Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints both descend from a common movement. In recent years both have also undergone significant changes in the way they prefer to be referred to by scholars and members of the media. When Joseph Smith and several close associates officially organized the church in 1830, they used the name “the Church of Christ” (LDS Doctrine and Covenants 20:1; CofChrist Doctrine and Covenants 17:1a). In May 1834, possibly to avoid confusion with other churches named Church of Christ, a conference of church leaders voted to change the name to “The Church of the Latter Day Saints.”[1] A revelation given to Joseph Smith at Far West, Missouri, in 1838 gave the official name of the church, declaring, “For thus shall my Church be called in the Last days even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”[2]

When the original forebears of Community of Christ formally reorganized on April 6, 1860, they also used “the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” as their name. In the decades following, the movement formally came to be called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly abbreviated as RLDS. On April 6, 2001, the name was changed to “Community of Christ” to better reflect the church’s mission to “proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love and peace.”[3] To avoid confusion, in this book we have chosen to use the name “Community of Christ” for the church, even when referring to times when the formal name of the movement was the “Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”

In 2018 leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published a statement reemphasizing the importance of using the proper name of the church as given in the 1838 revelation. Russell M. Nelson, president of the church, gave the following statement: “The Lord has impressed upon my mind the importance of the name He has revealed for His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have work before us to bring ourselves in harmony with His will.”[4] In accordance with this request, the authors in this book have generally used the full name of the church in their writing.

Proper use of terminology is a sign of respect. The authors and editors labored diligently to use the correct terms when referring to each of the churches. Even a simple term like “Latter-day Saint” was carefully used. Members of Community of Christ generally use the term “Latter Day Saint” with a capital D. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints generally use the term “Latter-day Saint” with a hyphenated, lowercase d. We have tried to use the terms carefully, with “Latter Day Saints” referring to the entire Restoration movement and all the churches that came from those roots. “Latter-day Saints” usually refers to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While the Book of Mormon remains a vital part of both faiths, we have also generally avoided the term “Mormon” to refer to either faith, since both churches feel strongly about the use of their proper names and the connections each provides to Jesus Christ and his teachings. If there are any errors or mistakes in the book regarding these terminologies, we offer our sincere apologies. We have attempted to be as sensitive as possible.

Notes

[1] “Communicated,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, 160.

[2] “Revelation, 26 April 1838 [D&C 115],” p. 33, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-26-april-1838-dc-115/2; see also LDS Doctrine and Covenants 115:4.

[3] “The Community of Christ Story,” Community of Christ, https://www.CofChrist.org/history.

[4] Russell M. Nelson, quoted in “The Name of the Church,” August 16, 2018, newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.