Intellectual Reserve

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded during the Second Great Awakening, the church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, , it has over 17.5 million members, of which over 6.8 million live in the U.S. The church also reports over 109,000 volunteer missionaries and 202 dedicated temples.

The church was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, originally as the Church of Christ in western New York. Under Smith's leadership, the church's headquarters moved successively to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. After his death in 1844 and the 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 later as a national and international organization. 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 The church's practice of polygamy was controversial until it was curtailed in 1890 and officially rescinded in 1904.

Church theology is restorationist and nontrinitarian; the church identifies as Christian and includes a belief in the doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ and his substitutionary atonement on behalf of mankind. It is often included in the lists of larger Christian denominations, though most Catholics, Orthodox Christians and evangelicals, and some Mainline Protestants have considered the LDS Church to be distinct and separate from mainstream Christianity. The church has an open canon of four scriptural texts: the Holy 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 believed by the church's members to have been revealed by God to Joseph Smith, including texts described as lost parts of the Bible, and other works believed to have been written by ancient prophets, including the Book of Mormon. 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, endowment, and celestial marriage.

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 authority to its president. The president heads a hierarchical structure descending from areas to stakes and wards. At the local and regional levels, the church has a volunteer clergy, and wards are led by bishops. Male members may be ordained to the priesthood, provided they are living by the standards of the church. Women are not ordained to the priesthood but occupy leadership roles in some church organizations. The church maintains a large missionary program that proselytizes and conducts humanitarian services worldwide; both men and women may serve as missionaries. The church also funds and participates in humanitarian projects which are independent of its missionary efforts.

History

Beginnings

Joseph Smith formally organized the church as the Church of Christ, on April 6, 1830, in western New York; the church's name was later changed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Initial converts were drawn to the church in part because of the newly published Book of Mormon, a self-described chronicle of Indigenous American prophets that Smith said he had translated from golden plates.

Smith intended to establish the New Jerusalem in North America, called Zion. In 1831, the church moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri, where Smith planned to eventually move the church headquarters. However, in 1833, Missouri settlers violently expelled the Latter Day Saints from Jackson County. The church attempted to recover the land through a paramilitary expedition, but did not succeed. Nevertheless, the church flourished in Kirtland as Smith published new revelations and the church built the Kirtland Temple, culminating in a dedication of the building similar to the day of Pentecost. The Kirtland era ended in 1838, after a financial scandal rocked the church and caused widespread defections. Smith regrouped with the remaining church in Far West, Missouri, but tensions soon escalated into violent conflicts with the Missouri settlers. Believing the Latter Day Saints to be an insurrection, the Missouri governor ordered that they be " exterminated or driven from the State". In 1839, the Latter Day Saints converted a swampland on the banks of the Mississippi River into Nauvoo, Illinois, which became the church's new headquarters.

Nauvoo grew rapidly as missionaries sent to Europe and elsewhere gained new converts who flooded into Nauvoo. Meanwhile, Smith introduced polygamy to his closest associates. He also established ceremonies, which he stated the Lord had revealed to him, to allow righteous people to become gods in the afterlife, and a secular institution to govern the Millennial kingdom. He also introduced the church to a full accounting of his First Vision, in which he claimed that two heavenly "personages" appeared to him at age 14. This vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in human history since the resurrection of Jesus.

On June 27, 1844, Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, while being held on charges of treason. Because Hyrum was Joseph's designated successor, their deaths caused a succession crisis, and Brigham Young assumed leadership over a majority of the church's membership.

Other splinter groups followed other leaders around this time. These groups have no affiliation with the LDS Church, however they share a common heritage in their early church history. Collectively, they are called the Latter Day Saint movement. The largest of these smaller groups is the Community of Christ, based in Independence, Missouri, followed by the Church of Jesus Christ, based in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. Like the LDS Church, these faiths believe in Joseph Smith as a prophet and founder of their religion. They also accept the Book of Mormon, and most accept at least some version of the Doctrine and Covenants. However, they tend to disagree to varying degrees with the LDS Church concerning doctrine and church leadership.

