The Amboy Conference was the setting of the official "re-organization" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints into the

Latter Day Saint The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...

denomination known since 2001 as the Community of Christ. Held on April 6, 1860, this conference recognized movement founder,

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...

's eldest son,

Joseph Smith III Joseph Smith III (November 6, 1832 – December 10, 1914) was the eldest surviving son of Joseph Smith (founder of the Latter Day Saint movement) and Emma Hale Smith. Joseph Smith III was the Prophet-President of what became the Reorganized Chu ...

as his rightful successor and sustained the young Joseph as

President of the Church In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed succe ...

. Elder Zenas H. Gurley Sr. presided over the conference which was held in

Amboy, Illinois Amboy is a city in Lee County, Illinois, United States, along the Green River. The population was 2,500 at the 2010 census. The chain of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. began in Amboy when Samuel Carson opened his first dry goods store there in 1854. ...

, and Samuel Powers and Edmund Briggs were reported to preach powerful sermons and bear strong testimonies of the restored gospel.

addressed the conference and told the assembled Latter Day Saints that he had accepted the calling "in obedience to a power not my own, and I shall be dictated by the power that sent me." Smith also denounced the practice of plural marriage, stating that it was in opposition to the doctrine contained in the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

. He affirmed his allegiance to the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

and laws of the United States and he said that the church must act in accordance with those laws that there be no antagonism between church and state. Both Smith and his mother

Emma Hale Smith Bidamon Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 – April 30, 1879) was an American homesteader, the official wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as ...

were accepted into the church without

rebaptism Rebaptism in Christianity is the baptism of a person who has previously been baptized, usually in association with a denomination that does not recognize the validity of the previous baptism. When a denomination rebaptizes members of another denomi ...

, as their original baptisms were considered to remain valid. After the conference, Smith and his mother returned to their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois, from where he began to preside over the affairs of the newly reorganized church. In 1872, the church was renamed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which was a reference to the reorganization which occurred at the Amboy Conference.

References

*Richard P. Howard, ''The Church Through the Years,'' Herald House: 1992. * Roger D. Launius, ''Joseph III: Pragmatic Prophet,'' University of Illinois Press: 1995. Community of Christ History of the Latter Day Saint movement Latter Day Saint movement in Illinois 1860 in Illinois 1860 in Christianity April 1860 events {{LDS-stub