Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints

The Church of Christ was the original name of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. Organized informally in 1829 in northwestern New York and then as a legal entity on April 6, 1830, it was the first organization to implement the principles found in Smith's newly published Book of Mormon, and thus represents the formal beginning of the Latter Day Saint movement. Later names for this organization included the Church of the Latter Day Saints (by 1834 resolution), the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of God, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (by an 1838 revelation).

Smith and his associates asserted that the Church of Christ was a restoration of the 1st-century Christian church, which Smith claimed had fallen from God's favor and authority because of what he called a "Great Apostasy". After Smith's death in 1844, there was a crisis of authority, with the majority of the members following Brigham Young to Utah Territory, but with several smaller denominations remaining in Illinois or settling in Missouri and in other states. Each of the churches that resulted from this schism considers itself to be the rightful continuation of Smith's original 'Church of Christ', regardless of the name they may currently bear (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Community of Christ, Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), Church of Christ (Temple Lot), etc.).

This church should be distinguished from other bodies bearing the same name, including the United Church of Christ, a Reformed church body, and the Churches of Christ, an offshoot of the Campbellite movement. Today, there are Latter Day Saint churches called "Church of Christ", largely within the Hedrickite branch of the movement.

Read more about Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints:  Doctrinal Development Prior To 1830, Organization of The Church, Succession Claims

Famous quotes containing the words church, jesus, christ, day and/or saints:

    There warn’t anybody at the church, except maybe a hog or two, for there warn’t any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summertime because it’s cool. If you notice, most folks don’t go to church only when they’ve got to; but a hog is different.
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    Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
    Bible: New Testament, Matthew 18:21,22.

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