Pioneer era

For two years after Smith's death, conflicts escalated between Mormons and other Illinois residents. Brigham Young led his followers, later called the Mormon pioneers, westward to Nebraska and then in 1847 on to what later became the Utah Territory, which at the time had been part of the lands of the Ute, Goshute, and Shoshone nations, and claimed by Mexico until 1848. Around 80,000 settlers arrived between 1847 and 1869, who then branched out and colonized a large region now known as the Mormon Corridor. Meanwhile, efforts to globalize the church began in earnest around this time, with missionaries being sent off to the Sandwich Islands (present-day Hawaii), India, Chile, Australia, China, South Africa, and all over Europe.

Young incorporated the LDS Church as a legal entity, and initially governed both the church and the state as a theocratic leader. He also publicized the practice of plural marriage in 1852. Modern research suggests that around 20 percent of Mormon families may have participated in the practice.

By 1857, tensions had again escalated between Mormons and other Americans, largely as a result of accusations involving polygamy and the theocratic rule of the Utah Territory by Young. The Utah Mormon War ensued from 1857 to 1858, which resulted in the relatively peaceful invasion of Utah by the United States Army. The most notable instance of Mormon violence during this conflict was the Mountain Meadows massacre, in which leaders of a local Mormon militia ordered the massacre of a civilian emigrant party who was traveling through Utah during the escalating military tensions. After the massacre was discovered, the church became the target of significant media criticism for it.

After the Army withdrew, Young agreed to step down from power and be replaced by a non-Mormon territorial governor, Alfred Cumming. Nevertheless, the LDS Church still wielded significant political power in the Utah Territory. Coterminously, tensions between Mormon settlers and Indigenous tribes continued to escalate as settlers began colonizing a growing area of tribal lands. While Mormons and Indigenous peoples made attempts at peaceful coexistence, skirmishes ensued from about 1849 to 1873 culminating in the armed conflicts of Wakara's War, the Bear River Massacre., and the Black Hawk War

After Young's death in 1877, he was followed in the church presidency by John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff successively, who resisted efforts by the United States Congress to outlaw Mormon polygamous marriages. In 1878, the United States Supreme Court, in '' Reynolds v. United States'', decreed that "religious duty" to engage in plural marriage was not a valid defense to prosecutions for violating state laws against polygamy. Conflict between Mormons and the U.S. government escalated to the point that, in 1890, Congress disincorporated the LDS Church and seized most of its assets. Soon thereafter, Woodruff issued a manifesto that officially suspended the performance of new polygamous marriages in the United States. Relations with the United States markedly improved after 1890, such that Utah was admitted as a U.S. state in 1896. Relations further improved after 1904, when church president Joseph F. Smith again disavowed polygamy before the United States Congress and issued a " Second Manifesto", calling for all plural marriages in the church to cease. Eventually, the church adopted a policy of excommunicating its members found practicing polygamy. Some fundamentalist groups with relatively small memberships have broken off and continue to practice polygamy, but the Church distances itself from them.

Modern times

During the 20th century, the church grew substantially and became an international organization. In 2000, the church reported over 60,000 missionaries and global church membership stood at just over 11 million. Nominal worldwide membership surpassed 16 million in 2018. Slightly under half of church membership lives within the U.S. Academics have called the denomination a Restorationist church, a new religious movement, and a potential world religion.

The church has become a strong proponent of the nuclear family and at times played a prominent role in political matters, including opposition to MX Peacekeeper missile bases in Utah and Nevada, the Equal Rights Amendment, legalized gambling, same-sex marriage, and physician-assisted death.

A number of official changes have taken place to the organization during the modern era. In 1978, the church reversed its previous policy of excluding Black men of African descent from the priesthood, which had been in place since 1852; members of all races can now be ordained to the priesthood. Also, since the early 1900s, the church has instituted a Priesthood Correlation Program to centralize church operations and bring them under a hierarchy of priesthood leaders. During the Great Depression, the church also began operating a church welfare system, and it has conducted humanitarian efforts in cooperation with other religious organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, as well as secular organizations like Care International. From 1913 to 2020 the church was a major sponsor of Scouting programs for boys, particularly in the United States. The LDS Church was the largest chartered organization in the Boy Scouts of America, but in 2020, the church ended its relationship with the BSA and began an alternate, religion-centered youth program, which replaced all other youth programs.

During the second half of the 20th century and early 21st, the church has responded to various challenges to its doctrine and authority. Challenges have included rising secularization, challenges to the correctness of the translation of the Book of Abraham, and primary documents forged by Mark Hofmann purporting to contradict important aspects of official early church history.

