missouri .

Repository

No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.

Languages

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Reorganized Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints

The RLDS church emerged during the 1850s from the conflict and schism that arose in Mormonism after the June 27, 1844, murder of Joseph Smith, Jr., its founding prophet. From 1834 to 1844, Smith had indicated as many as eight possible modes of prophetic succession. One of these was a designation of his son Joseph III to succeed him as prophet-president. He had not, however, chosen anyone to lead pro tempore until his son should be old enough to preside. During the decade following Smith’s assassination, Mormonism split into more than a dozen factions. The main body of believers accepted the quorum of twelve apostles as their leaders. They remained headquartered at Nauvoo, Illinois, until 1846, when they fled to the Great Salt Basin of present-day Utah. Brigham Young, the senior apostle, who had been President of the Quorum of the Twelve since April 14, 1840, organized the westward trek and was sustained as President in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1847 .

Jason W. Briggs , leader of the Beloit, Wisconsin, branch, rejected Brigham Young’s leadership in 1848 to affiliate with the faction led by James J. Strang . After Strang opted for polygamy in 1850, Briggs left to join a colony led by the slain prophet’s younger brother, William B. Smith . Briggs left Smith in the fall of 1851 on learning that Smith was also a polygamist.

Bibliography

The Story Of T T Hinderkswho Was Given Divine Assurancethat The Rlds Church Would Not Failby Walter H Cryer

Walter Cryer’s introduction:

We all love to recount the angel’s visit to Brother Joseph, and so should we esteem of equal value the rich experiences of those noble men of God who followed in his footsteps.

The biography of Elder T. T. Hinderks will undoubtedly be of inestimable value to many good souls within the Church, and, I trust, the means of bringing many without to a closer investigation of the latter-day message.

For this purpose is the ensuing sketch prepared, and may God, in His benign way, add His blessing so that the lesson portrayed in the life of our brother may indeed resound to the glory of Zion.

It was my good fortune to become intimately associated with a venerable old brother in Israel, Elder T. T. Hinderks, father of the Maple Grove Branch. As we sat talking together, my spiritual insight saw not the age-worn frame of my brother, but a character likened unto the Man of Galilee, who so loved the world that he gave his life in service.

The modest demeanor of the grand old man enamored me, when I stated the purpose of my mission. A wistful look came into his eyes as he said, “I have had some glorious experiences in the gospel, and if you think they would help others, I will do my best to recount them.”

I was born in east Friesland, Germany, in the year 1855. My parents were God-fearing people and members of the Baptist Church.

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Revelation And Prophetic Leadership

The belief in continuing divine revelation is a distinctive aspect of the church. The Community of Christ states that “he process through which God reveals divine will and love is called revelation. God continues to reveal today as in the past. God is revealed to us through scripture, the faith community, prayer, nature, and in human history.”

Lds Myths About Reorganized Latter Day Saints

John Hamer January 27, 2008 book of mormon, community of christ, feminism, historicity, history, LDS, Mormon, mormon, RLDS, women

My uncle emailed me the other day. The bishop in his ward gave a talk about the Kirtland Temple and explained how the LDS church donated $100,000.00 per year to the Community of Christ for its upkeep. My uncle wanted to know, is that true?

I knew it wasnt. My work with the John Whitmer Historical Association for the last few years has allowed me to form close connections with a number of Community of Christ leaders. But since this had been preached from the pulpit as a fact, I wanted to respond with definitive facts. So I talked to my friend Barbara Walden who is the director of the Kirtland Temple, and I put the question to her directly.

This is hardly the only faith-promoting LDS rumor that is frequently repeated about the RLDS/Community of Christ. LDS Mormons seem to know a lot of facts about their Reorganized Latter Day Saint cousins. The only problem is that most of these facts arent facts at all.

Let me cover a few more myths that I hear all the time:

Does the Community of Christs experience presage the results the LDS church can expect to reap when women are eventually ordained and welcomed into the leadership? In the words of the RLDS First Presidency, the true answer is: hell, no!

