the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church), a church membership council (formerly called a disciplinary council) is an ecclesiastical event during which a church member's status is considered, typically for alleged violations of church standards. If a church member is found to have committed an offense by a membership council, they may have their name removed from church records, or their church membership may be otherwise restricted. Church membership councils are at times referred to unofficially as

church court An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages, these courts had much wider powers in many areas of Europe than be ...

Purposes

According to the church's ''

General Handbook The ''General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' is an on-line book of instructions and policies for leaders and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The contents are prepared ...

'', the purposes of church membership councils are to:LDS Church, ''

''
§32

#Help protect others; #Help a person access the redeeming power of Jesus Christ through repentance; and #Protect the integrity of the church.

Structure and procedures

Ward church membership council

A church membership council may convened by the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of a local

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

(congregation). In such an instance, the council is composed of the bishop and his two counselors. The ward clerk will also be present to take notes of the proceedings. Attendance of the ward

Relief Society The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, United States, and has more than 7 million members in over 18 ...

president (for women) or elders

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

president (for men) is optional. After hearing all of the evidence in the case, the bishop and his counselors are encouraged to make a joint, unanimous decision on the outcome. However, the bishop has the final say and can theoretically make a decision over the protest of either or both of his counselors.

Stake church membership council

A stake church membership council is convened by the

stake president A stake is an administrative unit composed of multiple congregations in certain denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. The name "stake" derives from the Book of Isaiah: "enlarge the place of thy tent; stretch forth the curtains of thine ha ...

in instances where it appears that a member who has received their temple endowment has committed an offense which may result in withdrawal of membership, or when the subject is a member of a bishop's immediate family. In such instances, the council is composed of the stake president and his two counselors. Attendance of the member's bishop, Relief Society president (for women), or elders quorum president (for men) is optional. The twelve members of the stake high council also participate when there are contested facts, they would add value and balance, the member requests their participation, or a member of the stake presidency or his family is involved. After hearing the evidence in the case and the submissions of the high councilors (if any)—one half of whom speak on behalf of the accused—the stake president and his counselors are encouraged to make a joint, unanimous decision on the outcome. However, the stake president has the final say and can theoretically make a decision over the protest of either or both of his counselors.

Mission membership council

mission president Mission president is a priesthood leadership position in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). A mission president presides over a geographic area known as a mission and the missionaries serving in the mission. Depending on ...

can convene a church membership council for a full-time

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

within his

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

or a member within a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

of his mission. He can also authorize

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk (botany), trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' ...

district president A district of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is a geographical administrative unit composed of a number of congregations called branches. A district is a subdivision of a mission of the church and in many ways is a ...

s in a district to convene church membership councils.

Common Council of the Church

If the need arises to convene a church membership council for the church's president or one of his counselors in the

First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...

, the

Common Council of the Church In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Common Council of the Church is a body of the church that has the power to discipline or remove the President of the Church or one of his counselors in the First Presidency due to misbehavior. Its existence and ...

must be convened by the church's presiding bishop. The Common Council is made up of the presiding bishop and his counselors and twelve other high priests selected by the presiding bishop. The Common Council has only been convened twice: In August 1838, after the return of

Zion's Camp Zion's Camp was an expedition of Latter Day Saints led by Joseph Smith, from Kirtland, Ohio, to Clay County, Missouri, during May and June 1834 in an unsuccessful attempt to regain land from which the Saints had been expelled by non-Mormon settle ...

, the Council formally convened for the first time to consider charges made by Sylvester Smith against

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, he ...

, who was eventually cleared. In September 1844, Presiding Bishop

Newel K. Whitney Newel Kimball Whitney (February 5, 1795 – September 23, 1850, his first name being sometimes found as Newell) was a prominent member and leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an American businessman. Whitney married Elizabeth Ann Smith in ...

convened a Common Council which excommunicated

Sidney Rigdon Sidney Rigdon (February 19, 1793 – July 14, 1876) was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement. Biography Early life Rigdon was born in St. Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 1793. He was ...

, who was the senior surviving member of the First Presidency after the

death of Joseph Smith Joseph Smith, the founder and leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother, Hyrum Smith, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, United States, on June 27, 1844, while awaiting trial in the town jail. As mayor of the city of N ...

Evidence

The council begins by the presiding officer stating the reported misconduct and asking the accused person to admit or deny it. If the person denies the misconduct, the presiding officer or a designee presents the evidence of the misconduct. Evidence may be presented in the form of written or oral statements by witnesses or other documents. An accused person's previous confession cannot be used as evidence in a disciplinary council without the member's consent. The accused member is given a chance to question the witnesses against them. After the evidence against the accused is presented, the accused is permitted to present evidence in response. The accused can comment on the evidence and make any other statement they want to make. All witnesses and the accused may also be questioned by any member of the disciplinary council. No witness is placed under oath. Since the disciplinary council is an ecclesiastical court, rules of evidence that govern domestic courts do not apply. If the accused person admits to the conduct in question, no evidence is presented before the council.

Decision

Once a decision has been reached by the church membership council, the decision is announced to the accused person and the presiding officer explains the conditions that are imposed by the decision. The accused is also informed of his or her right to appeal the decision. Other members of the church may be notified of the decision in certain circumstances.

Appeal

An accused member may appeal the decision of the church membership council within 30 days of the decision being made. Appeals of a ward memberhsip council are made to the stake church membership council (i.e. the stake president and his two counselors). An appeal of the decision of a stake or mission church membership council is to the church's First Presidency. An appeal of a decision of a church membership council convened by a branch president or a district president in a mission is to the mission president. The body hearing the appeal may vary the decision of the council in any way or let the original decision stand.