Beliefs

Nature of God

LDS Church theology includes the belief in a Godhead composed of God the Father, his son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as three separate persons who share a unity of purpose or will; however, they are viewed as three distinct beings. This is in contrast with the predominant Christian view, which holds that God is a Trinity of three distinct persons in one essence. The Latter-day Saint conception of the Godhead is similar to what contemporary Christian theologians call '' social trinitarianism.'' The church also believes that God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ, are separate beings with bodies of flesh and bone, while the Holy Ghost lacks such a physical body.

According to statements by church leaders, God sits at the head of the human family and is married to a Heavenly Mother, who is the mother of human spirits. However, church leaders have also categorically discouraged prayers to her and counseled against speculation regarding her.

Jesus Christ

Church members believe in Jesus Christ as the literal Son of God and Messiah, his crucifixion as a conclusion of a sin offering, and his subsequent resurrection. However, Latter-day Saints reject the ecumenical creeds and the definition of the Trinity. Jesus is also seen as the elder brother of all who live in this world.
The church teaches that Jesus performed a substitutionary atonement. In contrast with other Christian denominations, the church teaches this atonement began in the garden of Gethsemane and continued to his crucifixion (rather than the orthodox belief that the crucifixion alone was the physical atonement). The church also teaches that Jesus appeared to other peoples after his death, including spirits of the dead in the spirit world, and Indigenous Americans.

The church also teaches that Jesus is the true founder and leader of the church itself. The physical establishment of the church by Smith in 1830 is seen as simply the reestablishment of the same primitive church that existed under Jesus and his Apostles. Similarly, the church teaches that Jesus leads the church presently through its apostles and prophets, especially its current president.

Comparison with Nicene Christianity

The LDS Church shares various teachings with other branches of Christianity. These include a belief in the Bible, the divinity of Jesus, his atonement and resurrection, and a form of apostolic succession.

Nevertheless, the LDS Church differs from other churches within contemporary Christianity in other ways. Differences between the LDS Church and most of traditional Christianity include disagreement about the nature of God, belief in a theory of human salvation that includes three heavens, a doctrine of exaltation which includes the ability of humans to become gods and goddesses in the afterlife, a belief in continuing revelation and an open scriptural canon, and unique ceremonies performed privately in temples, such as the endowment and sealing ceremonies. A number of major Christian denominations view the LDS Church as standing apart from creedal Christianity. However, church members self-identify as Christians.

The faith itself views other modern Christian faiths as having departed from true Christianity by way of a general apostasy and maintains that it is a restoration of 1st-century Christianity and the only true and authorized Christian church. Church leaders assert it is the only true church and that other churches do not have the authority to act in Jesus' name.

Cosmology and plan of salvation

The church's cosmology and plan of salvation include the doctrines of a pre-existence, an earthly mortal existence, three degrees of heaven and exaltation.

According to these doctrines, every human spirit is a spiritual child of a Heavenly Father and each has the potential to continue to learn, grow, and progress in the eternities, eventually achieving eternal life, which is to become one with God in the same way that Jesus Christ is one with the Father, thus allowing the children of God to become divine beings—that is, gods—themselves. This view on the doctrine of theosis is also referred to as becoming a "joint-heir with Christ". The process by which this is accomplished is called exaltation, a doctrine which includes the reunification of the mortal family after the resurrection and the ability to have spirit children in the afterlife and inherit a portion of God's kingdom.

According to LDS Church theology, men and women may be sealed to one another so that their marital bond continues into the eternities. Children may also be sealed to their biological or adoptive parents to form permanent familial bonds, thus allowing all immediate and extended family relations to endure past death. The most significant LDS ordinances may be performed via proxy in behalf of those who have died, such as baptism for the dead. The church teaches that all will have the opportunity to hear and accept or reject the gospel of Jesus Christ, either in this life or the next.

Within church cosmology, the fall of Adam and Eve is seen positively. The church teaches that it was essential to allow humankind to experience separation from God, to exercise full agency in making decisions for their own happiness.

