United Church of Christ, American Protestant denomination formed in 1957 by a merger of the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches (see Congregationalism) and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. The constitution for the new body was adopted in July, 1961, thus completing the union. The statement of faith promulgated in 1959 maintains the noncreedal position common to both religious bodies, holding only to baptism and communion as sacraments, ordination as an act of laying on of hands, and local autonomy in all matters of worship, doctrine, and congregational life. A general synod of the whole church meets biennially and establishes the various agencies through which its social action, ecumenical work, and missionary work are carried out. The church has about 1.4 million members (1997).

United Brethren in Christ: see Evangelical United Brethren Church.

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, cooperative agency of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations. Formed in 1950, with headquarters in New York City, the National Council of Churches is the chief instrument of the ecumenical movement in the United States with a combined membership of around 52 million. It is the national counterpart of the World Council of Churches. Not a governing body, it promotes through a number of activities general spiritual welfare and interchurch cooperation. It has four principal divisions: Education, Communication and Discipleship; Church World Service and Witness; Prophetic Justice; and Unity and Relationships. Under the sponsorship of the NCCC the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible was released in 1990 after 15 years of intense work.

Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of, name of the church founded (1830) at Fayette, N.Y., by Joseph Smith. The headquarters are in Salt Lake City, Utah. Its members, now numbering about 5.7 million in the United States and 13 million worldwide (2008), are commonly called Mormons.

Organization and Beliefs

Mormon belief is based on the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and various revelations made to Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon, ascribed to the prophet Mormon, recounts the early history of peoples in America from c.600 B.C. to c.A.D. 420. The Aaronic priesthood (deacons, teachers, and priests), which includes every worthy male between the ages of 12 and 19, is primarily concerned with the temporal affairs of the church; that of Melchizedek (elders and high priests) is concerned with the spiritual leadership. High priests are represented in the Council of Twelve (the Apostles) and in the first presidency (the president and two counselors—three high priests vested with supreme authority). The territorial divisions of the Mormon settlements are wards and stakes. Each ward has a bishop and two counselors; five to ten wards compose a stake.

Significant characteristics of the Mormon creed include the emphasis on revelation in the establishment of doctrines and rituals, the interdependence of temporal and spiritual life, tithing, and attention to community welfare. Mormons practice baptism for the dead; they believe that the deceased soul may receive the baptism necessary for salvation by proxy of a living believer. They also believe in "celestial marriage," whereby individuals marry for all eternity. Mormons carry out a campaign of vigorous proselytizing which has, in the course of a century and a quarter, raised the church from a handful of followers to its present size.

History

Founding of the Church

The history of the Mormons began with Smith's claim that golden tablets containing the Book of Mormon had been revealed to him, and his establishment of a headquarters for his organization at Kirtland, Ohio (1831). His following grew rapidly, particularly from the intensive missionary activity in which members engaged, both in the U.S. and abroad. Stakes of Zion, as the Mormons called their settlements, were started in W Missouri, and Smith prepared to make the region the permanent home of his people. However, the intolerance of gentile neighbors toward the Mormons's communal economy and unconventional belief system led to persecution and violence. Finally, in 1838-39, Gov. Lillburn W. Boggs ordered their expulsion (see also Doniphan, Alexander William).

Violence in Illinois

The Mormons sought a new Zion in the Illinois town of Nauvoo. There, they received a charter giving them virtual autonomy, with the right to maintain their own militia, their own court, and the power to pass any laws not in conflict with the state or federal constitutions. The town expanded as converts poured in from abroad, and in 1842 it was the largest and most powerful town in Illinois. The growing wealth and strength of the Mormon community caused envy and fear among their neighbors.

At about that time, Joseph Smith, as mayor of Nauvoo, ordered the suppression of church dissidents. Violence resulted, and Smith called out the Nauvoo militia to protect the city. For this, he and his brother, Hyrum, were arrested by Illinois authorities (June 24, 1844), and charged with treason. They were jailed in Carthage, Ill., where three days later they were murdered by an angry mob.

