{"id":28969,"date":"2020-07-17T10:55:11","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T16:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mrm.org\/?p=28969"},"modified":"2025-11-28T10:12:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T16:12:58","slug":"coc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mrm.org\/coc","title":{"rendered":"Splinter Group: The Community of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Community of Christ is the largest church following Joseph Smith after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). This is a religion that does not place much emphasis on theology as much as it does on social justice issues, including an emphasis on striving for world peace, feeding the hungry, and abolishing poverty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this, the Community of Christ has more of a feel of a liberal mainstream Protestant denominational church than a relative of the LDS Church. For most of its history, the church has been led by members of the Joseph Smith, Jr. family, beginning with Smith\u2019s son Joseph III, although the past two presidents serving over the past quarter of a century have not been named Smith<\/em>. For those who prefer a liberal alternative to the LDS Church, some ex-Mormons have found it to be convenient to switch to the Community of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Church Name<\/td>The Community of Christ (formerly called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ, or RLDS)<\/td><\/tr>
Founder<\/td>Joseph Smith III<\/td><\/tr>
Current Leader<\/td>President Stassi D. Cramm (2025- ). Previous president was Stephen M. Veazey. First presidency are Bunda C. Chibwe and Janne C. Grover.<\/td><\/tr>
Date of Founding<\/td>April 6, 1860<\/td><\/tr>
Membership<\/td>250,000 (1,100 congregations in 59 countries)\u201460% live in North America, with the rest coming from around the world. More than half of all active members speak a primary language other than English.<\/td><\/tr>
Headquarters<\/td>Independence, MO<\/td><\/tr>
Temples<\/td>Kirtland, OH and Independence, MO<\/td><\/tr>
Doctrine<\/td>Non-creedal, religiously liberal, with an emphasis on social justice<\/td><\/tr>
Scripture<\/td>The Bible, the Book of Mormon (church\u2019s own 1966 version) and the Doctrine and Covenants (its own version, which is still being added to–the last time was in 2013)<\/td><\/tr>
Salvation<\/td>Considered to be a personal matter and not subject to doctrine. Which of the three kingdoms of glory a person is destined is related to how good\/moral he\/she is. All receive some form of salvation.<\/td><\/tr>
Church\u2019s Motto<\/td>\u201cWe proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace.\u201d<\/td><\/tr>
\u201cMormon\u201d<\/td>Community of Christ members do not like to be called \u201cMormon,\u201d as there is no official relationship between the LDS Church and the Community of Christ. In earlier days, the two groups saw each other as rivals, but both have made efforts to reach out in a friendly gesture.<\/td><\/tr>
Magazine<\/td>Herald<\/td><\/tr>
Website<\/td>Cofchrist.org<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Founding of the Community of Christ<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Joseph Smith was killed in a gun battle at the Carthage Jail in June 1844, thus ending his leadership of a religion that began in 1830. While many believe Smith wanted his son to succeed him, Joseph Smith III was only 11 years old when his father was killed, which was considered too young for assuming such an important position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brigham Young was able to wrest control from several other potential leaders and was named the second president; he took the majority of the members west to Utah beginning in 1846. Today Young\u2019s church–The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–is based in Salt Lake City, UT. A number of splinter groups were developed over the next few decades, including The Church of Jesus Christ<\/a>, also known as the Bickertonites, that was initially started by early LDS leader Sidney Rigdon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 1852, Emma Smith helped organize the \u201cNew Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Joseph Smith\u2019s oldest son, Joseph III (1832-1914), agreed to be the church leader only after he had been elected as the \u201cjustice of the peace\u201d in 1857, which was considered unique since the most of the \u201cGentiles\u201d who lived in the area did not like Joseph Smith or the Mormons. (He was reelected in 1861.) The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints began on April 6, 1860.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joseph Smith III<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Joseph III began a publication called The True Latter Day Saint\u2019s Herald<\/em> in 1860 (now called the Herald<\/em>). In 1881, he relocated to Lamoni, IA, as did the church\u2019s administrative offices and printing presses of the church\u2019s Herald Publishing House. Later, many members began to return to Independence, MO, the place where his father had dedicated a plot of land in 1831 for a future temple. In 1888, the church built the \u201cStone Church.