Restorationism

The LDS Church teaches that, subsequent to the death of Jesus and his original apostles, his church, along with the authority to act in Jesus Christ's name and the church's attendant spiritual gifts, were lost, due to a combination of external persecutions and internal heresies. The "Restoration"—as begun by Joseph Smith and embodied in the church itself—refers to a return of the authentic priesthood power, spiritual gifts, ordinances, living prophets and revelation of the primitive Church of Christ. This restoration is associated with a number of events which are understood to have been necessary to re-establish the early Christian church found in the New Testament, and to prepare the earth for the Second Coming of Jesus.

Leadership

The church is led by a president. Within the church, he is referred to as "the Prophet." He is considered to be a "prophet, seer and revelator," and is the only person who is authorized to receive revelation from God on behalf of the whole world or entire church. As such, the church teaches that he is essentially infallible when speaking on behalf of God—although the exact circumstances when his pronouncements should be considered authoritative are debated within the church. In any case, modern declarations with broad doctrinal implications are often issued by joint statement of the First Presidency; they may be joined by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as well. Church members believe Joseph Smith was the first modern-day prophet. Following the death of church president Thomas S. Monson on January 2, 2018, senior apostle Russell M. Nelson was announced as president on January 16.

Normally, the president chooses two other ordained apostles as counselors, and together they form the First Presidency, the presiding body of the church. Twelve other apostles form the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. When a president dies, his successor is chosen from the remaining apostles. By longstanding convention, the longest-tenured apostle becomes the next president of the church. In recent years, this process has contributed to the church's leadership being of increasingly advanced age.

New apostles are chosen by the church president after the death of an existing apostle. The First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, first two Quorums of Seventy and the Presiding Bishopric make up the general authorities of the church. The general presidencies of the church-wide Relief Society, Sunday School, Young Women (organization), Young Women, Young Men, and Primary organizations make up the general officers of the church. Women serve as presidents and counselors in the presidencies of the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary, while men serve as presidents and counselors of the Sunday School and Young Men.

Home and family

The church and its members consider marriage and family highly important, with emphasis placed on large, nuclear families. In 1995, the church's First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve issued " The Family: A Proclamation to the World", which asserts the importance of a heterosexual, nuclear family. The proclamation defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman and stated that the family unit is "central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." The document further says that "gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose," that the father and mother have differing roles as "equal partners" in raising children, that "children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony", and that successful marriages and happy families are most likely established when founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ. The proclamation also promotes specific roles essential to maintaining the strength of the family unit—the traditional roles of a husband and father as the family's breadwinner and those of a wife and mother as a nurturing caregiver. It concludes by inviting its audience to "promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society". Senior church leaders have continued to emphasize conservative teachings on marriage and gender to the present time.

LDS Church members are encouraged to set aside one evening each week, typically Monday, to spend together in " Family Home Evening" (FHE), which typically consists of gathering as a family to study the faith's gospel principles, and other family activities. Daily family prayer is also encouraged.

Sources of doctrine

The theology of the LDS Church consists of a combination of biblical doctrines with modern revelations and other commentary by LDS leaders, particularly Joseph Smith. The most authoritative sources of theology are the faith's canon of four religious texts, called the "standard works". Included in the standard works are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the D&C and the Pearl of Great Price.

The Book of Mormon is a foundational sacred book for the church; the terms "Mormon" and "Mormonism" come from the name of the book itself. The LDS Church teaches that the Angel Moroni told Smith about golden plates containing the record, guided him to find them buried in the Hill Cumorah, and provided him the means of translating them from Reformed Egyptian. It claims to give a history of the inhabitants from a now-extinct society living on the American continent and their distinct Judeo-Christian teachings. The Book of Mormon is very important to modern Latter-day Saints, who consider it the world's most correct text.

The Bible, also part of the church's canon, is believed to be the word of God—subject to an acknowledgment that its translation may be incorrect, or that authoritative sections may have been lost over the centuries. Most often, the church uses the Authorized King James Version. Two extended portions of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible have been canonized and are thus considered authoritative. Additionally, over 600 of the more doctrinally significant verses from the translation are included as excerpts in the current LDS Church edition of the Bible. Other revelations from Smith are found in the D&C, and in the Pearl of Great Price.
Another source of authoritative doctrine is the pronouncements of the current Apostles and members of the First Presidency. The church teaches that the First Presidency and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles are prophets and that they are therefore authorized teachers of God's word.

