The Church of Christ, later called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was the original name of the church founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. Organized informally in 1829 and then as a legal entity on April 6 1830 in northwestern New York, it was the first organization implementing the principles found in Smith's newly-published Book of Mormon, and represents the formal beginning of the Latter Day Saint movement.

Smith and his associates intended that the Church of Christ would be a restoration of the 1st-century Christian church, which Smith taught had fallen from God's favor and authority because of a Great Apostasy. Upon Smith's death in 1844, there was a crisis of authority, with the majority of the members following Brigham Young to Utah Territory and several smaller denominations remaining in the surrounding states. All of the churches that resulted from this schism consider themselves to be the rightful continuation of the original 'Church of Christ'.

History of the Latter Day Saint concept of a Church of Christ

There isn't a known record of an early Mormon concept of a Church of Christ prior to Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon from April to June 1829. During the course of this translation, the outlines gradually became apparent for a community of believers, with authority from God, ordinances such as baptism, and ordained clergy. Some time in April 1829, Smith translated a story of Alma the Elder, the former priest of a wicked king, who baptized his followers by immersion, "having authority from the Almighty God", and called his community of believers the "church of God, or the church of Christ". ( ). The book described the clergy in Alma's church as consisting of priests, who were unpaid and were to "preach nothing save it were repentance and faith in the Lord". ( ). Alma later established many churches, which were considered "one church" because "there was nothing preached in all the churches except it were repentance and faith in God." ( ). In addition to priests, the book mentions that the clergy of these churches also included teachers. ( ). Later, the book mentioned that the churches had elders. ( ).

Nevertheless, in May 1829, a revelation by Smith described the "church" in informal terms: "Behold, this is my doctrine: whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church: whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me, but is against me: therefore, he is not of my church." (Book of Commandments 9:16). Smith's further dictation of the Book of Mormon also stated that there were "two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil". ( ).

As a response to the book's ideas about baptism and the organization of churches, Joseph Smith, Jr. and Oliver Cowdery baptized each other by immersion in May 1829. They also began baptizing dozens of people, as early as June 1829. (History of the Church 1:6, p. 59). These converts, however, did not belong to an actual formal church organization. Nevertheless, this community of believers referred to themselves as "the Church of Christ", and included converts in three New York towns: Fayette, Manchester, and Colesville.

In June 1829, in response to concerns by Oliver Cowdery, Smith dictated a revelation stating that "in [the Book of Mormon] are all things written, concerning my church, my gospel, and my rock. Wherefore if you shall build up my church, and my gospel, and my rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you." (Book of Commandments, p. 35, verses 3-4). Some time between June and December 1829, Oliver Cowdery said he received a revelation about "how he should build up his church & the manner thereof". This revelation was called the "Articles of the Church of Christ", and it indicated that the church should ordain priests and teachers "according to the gifts & callings of God unto men". The church was to meet regularly to partake of bread and wine. Cowdery was described as "an Apostle of Jesus Christ". According to David Whitmer, by April 1830, this informal "Church of Christ" had about six elders and 70 members. (Whitmer, Address to All Believers, 1887, p. 33).

Organization of the church

On April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith, Jr., Oliver Cowdery, and a group of approximately 30 believers met to formally organize the Church of Christ into a legal institution. Traditionally, this is said to have occurred at the home of Peter Whitmer, Sr. in Fayette, New York, but early accounts also place it in Manchester. Soon after this formal organization, small branches were formally established in Fayette, Manchester, and Colesville.

Location of the organization

Eye-witnesses who said the church was organized in the Smith home include Joseph Smith, Jr. ,William Smith , and Joseph Knight, Sr. , and several non-believing Palmyra residents ( ). These witnesses generally assume that the Smith home was located in Manchester, but it was technically located north of the Manchester border in Palmyra . In his 1838 manuscript history, however, Joseph Smith, Jr. contradicted his other published statements and placed the organization at the Whitmer home in Fayette. In 1887, eye-witness David Whitmer also recollected that the event occurred in his father's home in Fayette . However, years earlier in 1875, Whitmer had already told a reporter that the event occurred in Manchester .

Events at the organization

By later accounts, the April 6 organizational meeting was a charismatic event, in which members of the congregation had visions, prophesied, spoke in tongues, ecstatically shouted praises to the Lord, and fainted. (Joseph Smith History, 1839 draft). Also, the church formally ordained a lay ministry, with the priesthood offices of deacon, teacher, priest, and elder. Smith and Cowdery, according to their 1831 account, were each ordained as "an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church". ("Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ", Painesville Telegraph, April 19, 1831). This account was edited in 1835 to state that Smith was ordained the "First Elder", and Oliver Cowdery was ordained the "Second Elder." (LDS D&C 20:2-3).

The name of the church

Historical background

In the early 1800s, Alexander Campbell and others began to popularize the idea among Christians in the United States that the division among Christian sects had been caused by a Great Apostasy from the original teachings of Jesus, practiced by the primitive Christian church. Campbell and his associates founded the Restoration Movement, arguing that the true practices of Christianity could be achieved by restoring practices described in the New Testament. The Restorationists also intended to eliminate sectarianism, arguing that there should be only one Christian church and that it should be named, the "Church of Christ."

