Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) from 1872 to 2001, is a US-based international church and the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. The church reports approximately 250,000 members in 1,100 congregations across 59 countries. It traces its origins to Joseph Smith’s establishment of the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830. After Smith’s death in 1844, the movement fractured into multiple competing groups following a succession crisis. While many Saints followed Brigham Young west to Utah, others rejected his leadership and believed authority should remain within Joseph Smith’s family line or continue through the original Midwestern branches of the church. Over the following years, these scattered groups gradually reorganized in the Midwest around the idea of lineal succession through Smith’s eldest surviving son. On April 6, 1860, Joseph Smith III formally accepted leadership of the reorganized church at Amboy, Illinois, giving structure to what became the RLDS Church.

Community of Christ is a Restorationist faith, but many practices and beliefs are congruent with mainline Protestant Christianity. While it generally rejects the term Mormon to describe its members, the church retains several theological distinctions unusual outside the broader Latter Day Saint tradition, including ongoing prophetic leadership, a priesthood polity, the use of the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants as scripture, belief in the cause of Zion, the building of temples, and adherence to its interpretation of the Word of Wisdom. In many respects, the church differs from the larger The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and most other Latter Day Saint denominations through its religious liberalism, belief in a more traditional conception of the Trinity, and rejection of exaltation and the LDS plan of salvation. Salvation is generally considered a personal matter rather than a rigid doctrinal system, while salvation by grace is strongly emphasized. The church considers itself non-creedal and accepts people with a wide range of beliefs. Church teachings emphasize that “all are called” as “persons of worth” to “share the peace of Christ.”

Community of Christ worship tends to follow a more free-form structure, placing greater emphasis on scripture readings shaped by the Revised Common Lectionary. From its headquarters in Independence, the church focuses heavily on evangelism, peace and justice ministries, spirituality and wholeness, youth ministries, and outreach work.

Latter Day Saint scholars, including some within Community of Christ itself, have at times described the church as “adrift,” arguing that it is no longer distinctly Mormon while also not fully fitting within mainline Protestantism. Over the last several decades, the church has made a deliberate effort to de-mythologize parts of its past, often treating the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith as inspired but imperfect rather than historically infallible. Historian Ken Mulliken argued that this shift contributed to a form of “historical amnesia,” in which the church gradually moved away from earlier Restorationist identity in favor of a broader focus on community, social engagement, and shared Christian mission.

Additional Reading

The Church Through the Years (affiliate link)

First published in the 1960s and later expanded through additional editions, the work traces the development of the church from the death of Joseph Smith through the reorganization movement of the Midwest and into the modern RLDS era.

Howard served for years as the official historian of the RLDS Church, and that insider position shapes the tone of the book. It was written largely to preserve and explain the church’s institutional identity at a time when the RLDS tradition was attempting to define itself separately from the Utah-based The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Because of that, the book strongly emphasizes the RLDS view of succession, arguing that authority remained with the line of Joseph Smith rather than passing to Brigham Young and the Twelve.

One of the book’s biggest strengths is its detailed treatment of the years immediately following the 1844 succession crisis. Howard spends significant time documenting the scattered branches that rejected Brigham Young, the gradual consolidation of the reorganization movement, and the eventual acceptance of leadership by Joseph Smith III in 1860. For readers interested in the non-Utah branches of Mormonism, this material is especially valuable because many mainstream Mormon histories devote comparatively little attention to these groups.

The book also reflects the transitional nature of RLDS scholarship during the mid-20th century. Howard generally wrote from a believing perspective, but he was also part of an emerging movement within the RLDS tradition that became more open to historical criticism and less dependent on strict literalism. That makes the work historically interesting in its own right because it captures a denomination beginning to reevaluate parts of its own narrative while still trying to preserve continuity with its Restoration roots.

While newer scholarship has expanded on many areas Howard covered, The Church Through the Years remains one of the most important institutional histories ever produced within the RLDS/Community of Christ tradition. It is still widely referenced by historians studying the broader Latter Day Saint movement, especially those interested in the development of the Reorganization and its gradual transformation into the modern Community of Christ.

Source Notice:

This article contains material adapted from Wikipedia under the CC BY-SA license. Original article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_Christ