In addition to doctrine given by the church as a whole, individual members of the church believe that they can also receive personal revelation from God in conducting their lives, and in revealing truth to them, especially about spiritual matters. Generally, this is said to occur through thoughts and feelings from the Holy Ghost, in response to prayer. Similarly, the church teaches its members may receive individual guidance and counsel from God through blessings from priesthood holders. In particular, patriarchal blessings are considered special blessings that are received only once in the recipient's life, which are recorded, transcribed, and archived.

Practices

Rituals

In the church, an ordinance is a sacred rite or ceremony that has spiritual and symbolic meanings, and is performed under priesthood authority. For some ordinances, the act is tied to a covenant between the ordinance recipient and God.

The ordinance of baptism is believed to bind its participant to Jesus Christ, who saves them in their imperfection if they continually keep their promises to him. Baptism is performed by immersion, and is typically administered to children starting at age eight.

Church members believe that through the ordinances of temple sealing and temple endowment, anyone can reach the highest level of salvation in the celestial kingdom and eternally live in God's presence, continue as families, become gods, create worlds, and make spirit children over whom they will govern.

Other ordinances performed in the church include confirmation, the sacrament (analogous to the Eucharist or holy communion), priesthood ordination, patriarchal blessing, anointing of the sick, and priesthood blessings.

Diet and health

The LDS Church asks its members to adhere to a dietary code called the Word of Wisdom, in which they abstain from the consumption of alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco, and illicit or harmful substances. The Word of Wisdom also encourages the consumption of herbs and grains along with the moderate consumption of meat.

When Joseph Smith published the Word of Wisdom in 1833, it was considered only advice; violation did not restrict church membership. During the 1890s, though, church leaders started emphasizing the Word of Wisdom more. In 1921, church president Heber J. Grant made obeying the Word of Wisdom a requirement to engage in worship inside of the faith's temples. From that time, church leadership has emphasized the forbidding of coffee, tea, tobacco, and alcohol, but not the other guidelines concerning meat, grains, and herbs. In 2019, the church further clarified that the usage of marijuana and opioids is prohibited except as prescribed by a competent physician for medical purposes.

Sexuality

Church members are expected to follow a moral code called the law of chastity, which prohibits adultery, homosexual behavior, and sexual relations before or outside of marriage. As part of the law of chastity, the church strongly opposes pornography, and considers masturbation an immoral act. Law of chastity violations can be grounds for church discipline; resulting penalties may include having access to the temple and sacrament revoked, as well as excommunication. The church discourages romantic dating until around the age of 16.

Tithing and other donations

Church members are expected to donate one-tenth of their income to support the operations of the church. After initially relying on a communal lifestyle known as the law of consecration throughout most of the 1830s, the church created the law of tithing in July 1838 when the membership was concentrated in Missouri. Church members would frequently tithe by giving ten percent of their livestock and produce; nowadays donations are generally done with money.

Annual donations were estimated to total $7 billion to $33 billion USD donated in 2012 (equivalent to $ billion to $ billion in ). To qualify for participation in temple ordinances (which Latter-day Saints believe are necessary for their salvation), paying a full tithe is a requirement, regardless of one's temporal circumstances. Members are also encouraged to fast (abstain from food and drink) on the first Sunday of each month for two consecutive meals. They donate at least the cost of the two skipped meals of the fast as a "fast offering", which the church uses to assist people in need and expand its humanitarian efforts.

Local leadership is not paid, and is expected to tithe as well. Full-time missionaries, however, are not expected to pay tithing as they are usually paying to be a missionary.

Missionary service

All able-bodied LDS young men are expected to serve a two-year, full-time proselytizing mission. Missionaries do not choose where they serve or the language in which they will proselytize, and are expected to fund their missions themselves or with the aid of their families. Prospective male missionaries must be between the ages of 18 and 25 and have completed secondary school. All proselytizing missionaries are organized geographically into administrative areas called missions. The efforts in each mission are directed by an older adult male mission president. , there are 450 missions of the LDS church.

Although missionary service is expected for men, it is not compulsory and is not a requirement for retaining church membership. Unmarried women between the ages of 19 and 29 may also serve as missionaries, generally for a term of 18 months. Retired couples are also encouraged to serve missions, with terms ranging from six to 23 months. Unlike younger missionaries, these senior missionaries may serve in non-proselytizing capacities such as humanitarian aid workers or family history specialists. Other men and women who wish to serve a mission but are unable to perform full-time service in another state or country due to health issues, may serve in a non-proselytizing mission. They might assist at Temple Square in Salt Lake City or aid in the seminary system in schools.