\u201d While legal title to the Kirtland temple was obtained in 1880, the leaders were never able to do the same with the Temple Lot; the church lost the \u201cTemple Lot case\u201d in the court of law in the 1890s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph III denied many of his father\u2019s later teachings, including baptism for the dead, the Book of Abraham as scripture, eternal progression, and the plurality of gods. He said these were either not true teachings of his father or they were not properly interpreted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as polygamy goes, Joseph III traveled on a number of missions to the western United States and met with women who told him they were married to his father. However, his mother\u2014Emma\u2014had insisted that her husband never married any other woman, so Joseph III adopted her position for most of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of his life, he said he was not \u201cpositive nor sure\u201d if his father had practiced polygamy; if the rumors were true, Joseph III had said, then his father’s actions were wrong. In later years, church historian Richard P. Howard was commissioned by the First Presidency to investigate the origin of polygamy\u2014Joseph Smith or Brigham Young. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard wrote a 1983 article titled \u201cThe Changing RLDS Response to Mormon Polygamy: A Preliminary Analysis\u201d concluding Smith was the originator of plural marriage, thus contradicting the official church position at that time. However, the church heavily edited the report and, Howard said, \u201cwatered down\u201d the conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph III died in 1914 and his son Frederick M. (1874-1946) became the president in 1915. Frederick M. taught a social gospel and emphasized the importance of providing for people\u2019s physical needs as well as their spiritual needs. In 1926, a building called the Auditorium was commissioned, although it took three decades for it to be finished due to the Great Depression. The Auditorium first hosted a church general conference in October 1958.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1946, Joseph Smith III\u2019s son Israel A. (1876-1958) succeeded his brother. During this time, the church remained a mainly North American religion, although a few thousand members did live in the British Isles, Europe, Australia, and the South Pacific. In 1958, W. Wallace Smith (1900-1989)\u2014another son of Joseph III\u2014took over the church presidency. During the 1960s, the church emphasized missionary work, expanding in countries such as Japan, Korea, Brazil, Nigeria, Argentina, the Philippines, and Honduras. W. Wallace retired in 1976 and handed control to his son Wallace B. Smith (1929-    ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Community of Christ temple located in Independence, MO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During Wallace\u2019s tenure, reforms were instituted, including the ordination of women to serve in priesthood (ministry roles), making communion available to those in other denominations, and building bridges with other faith communities. In 1984, Wallace claimed he received a revelation to build a spiral-shaped temple as well as allowing women to hold the priesthood, which previously was only available to men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1994, the church\u2019s temple was dedicated across the street from Temple Lot in Independence, MO as a place of \u201cworship, learning, and administration.\u201d Officially it was dedicated to \u201cthe pursuit of peace, reconciliation, and healing of the spirit.\u201d There are no \u201cordinances\u201d for either the living or the dead performed in this temple, unlike what takes place in more than 160 temples built by the LDS Church. In fact, I have had a chance to personally tour both temples in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1996, Wallace\u2014who had three girls but no boys\u2014named W. Grant McMurray (1947-   ) as the president, the first person not from the Joseph Smith family to become to the top leader. This was controversial for many followers who were bothered that a Smith descendant was no longer leading the church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Church historian Richard P. Howard estimated that 25,000 members of the church had left to join other churches because of dissatisfaction that a “Smith” was no longer head of the the church. The decline in membership may have been as high as 50% between the 1960s and the 1990s, with a one-third decline in baptisms in the U.S. and a 50% drop in giving. While the church declined in the United States, the mission program added members in a total of 59 nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2001, the church changed its name to the Community of Christ \u201cto better articulate our mission to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love and peace.\u201d McMurray resigned in 2004 and was replaced by Stephen M. Veazey in 2005. In June 2025, Stassi D. Cramm became the first female president of the church as she replaced Veazey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Church\u2019s Mission <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to the church\u2019s website, there are several mission initiatives. There are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n