Portal:LDS Church
- For a topic outline on this subject, see Outline of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Portal
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a restorationist, nontrinitarian Christian denomination that is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. The church is headquartered in the United States in Salt Lake City, Utah and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, it has over 17 million members and over 99,000 volunteer missionaries. As of 2012, the church was the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the U.S. As of 2023, the church reported over 6.8 million U.S. members. The church was founded as the Church of Christ in western New York, in 1830 by Joseph Smith during the Second Great Awakening. Under Smith's leadership, the church's headquarters moved successively to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. After Smith's 1844 death and a resultant succession crisis, the majority of his followers sided with Brigham Young, who led the church to its current headquarters in Salt Lake City. Young and his successors continued the church's growth, first throughout the Intermountain West, and more recently as a national and international organization. Church theology includes the Christian doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ, and his substitutionary atonement on behalf of mankind. The church has an open canon of four scriptural texts: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C), and the Pearl of Great Price. Other than the Bible, the majority of the church canon consists of material the church's members believe to have been revealed by God to Joseph Smith, including commentary and exegesis about the Bible, texts described as lost parts of the Bible, and other works believed to be written by ancient prophets, including the Book of Mormon. Because of doctrinal differences, many Christian groups consider the church to be distinct and separate from mainstream Christianity. Members of the church, known as Latter-day Saints or informally as Mormons, believe that the church president is a modern-day "prophet, seer, and revelator" and that Jesus Christ, under the direction of God the Father, leads the church by revealing his will and delegating his priesthood keys to its president. The president heads a hierarchical structure descending from areas to stakes and wards. The church has a volunteer clergy at the local and regional levels; wards are led by bishops, who are drawn from the membership of the wards themselves. Male members may be ordained to the priesthood, provided they are living the standards of the church. Women are not ordained to the priesthood, but occupy leadership roles in some church organizations. Both men and women may serve as missionaries. The church maintains a large missionary program that proselytizes and conducts humanitarian services worldwide. The church also funds and participates in humanitarian projects independent of its missionary efforts. Members adhere to church laws of sexual purity, health, fasting, and Sabbath observance, and contribute ten percent of their income to the church in tithing. The church teaches ordinances through which adherents make covenants with God, including baptism, confirmation, the sacrament, priesthood ordination, endowment and celestial marriage. The church has been criticized throughout its history. Modern criticism includes disputes over the church's historical claims, treatment of minorities, and finances. The church's practice of polygamy was controversial until it was curtailed in 1890 and officially rescinded in 1904. (Full article...) Selected articleThe history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has three main periods, described generally as:
The LDS Church originated in the burned-over district within Western New York. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was raised in this region during the Second Great Awakening. Smith gained a small following in the late 1820s as he was dictating the Book of Mormon, which he said was a translation of inscriptions found on a set of golden plates buried near his home in Upstate New York by an Indigenous American prophet named Moroni. (Full article...) Selected image Selected history Missouri Executive Order 44 (known as the Mormon Extermination Order) was a state executive order issued by Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs on October 27, 1838, in the aftermath of the Battle of Crooked River—a clash between members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a unit of the state militia in northern Ray County during the 1838 Mormon War. Claiming that the Latter-day Saints had committed open and avowed defiance of the law and had made war upon the people of Missouri, Governor Boggs directed that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description". The order was directed to General John Bullock Clark, and it was implemented by the state militia to forcefully displace the Latter-day Saints from their lands in Missouri. In response to the order, the Mormons surrendered and subsequently sought refuge in Nauvoo, Illinois. (Full article...) Selected LocationThe Mesa Arizona Temple (formerly the Arizona Temple; nicknamed the Lamanite Temple) is the seventh operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The intent to build the temple was announced on October 1, 1919, by church president Heber J. Grant, during the church's general conference. Located in the city of Mesa, Arizona, as of April 2024, it is the first of the church's seven temples built or planned in the state, with three of those in Maricopa County. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on April 25, 1922, and the dedication, conducted by Grant, was on October 23, 1927. (Full article...) Did you know?
Selected biography John Taylor (1 November 1808 – 25 July 1887) was an English-born religious leader who served as the third president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1880 to 1887. He is the first and so far only president of the LDS Church to have been born outside the United States. (Full article...) Selected Anniversaries
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CategoriesRelated portalsLDS Church topicsHistory of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Extermination Order - Mormon handcart pioneers - Mormon Battalion - Succession crisis - Mormon Reformation - Mountain Meadows massacre Standard Works: Old Testament - New Testament - Book of Mormon - Doctrine and Covenants - Pearl of Great Price Things you can do
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