After that many Mormons fled, dissension and suspicion were rife, and there was debate over the succession to Smith's leadership. Possible choices included another brother, William Smith, and several prominent leaders, notably Sidney Rigdon, James Jesse Strang, Lyman Wight, and Brigham Young, whom the church leaders ultimately chose.

The Mormons under Brigham Young

Young proved a forceful and able leader who dominated and worked for the good of his people. Again, it became necessary for the Mormons to find a home. Under Young's guidance, a remote spot was chosen, the valley of the Great Salt Lake in what is now Utah. Those who rejected Young's leadership and claimed the succession for a son of Joseph Smith declined to accompany the main body to Utah; they ultimately constituted themselves into a separate church (see Community of Christ).

In July, 1847, the first settlers reached what is now Salt Lake City and began an agricultural community. The first few years were extremely difficult, but the organization of the Mormons for community welfare, their great industry, and the determined leadership of Young made for their success. Through extensive irrigation, farming prospered.

In 1849, the Mormons wished to have their communities admitted to the Union as the State of Deseret, but the area became Utah Territory instead. Brigham Young was appointed territorial governor and superintendent of Indian affairs, but Mormon isolation was destroyed. Non-Mormons filtered in, resented by the Mormons. Young's formal announcement in 1852 of the doctrine of plural marriage, based on a vision of Joseph Smith in 1843, set the Mormons further apart from their fellow Americans. Thereafter, polygamy was luridly discussed in newspapers across the country. The antagonism was very strong in the 1850s, and when Col. Albert S. Johnston was sent out with an army force in 1857, Young prepared to defend the Mormon state. The Utah War did not rise to serious proportions, but the bitterness of feeling was shown after the massacre of the members of a wagon train at Mountain Meadows in 1857, for which the Mormons were blamed.

The question of plural marriage was the important point in Utah's bid for statehood. Congress passed laws against polygamy aimed solely at Utah. Despite persecution, the Mormon community was a thoroughly established commonwealth by the time of Brigham Young's death in 1877. Statehood was finally granted after Mormon president Wilford Woodruff made a statement (1890) withdrawing church sanction of polygamy: Utah entered the Union as the 45th state in 1896. Since then, the church has spread beyond Utah, becoming truly international in the late 20th cent. when church membership roughly doubled. More than half of all Mormons now live outside the United States.

A number of Mormons, generally referred to as fundamentalists, continue to believe in plural marriage, either as members of a splinter church or quietly within the mainstream church, which excommunicates those who adhere to the practice. Some 10,000 people in North America belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the largest of the splinter faiths. Many of its members live in SW Utah and NW Arizona.

Latter Day Saints, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of: see Community of Christ.

Jesus Christ: see Jesus.

Imitation of Christ, The, Christian devotional book, of great popularity. It originated among the Brothers of the Common Life in the Netherlands and was written probably c.1425. Tradition (since c.1445) has ascribed it to Thomas à Kempis, whose name appears on an early Latin manuscript. A popular contemporary theory holds that Thomas copied out and edited The Imitation from manuscripts originating with Gerard Groote. The work encourages a life of mystical devotion to Christ and a distrust of the human intellect. The four books treat liberation from worldly inclinations, recollection as a preparation for prayer, the consolations of prayer, and the place of eucharistic communion in a devout life. The work is a summary of the spirit of Groote's movement, the devotio moderna. The English translation by Richard Whitford (c.1530) has long been standard. It has been revised into modern English (Harold Gardiner, ed., 1955). The Imitation has also been rendered as The Following of Christ (tr. 1941).

Disciples of Christ: see Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, religious group that regards itself as the successor of the church founded by Joseph Smith. They organized in 1852, five years after Mormons under Brigham Young began settling in Utah, formally becoming the Reorganized Church in 1860, with Joseph Smith 3d (son of the Mormon founder), as their first president. Since that time the church has been separate and distinct from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. The headquarters of the Community of Christ were first at Plano, Ill., until 1881, then at Lamoni, Iowa, until 1904, and since 1904 in Independence, Mo. The church adopted its present name in 2001. The doctrines of the church are derived from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrines and Convenants (recognized revelations to church leaders). Brigham Young and his position on polygamy are rejected; there are other beliefs and practices they do not share with the Mormons, including the ordination of women. In 1997 there were about 249,000 members.