Sabbath day observance

Church members are expected to set aside Sundays as a day of rest and worship. Typically, weekly worship meetings occur solely on Sundays. Shopping and recreation are discouraged on Sundays as well.

Worship and meetings

Weekly meetings

Meetings for worship and study are held at meetinghouses, which are typically utilitarian in character. The main focus of Sunday worship is the Sacrament meeting, where the sacrament is passed to church members; sacrament meetings also include prayers, the singing of hymns by the congregation or choir, and impromptu or planned sermons by church members. Also included in weekly meetings are times for Sunday School, or separate instructional meetings based on age and gender, including the Relief Society for women.

Church congregations are organized geographically. Members are generally expected to attend the congregation within their assigned geographical area; however, some geographical areas also provide separate congregations for young single adults, older single adults, or for speakers of alternate languages. For Sunday services, the church is grouped into either larger congregations known as wards, or smaller congregations known as branches. Regional church organizations, encompassing multiple congregations, include stakes, missions, District (LDS Church), districts and areas.

Temple worship

In LDS theology, a temple is considered to be a holy building, dedicated as a "House of the Lord" and held as more sacred than a typical meetinghouse or chapel. In temples, church members participate in ceremonies that are considered the most sacred in the church, including marriage, and an endowment ceremony that includes a washing and anointing, receiving a temple garment, and making covenants with God. Baptisms for the dead—as well as other temple ordinances on behalf of the dead—are performed in the temples as well.

Temples are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth, and as such, operating temples are not open to the public. Then after the temple is dedicated, permission to enter is reserved only for church members who pass periodic interviews with ecclesiastical leaders and receive a special recommendation card, called a temple recommend, that they present upon entry. Church members are instructed not to share details about temple ordinances with non-members or even converse about them outside the temple itself.

, there are over 200 dedicated temples worldwide.

To perform ordinances in temples on behalf of deceased family members, the church emphasizes genealogical research, and encourages its lay members to participate in genealogy.
It operates FamilySearch, the largest genealogical organization in the world.

Conferences

Twice each year (the first weekend of April and October), general authorities and general officers address the worldwide church through general conference. General conference sessions are translated into as many as 80 languages and are broadcast from the 21,000-seat Conference Center in Salt Lake City. During this conference, church members formally acknowledge, or "sustain", the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators.

Individual stakes also hold formal conferences within their own boundaries biannually; wards hold conferences annually.

Organization and structure

Name and legal entities

The church teaches that it is a continuation of the Church of Christ restored in 1830 by Joseph Smith. This original church underwent several name changes during the 1830s, being changed to "The Church of the Latter Day Saints", "The Church of Jesus Christ", "The Church of God", "The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints" and "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (by an 1838 revelation). Finally, after Smith died, Brigham Young and the largest body of Smith's followers incorporated the church in 1851 by legislation of the Utah Territory under the name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", which included a hyphenated "Latter-day" and a British-style lower-case ''d''.

Common informal names for the church include the LDS Church, the Mormon Church, and the Latter-day Saints Church. The church requests that the official name be used when possible or, if necessary, shortened to "the Church" or "the Church of Jesus Christ". In August 2018, church president Russell M. Nelson asked members of the church and others to cease using the terms "LDS", "Mormon" and "Mormonism" to refer to the church, its membership, or its belief system and instead to call the church by its full and official name. Subsequent to this announcement, the church's premier vocal ensemble, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was officially renamed and became the "Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square". Reaction to the name change policy has been mixed.

Legally, the church currently functions as a corporation sole, incorporated in Utah.

Intellectual Reserve is a nonprofit corporation wholly owned by the church, which holds the church's intellectual property, such as copyrights, trademarks, and other media.

Utah Property Management Associates (UPMA), formerly Zions Securities Corporation (ZSC), is a subsidiary of Property Reserve Inc., which manages property owned by the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mostly in Salt Lake City, Utah. They manage major corporate, residential, and retail spaces along with parking lots and plazas.

Priesthood hierarchy and church service

The LDS Church is organized in a hierarchical priesthood structure administered by its male members. Members of the church-wide leadership are called general authorities. They exercise both ecclesiastical