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Fellow Travellers Among Additional Latter Day Saint Lineages

Non-Joseph Smith III-lineaged churches that also reject Brigham Young’s succession include:

After the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, Joseph Smith, Jr., was killed, the membership of Smith’s church were disputed among themselves over the question of succession. Several individuals emerged with claims to leadership and the church’s presidency. This led to the formation of several small factions. The majority of the church’s members in Nauvoo, Illinois followed Brigham Young, who led them to the Great Basin area as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The remaining individualswho still considered themselves part of Smith’s original churchremained many who were in scattered congregations throughout the American Midwest joined other factions led by such leaders as Sidney Rigdon, James J. Strang, Lyman Wight, Alpheus Cutler, William Smith, and David Whitmer. Others began forming themselves into the a “reorganized” Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Priesthood And Church Structure

The Church of Jesus Christ teaches that the structure of the early church and that apostles, evangelists, elders, teachers, and deacons should still lead the church today. The most important calling within the church is considered to be that of a member. The leadership is not considered a hierarchy, but rather the higher the calling the greater the service. Each leadership position within the church further adds to the service required. No office within the church is paid, including the ministry. Apostles lead the church evangelists preach to the world elders serve their various branches and missions. All of these offices are considered the “ministry” of the church. Teachers visit the membership, teach, and preach or lead services when elders are not present. Deacons visit the sick, widows, and attend to many physical and spiritual duties for each branch of the church. Deaconesses set the sacrament table and attend to the needs and development of the women of the church.

In worship services, members of the priesthood do not prepare written sermons prior to the meeting. Instead, the priesthood strives to speak under the inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Each week, church services begin with preaching from the priesthood and generally followed by a testimony portion of the meeting, during which time members of the congregation are given the opportunity to “praise God for what He has done for them.”

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Dissatisfied Liberal Mormons Find Refuge In The Community Of Christ

Increasing numbers of Mormons are seeking out the lesser-known relative of their church, which ordains women and has made steps toward LGBT inclusion

At a recent gathering of 21,000 Mormon women and girls, church officials all but avoided the elephant in the room: growing pressure from vocal members to expand womens roles. Instead, messages at the General Womens Meeting, which took place on 26 September, were about faith, happiness and purity.

While it refuses to budge on the big issue of womens ordination, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made a few concessions to its feminist dissenters.

In 2014, the womens session was designated an official part of the churchs General Conference, whereas before it was considered a separate event. In August of this year, the Mormon church appointed three women to council positions previously held only by men, but women still lack full access to leadership roles.

Kate Kelly, who was excommunicated from the Mormon church in 2014 for her feminist activism, called these recent shifts cosmetic changes.

The LDS General Conference continues this weekend and for the first time since 1906, there are three vacancies on the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the churchs second-highest governing body.

All new appointees will be men.

This new church was anti-polygamous, and defined itself primarily in opposition to the Mormon churchs practice of polygamy.

Changes In Beliefs And Practices

Since the 1960s, the church’s proselytizing outside North America have caused a re-assessment and gradual evolution of its traditional practices and beliefs.

A revelation presented by Wallace B. Smith in 1984 decreed the construction of the Independence Temple and the ordination of women to the priesthood, after long-standing calls for both. Following the retirement of Smith as Prophet-President of the Church, W. Grant McMurray was appointed as the new President. Although McMurray had been designated prophet-president by Smith, some members objected because he was the first church president who was not a direct descendant of Joseph Smith, which they considered to be a distinguishing trait from other denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement.

The current vision and mission statements of the Community of Christ were initially adopted in 1996 by the leading quorums of the church’s leadership and reflect the peace and justice centered ministries of the denomination. In its mission statement, the church declares that “e proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love and peace.” The vision statement states that “We will become a worldwide church dedicated to the pursuit of peace, reconciliation, and healing of the spirit.”

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What About The Reorganized Latter

United we stand, divided we fall has always been an encouraging reminder that there is strength in unity. However, there is also strength found in diversity.

