The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite) - History

History

See also: Category:History of the Latter Day Saint movement See also: History of The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)

The Church of Jesus Christ claims to be a continuation of the Church of Christ, which was the original church organization established by Joseph Smith, Jr. informally in 1829 and then as a legal entity on April 6, 1830 in northwestern New York state.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 place it in Manchester. Soon after this formal organization, small branches were formally established in Fayette, Manchester and Colesville.

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. In late 1830, Smith envisioned a "city of Zion" in Native American lands near Independence, Missouri. In October 1830 he sent his second-in-command Oliver Cowdery and others on a mission to the area. Passing through Kirtland, Ohio, the missionaries converted a congregation of Disciples of Christ led by Sidney Rigdon, and in 1831, Smith decided to temporarily move his followers to Kirtland until the Missouri area could be colonized. The church headquarters remained in Kirtland from 1831 to 1838.

Many of Smith's followers attempted to colonize Missouri throughout the 1830s, and Smith himself moved there in 1838. The church faced political and military opposition by other Missouri settlers. After a series of crises, the church then established its new headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois, a city they built on drained swampland by the Mississippi River, where Joseph Smith Jr. served as mayor. There, the church thrived until Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob in 1844. They were awaiting trial for crimes related to the destruction of the printing press of the Nauvoo Expositor. At the time, Joseph Smith was a minor candidate for President of the United States with Sidney Rigdon as his running mate.

When Joseph Smith was killed in 1844, there was confusion about who should succeed him in leading the church. Many of the leaders of the church were absent from Nauvoo at the time of his death, serving as missionaries or working on Joseph Smith's presidential campaign. Sidney Rigdon was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when he heard of Smith's death, and hurried back to Nauvoo, becoming one of the first church leaders to return. He quickly announced that he had the right to lead the church as its "guardian" until proper proceedings could decide the next church president, and that the Quorum of the Twelve did not have the right to lead the church. Rigdon, like the Twelve, had been ordained by Joseph Smith as a "Prophet, Seer and Revelator"

The Church of Jesus Christ maintains that the First Presidency had made nearly all the major decisions and led the Church of Christ prior to Smith's death, and as first counselor to Smith at the time of Smith's death, Rigdon thought he should naturally have been the leader of the church after Smith's death.

The Latter Day Saints who followed Rigdon separated themselves from the followers of Brigham Young. Rigdon and his followers settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On April 6, 1845, Rigdon presided over a conference of the Church of Christ, which he claimed was the rightful continuation of the church founded by Smith. William Bickerton was among those converted by Rigdon's preaching, and was baptized at Pittsburgh in 1845. Later that same year Bickerton was ordained an elder and shortly after an evangelist in the church. Rigdon’s organization disbanded shortly afterwards.

Bickerton continued to preach and by May 1851 a branch of the church was organized under Bickerton's leadership in West Elizabeth, Pennsylvania. At a conference on July 9, 1861, it was recorded that twelve of their number were chosen and called by the Holy Spirit to be apostles. The church was incorporated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in June 1865 with the legal name, "Church of Jesus Christ of Green Oak, Pennsylvania." On 5 April 1941, the church in Pennsylvania was granted the title of "The Church of Jesus Christ" by Washington County, Pennsylvania. The church today is legally registered as "The Church of Jesus Christ" in the corporate registry of the state of Pennsylvania.