Churches of Christ, conservative body of evangelical Protestants in the United States. Its founders were originally members of what is now the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who gradually withdrew from that body following the Civil War. They objected to the use of musical instruments in the church and to the introduction of new titles and more power for the pastors. They were first listed as a group separate from the Disciples of Christ in the U.S. census of religious bodies of 1906. Each church is entirely self-governing. The Bible, especially the New Testament, is considered its complete and sufficient authority. They have about 1.8 million members (1997) in the United States and Canada.

Church of Christ, Scientist: see Christian Science.

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), sometimes called Campbellites, a Protestant religious body founded early in the 19th cent. in the United States. Its primary thesis is that the Bible alone should form the basis for faith and conduct, each individual interpreting the Bible for himself or herself. Thomas Campbell, preaching in W Pennsylvania, was censured by his presbytery for trying to gather into the church scattered groups of Christians. He made a plea for unity among all Christians with no other platform than the primitive and simple gospel. In 1809 he formed the Christian Association of Washington, Pa., but neither he nor his son Alexander Campbell, who joined him in the work, desired that a new denomination should be established. An independent church was built (1811) at Brush Run, Pa., with Alexander as the minister. The movement expanded rapidly. Another minister, Barton Warren Stone, had also broken away from the Presbyterian Church and formed a church whose members were known as "Christians." Similar separatist groups seceded, under the leadership of James O'Kelley, from the Methodist Church in North Carolina and, under Abner Jones and Elias Smith, from some of the Baptist churches in New England. Both Stone and Alexander Campbell had adopted immersion, and this brought them for a time into sympathetic relations with the Baptists. In 1832 practically all of Stone's group and many from the other two branches united with the "Disciples" led by Campbell. The remainder of the "Christians," who were subsequently organized as the Christian Church, merged (1931) with the Congregational Church (see Congregationalism). The merged "Disciples" and "Christians" developed strongly and rapidly after the Civil War, particularly in the central and western states, and missionary labors have extended the church throughout the world. A separation into two churches took place in 1906 because of a dispute over the use of instrumental music at the church service; the progressive group, which allowed it, became known as the Disciples of Christ, while the conservatives, who dissented, were organized as Churches of Christ. In 1968 the Disciples of Christ reorganized as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Membership in the church is c.850,000 worldwide (1999).

Christ of the Andes, statue of Jesus commemorating a series of peace and boundary treaties between Argentina and Chile. Dedicated Mar. 13, 1904, it stands in Uspallata Pass, high in the Andes, on the Argentine-Chilean boundary. A tablet (added in 1937) bears in Spanish the inscription: "Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than Argentines and Chileans break the peace sworn at the feet of Christ the Redeemer."

Christ: see Jesus.

Brethren in Christ: see River Brethren.

officially Church of Christ, Scientist

Religious denomination founded in the U.S. in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy. Like other Christian churches, Christian Science subscribes to an omnipotent God and the authority (but not inerrancy) of the Bible and takes the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus as essential to human redemption. It departs from traditional Christianity in considering Jesus divine but not a deity and in regarding creation as wholly spiritual. Sin denies God's sovereignty by claiming that life derives from matter. Spiritual cure of disease is a necessary element of redemption from the flesh and one of the church's most controversial practices. Most members refuse medical help for disease, and members engaged in the full-time healing ministry are called Christian Science practitioners. Elected readers lead Sunday services based on readings from the Bible and Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. At the end of the 20th century, the church had about 2,500 congregations in 70 countries; its headquarters is at the Mother Church in Boston. Seealso New Thought.