Some historians of religion categorize the Latter Day Saint movement as part of or an off-shoot of the larger Restoration movement, but there are significant differences. While early Latter Day Saints believed in the need to "restore" the "true church of Jesus Christ", they also believed that direct authority from God was essential for the restoration to be valid. Joseph Smith, Jr., the Latter Day Saint movement's founder, claimed to possess that authority as a Prophet.

Smith's revelations authorized and commanded the organization of the Church of Christ in 1830, and in many of the revelations Smith claimed to receive, God referred to the church by that name. Smith taught that this church was a restoration of the primitive Christian church established by Jesus in the first century A.D. Moreover, Smith taught that this restoration occurred in the "Latter Days" of the world, i.e., the time immediately prior to the Second Coming of Jesus.

Early changes

The fact that the churches of other Christian Restorationists, including the Campbellites, were also named the "Church of Christ" caused a considerable degree of confusion in the first years of the Latter Day Saint movement. Because of the distinct belief in the Book of Mormon among Smith's followers, people outside the church began to refer them as "Mormonites" or "Mormons." Smith and other church elders considered the name "Mormon" derogatory. In May 1834, the church adopted a resolution that the church would be known thereafter as The Church of the Latter Day Saints. At various times the church was also referred to as The Church of Jesus Christ and The Church of God.

In the late 1830s, Smith and those loyal to him founded a new headquarters in Far West, Missouri. At Far West in 1838, Smith announced a revelation renaming the organization the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Later variations

Up to the time of Smith's assassination, the church was known alternatively as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After Smith's death, competing Latter Day Saint denominations organized under the leadership of a number of successors. The largest of these, led by Brigham Young and now based in Salt Lake City, Utah, continued using Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints until incorporating in 1851, when the church standardized the spelling of its name as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Followers of James J. Strang use the spelling of the public domain name, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as the name of their church.

The name Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was also used by members who recognized Smith's son, Joseph Smith III, as his father's successor. Smith III became prophet-president of this group on April 6, 1860. However, the church incorporated in 1872 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to distinguish it from the larger Utah church, at the time in the midst of federal issues related to polygamy. In 2001, the church changed its name again to "Community of Christ"—consciously echoing the original "Church of Christ" name.

The Sidney Rigdon group dwindled until one of its elders, William Bickerton, reorganized in 1862 under the name The Church of Jesus Christ.

Other Latter Day Saint denominations returned to the original name or a variation of it, including the Church of Christ , the Church of Jesus Christ , and the now-extinct Church of Christ .

Succession claims

Virtually every Latter Day Saint denomination claims to be the rightful successor to the original Church of Christ and claims Joseph Smith, Jr. as its founding prophet or first president. For example, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Community of Christ, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , Church of Christ ,, and Church of Christ with the Elijah Message all claim to have been organized by Smith on 6 April 1830, the date on which the Church of Christ was organized. Other denominations, such as The Church of Jesus Christ , acknowledge that their organizations were created after this date, but nevertheless claim to be a re-establishment of the original church.

In an 1880 lawsuit, an Ohio court declared that the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church, since renamed "Community of Christ") was the lawful successor to Smith's original Church of Christ. The court also explicitly held that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not the lawful successor because it "has materially and largely departed from the faith, doctrines, law, ordinances and usages of the said original Church".

In 1894, a federal United States court in Missouri held again that the RLDS Church was the lawful successor to the original church. However, on appeal the entire case was dismissed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit without any discussion by the court of the issue of legal succession.

See also

• History of the Latter Day Saint movement

Notes

1. Joseph Smith (B. H. Roberts ed.). History of the Church 1:75–77.
2. "The Saints", Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 20, pp. 158–159.
3. "Minutes of a Conference", Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 20, p. 160.
4. B.H. Roberts (ed.) History of the Church vol. 3, p. 24, footnote.
5. Manuscript History of the Church, LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) 1:302–303.
6. H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters (1994). Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) p. 160.
7. LESSON: LAW AND THE CHURCH AS AN INSTITUTION
8. Saints' Herald, 19 March 1972, p. 6
9. A Brief History of Mormonism, Mormon History Association
10. Timeline of Selected Events in Church History, History of the Church - LDS Newsroom, lds.org, accessed 2009-04-03.
11. Faith and Beliefs, cofchrist.org, accessed 2009-04-03.
12. History and Succession, strangite.org, accessed 2009-04-03.
13. History of the Church of Christ, churchofchrist-tl.org, accessed 2009-04-03.
14. Brief Historical Background of The Church of Christ: "The Church With The Elijah Message", accessed 2009-04-03.
15. Our Mission, thechurchofjesuschrist.com, accessed 2009-04-03.
16. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Williams, Record T, 1880, p. 488, Court of Common Pleas, Lake County Courthouse, Painesville, Ohio.
17. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ, 60 F. 937 (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894).
18. Church of Christ in Missouri v. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 70 F. 179 (8th Cir. 1895).

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