This is especially so when comparing some of the differences in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Reorganized Latter-Day Saints churches.

When one looks at the more than 60 divisions and splits in the Mormon Church in the 160 years of its existence, it is hard to understand how it can keep growing, but both the LDS and the RLDS are growing very well.

As a matter of fact, too well with the differences they have. Gordon H. Fraser in his book , Sects of the Latter-Day Saints, Says the RLDS rejects the designation Mormon, and at present, uses the terms: The Saints Church, RLDS, or simply The Saints. Sometimes they are divisively called Josephite Mormons or Reorganites. The term, Reformed Mormons, is also thrown in from time to time. This is incorrect since there has been no reformation in the overall body, although many divisions.

The RLDS have two liberal Arts colleges: Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa and Park College in Independence, Missouri. Their publishing house is Herald Publishing House, Independence, Missouri.

Some of the doctrinal differences in the RLDS and LDS can be summarized in the headings below:

Polygamy

The LDS believe strongly in the doctrine but claims not to be practicing in the present day.

Adam-God

Baptism for the Dead

Revelation

The RLDS as a Christian Church

Reorganized Lds Church Embraces Different View Of Mormon Philosophy

Stacy J. Willis

Friday, July 2, 1999 | 11:17 a.m.

In Chronicles of Faith, the Sun will examine the state of religion and spiritual life in the Las Vegas Valley. Stories will appear periodically.

Mormon chapels speckle the Las Vegas map.

With more than 75,000 local members, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintains a high profile in Clark County.

But nestled in a small church on west Oakey Boulevard is another group that believes in the Book of Mormon and the prophetic leadership of Joseph Smith, but does not belong to the Utah-based church.

“We ordain women. We never embraced polygamy. Our temples are open to the public,” said the Rev. Patrick McClelland, pastor of the 300-member Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“Our theology is very similar to mainstream Protestant Christianity except we also believe in the Book of Mormon and the continued inspired revelation of the president of the church,” McClelland said.

Both churches sprang from the group that recognized Smith as the founder of a religion based on his receipt of divine revelation as he prayed in the New York woods in 1820.

Smith was killed in Carthage, Ill., in 1844. Disorganized without their leader, Mormons split into several sects. Some followed Brigham Young to Utah and formed what is today the 10.5 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“Brigham Young was informed of the doctrine by Joseph Smith, but he was not fond of it.

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What Are The Differences Betweenthe Rlds And Lds Faiths

Both faiths recognize Joseph Smith, Jr. as founder. However, whenJoseph Jr. was killed in 1844, the church found itself in a stateof confusion and disorganization for several years. Thus, a numberof factions developed. One group moved west to the Great SaltLake Valley under the direction of Brigham Young. Thisgroup is now known as the Mormons. Other members believed thatJoseph Smith, Jr. had designated his eldest son, Joseph III, tobe his successor as president/prophet of the church. This groupremained in the midwest and became known as the “Reorganization.”The Reorganized CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints wasofficially organized on April 6, 1860, at Amboy, Illinois, underthe leadership of Joseph Smith III. Since 1920, the church hasbeen headquartered in Independence, Missouri.

One God In Three Persons

In Trinitarian doctrine, God exists as three persons but is one being, having a single divine . The members of the Trinity are co-equal and co-eternal, one in essence, nature, power, action, and will. As stated in the , the Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated, and all three are eternal without beginning. “The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” are not names for different parts of God, but one name for God because three persons exist in God as one entity. They cannot be separate from one another. Each person is understood as having the identical essence or nature, not merely similar natures.

According to the “For, when we say: He who is the Father is not the Son, we refer to the distinction of persons but when we say: the Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, and the Holy Spirit that which the Father is and the Son is, this clearly refers to the nature or substance”.

Because such is the case , rejects the “psychological” theories of Trinity which define the Father as Knower, for example, and the Son as the Known . Scripture in one place or another identifies Knowing with each of the three Persons all told. Which is to say, according to the relationis oppositio, Knowing does not define the Persons at all, but the Unity of God instead. .

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