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Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of a sect closely related to it (e.g., the Community of Christ). The Mormon religion was founded by Joseph Smith, who claimed to have received an angelic vision telling him of the location of golden plates containing God's revelation; this he published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon. Smith and his followers accepted the Bible as well as the Mormon sacred scriptures but diverged significantly from orthodox Christianity, especially in their assertion that God exists in three distinct entities as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Mormons also believe that faithful members of the church will inherit eternal life as gods. Other unique doctrines include the belief in preexisting souls waiting to be born and in salvation of the dead through retroactive baptism. The church became notorious for its practice of polygamy, though it was officially sanctioned only between 1852 and 1890. Smith and his followers migrated from Palmyra, N.Y., to Ohio, Missouri, and finally Illinois, where Smith was killed by a mob in 1844. In 1846–47, under Brigham Young, the Mormons made a 1,100-mi (1,800-km) trek to Utah, where they founded Salt Lake City. In the early 21st century, the church had a worldwide membership of nearly 10 million, swelled yearly by the missionary work that church members, both men and women, are encouraged to perform.

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In Christianity, the son of God and the second person of the Holy Trinity. Christian doctrine holds that by his crucifixion and resurrection he paid for the sins of all mankind. His life and ministry are recounted in the four Gospels of the New Testament. He was born a Jew in Bethlehem before the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, and he died while Pontius Pilate was Roman governor of Judaea (AD 28–30). His mother, Mary, was married to Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth (see St. Joseph). Of his childhood after the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, nothing is known, except for one visit to Jerusalem with his parents. He began his ministry about age 30, becoming a preacher, teacher, and healer. He gathered disciples in the region of Galilee, including the 12 Apostles, and preached the imminent arrival of the Kingdom of God. His moral teachings, outlined in the Sermon on the Mount, and his reported miracles won him a growing number of followers, who believed that he was the promised messiah. On Passover he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, where he shared the Last Supper with his disciples and was betrayed to the Roman authorities by Judas Iscariot. Arrested and tried, he was condemned to death as a political agitator and was crucified and buried. Three days later visitors to his tomb found it empty. According to the Gospels, he appeared several times to his disciples before ascending into heaven.

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Group of U.S. Protestant churches that originated in the frontier revivals of the early 19th century. Movements founded by Thomas and Alexander Campbell (1763–1854, 1788–1866) and Barton W. Stone (1772–1844) merged in 1832 and took the name Disciples of Christ. The new denomination grew rapidly. Its goal was to unite all Protestants on the basis of New Testament practices. The attempt failed, and the movement itself split into two major segments: the more conservative Churches of Christ (which rejects any innovation without New Testament precedent, including musical instruments in worship) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Other conservative congregations separated from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the 1920s; they established a separate annual gathering, the North American Christian Convention, in 1927. In 1985 the Disciples of Christ entered into an ecumenical partnership with the United Church of Christ. The common Disciples heritage is still manifest in the meetings of the World Convention of Churches of Christ, organized in 1930.

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formerly Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Faction of the religion founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, whose main body became the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon church. The sect, originally known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, broke away in 1852, rejecting the leadership of Brigham Young in favour of Smith's son; it also rejected the practice of polygamy and the label Mormon. Its teachings are based on the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants, a book of revelations received by its prophets. In 2001 the church formally changed its name to Community of Christ. In the early 21st century it had about 250,000 members and was headquartered in Independence, Mo.

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Any of various conservative Protestant churches found mainly in the U.S. Each congregation is autonomous in government, with elders, deacons, and a minister or ministers; there is no national administrative organization. These churches originated in the early 19th century with the Disciples of Christ movement, which relied on the Bible as the only standard of Christian faith and worship. Controversies split the movement, and the Churches of Christ designated those congregations that opposed organized mission societies and the use of instrumental music in worship. After their separation from the Disciples, the Churches of Christ continued to grow. Worship services consist of prayer, preaching, unaccompanied singing, and the Lord's Supper.

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Any of various conservative Protestant churches found mainly in the U.S. Each congregation is autonomous in government, with elders, deacons, and a minister or ministers; there is no national administrative organization. These churches originated in the early 19th century with the Disciples of Christ movement, which relied on the Bible as the only standard of Christian faith and worship. Controversies split the movement, and the Churches of Christ designated those congregations that opposed organized mission societies and the use of instrumental music in worship. After their separation from the Disciples, the Churches of Christ continued to grow. Worship services consist of prayer, preaching, unaccompanied singing, and the Lord's Supper.

Learn more about Christ, Church of with a free trial on Britannica.com.