Records

The proceedings of the church membership council are submitted electronically to the office of the First Presidency where the information it contains is permanently stored. It is also reviewed by the body hearing the appeal if an appeal is made. Stake presidents are permitted to request records of past councils for members of their stake from the office of the First Presidency. Bishops may request records of past councils for members of their ward. In the case of withdrawal of membership, the person is removed from church records.

Qualifying offences

When a church membership council is mandatory

The LDS Church has instructed leaders that a church membership council is mandatory when evidence suggests that a member of the church may have committed any of the following offences against the standards of the church:

Murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

;

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

;

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

conviction; child or youth abuse; abuse of a spouse or another adult; predatory behavior (violent,

sexual Sex is the biological distinction of an organism between male and female. Sex or SEX may also refer to: Biology and behaviour *Animal sexual behaviour **Copulation (zoology) **Human sexual activity **Non-penetrative sex, or sexual outercourse ** ...

, or financial);

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

;

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...

;

plural marriage Polygamy (called plural marriage by Latter-day Saints in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more tha ...

; serious sin while holding a prominent church position; and most felony convictions.

When a church membership council may be appropriate

The LDS Church has instructed leaders that a church membership council ''may'' be appropriate when evidence suggests that a member may have committed any of the following offenses against the standards of the church (whether or not a disciplinary council will be held will depend on the facts of the situation and is generally left to the discretion of the bishop or stake president):

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ye ...

;

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

, including assault and

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...

; abuse of a spouse or another adult;

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

, fornication, or same-sex relations;

cohabitation Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not married, usually couples, live together. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become increas ...

civil union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

s and

partnerships A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, business entity, businesses, interest-based organizations, schoo ...

, or

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

; intensive or compulsive use of

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

that has caused significant harm to a member's marriage or family;

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

, burglary,

theft Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

, or

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

;

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

; serious sin while holding a position of authority or trust in the church or the community; serious sin that is widely known;

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

; pattern of serious sins; deliberate abandonment of family responsibilities, including nonpayment of

child support Child support (or child maintenance) is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child (or parent, caregiver, guardian) following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is paid d ...

and

alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial suppo ...

; sale of

illegal drugs The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate the ...

; other serious criminal acts;

apostasy Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that i ...

; and embezzlement of church funds.

When a membership council is not appropriate

The LDS Church has instructed leaders that church membership councils are not appropriately held to resolve or deal with the following circumstances: inactivity in the church; not fulfilling church duties; not paying

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...

; sins of omission;

masturbation Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...

; not complying with the

Word of Wisdom The "Word of Wisdom" is the common name of an 1833 section of the Doctrine and Covenants, a book considered by many churches within the Latter Day Saint movement to be a sacred text. The section defines beliefs regarding certain drugs, nutritious ...

; using

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

, except for child pornography or intensive or compulsive use of pornography that has caused significant harm to a member's marriage or family; business failures or nonpayment of debts; and civil disputes.

Possible outcomes

A disciplinary council may reach one of four possible outcomes: #Remain in good standing. This is the result when the church membership council determines that no offense has taken place. However, even if it is determined that an offense did occur, the council may impose no formal action and instead give "cautionary counsel" or recommend consultation with the member's bishop for caution or counsel. #Personal counseling with the bishop or stake president and informal membership restriction (formerly known as "informal probation"). This action temporarily restricts or suspends a member's privileges of church membership in the way specified by the council. Possible actions could include suspending the right to partake of the

sacrament A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...

, hold a church calling, exercise the priesthood, or enter the

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

. #Formal membership restrictions (formerly known as "disfellowshipment"). A person who has formal membership restrictions is still a member of the Church but is no longer in good standing. A person with a formal membership restriction may not hold a

temple recommend In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord. Temples are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually ...

, serve in a church calling, or exercise the priesthood. Members under these restrictions may attend public meetings of the church, but may not give a sermon, teach a lesson, offer a public prayer, partake of the

, or vote in sustaining church officers. However, such members may pay

and

fast offerings Fast offering is the term used in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to denote money or usable commodities donated to the church, which are then used to provide financial or other assistance to those in need. The local Bish ...

and continue to wear the

temple garment A temple garment, also referred to as garments, the garment of the holy priesthood, or Mormon underwear, is a type of underwear worn by adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement after they have taken part in the endowment ceremony. Garments are ...

. If the member expresses repentance and abides by the conditions imposed upon them, formal membership restrictions usually last approximately one year. Only a reconvened church membership council can remove the condition of membership restriction. Formal membership restriction is considered a relatively severe action which is adequate for most serious transgressions. #Withdrawal of membership (formerly known as "excommunication"). An individual whose membership is withdrawn is no longer a member of the LDS Church. All of the restrictions of a formal membership restriction also apply to individuals who have their membership withdrawn. In addition, such a person is not permitted to pay

or wear the

. Withdrawal of membership is the most serious sanction a church membership council can impose and is generally reserved for only the most severe offenses. Withdrawal of church membership is mandatory for murder and is almost always required for incest. Withdrawal of membership may also be appropriate for members who have had formal membership restrictions placed upon them and have not repented. Withdrawal of membership almost always lasts at least one year; only a reconvened membership council may approve a person's readmittance to the church through

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

Notes

References

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