Church of Christ (Temple Lot)
The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) , Church of Christ (Temple Lot) , is a Mormon denomination that emerged from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States in 1852 . It is headquartered in Independence , Missouri, on a property known as the Temple Lot. Its members were initially popularly named after Granville Hedrick (1814–1881), the first leader of the Church, "Hedrickites". The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) has no official relationships with other denominations .
history
The early history of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) is identical to the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that of the fellowship of Christ . Following the assassination of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith , on June 27, 1844, several church leaders argued over leadership and formed rival organizations. Most of them followed Brigham Young in 1847 and moved to what is now Utah , where they founded the city of Salt Lake City . Others stayed in the eastern United States and rallied in various movements.
Up until the mid-1850s, five early-established congregations did not feel represented by any of the successor organizations. These were the congregations in Bloomington, Illinois , Crow Creek (Illinois), Half Moon Prairie (Illinois), Eagle Creek (Illinois) and Vermillion ( Indiana ), which were named Crow Creek Branch of the Church of Jesus in 1851 Christ united. This name referred to the river Crow Creek in the county ( County ) Woodford in the north of the state of Illinois, on or in the vicinity of which four of the named parishes were. The first joint conference of the five parishes took place in the winter of 1852 on the farm of Granville Hedrick in Half Moon Prairie - the place was later renamed "Washburn" - instead. Hedrick was ordained an "Apostle" on May 17, 1863 and a "President, Prophet, Seer, and Revelator " of the denomination on July 19, 1863 . Both ordinations were through John E. Page, who had been ordained an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1838, before Joseph Smith's death in 1844. The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) believes that through him a connection was established with the highest authorities of the original Church as it existed before 1844 and that they maintain the true discipleship of Smith.
The name of the community was shortened to "Church of Christ" in the 1860s to distinguish it from the largest Mormon denomination, whose members are called "Utah Mormons" or " Brighamites " by members of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) , since they followed Brigham Young to Utah in 1847. Hedrick later distanced himself from the title "President, Prophet, Seer and Revelator" in order to differentiate the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) even more from the followers of Brigham Young.
The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) in Independence , Missouri, owns a site called "Temple Lot" which Joseph Smith designated on August 3, 1831, before the Mormons were expelled from Missouri (1838), to build the Temple of New Jerusalem - a holy one City to be built in preparation for the second appearance of Jesus Christ mentioned in the Revelation of John . Most of the Hedrickites returned to Independence from October 1865 on the basis of a revelation received by Granville Hedrick on April 24, 1864, and in 1867, as well as in 1873 and 1874, acquired most of the property as a building site for the temple. Its headquarters have been in Independence since 1867. The first church building was completed by the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) in 1889 - it was a one-story wooden building measuring 16x25 feet on the site called Temple Lot , which was sufficient for the number of members at the time. It fell victim to an arson in September 1898, so in the same year construction began on a considerably larger, two-story stone church building. Significantly larger, measuring 30 by 54 feet, it was inaugurated on April 6, 1902. In 1915 the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) had around 100 members. By 1925 the number of members had risen to around 500. On April 6, 1929, Alma O. Frisbey, Bishop of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), broke ground for the excavation of the excavation for the construction of a 90 × 180 foot temple, which was entrusted to the architect Norman Wilkinson . Wilkinson had estimated the construction cost to be around $ 500,000. On May 18 and June 26, 1929, the following excavation work found two buried boundary stones - both with the year 1831 - on the property designated by Smith. However, the work stalled several times due to financial difficulties caused by the global economic crisis and the Second World War and hardly got beyond the stage of the excavation. In 1947 it was backfilled and a lawn was created in its place. In 1967 a memorial stone was erected here. Construction of a new church building at the headquarters in Independence began on August 18, 1990, and the inauguration took place on April 5, 1992.
Since the 1920s there were at least four spin-offs, including the Church of Christ (Fettingiten) ( Church of Christ, Fettingite ) that separated the end of 1929 by the Church of Christ (Temple Lot). The Church of Christ (Fettingite), which around a quarter of the members of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) joined, soon became the Church of Christ with the Elijah message , which today has around 12,000 followers, more members than this . The resignations from the church led to a significant decrease in the number of members of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), which had 1,607 members in 1932 and 1,825 in 1934. However, temple-building activities soon increased the popularity of the Church, which should not be underestimated, with 2,007 members in 1937 after not a few members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints converted to her. In 1945 the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) had 16 wards in the United States, and in 1956 the membership was 3,000. From the United States, where there were 32 congregations in 1980, the Church spread to Canada in the 1920s and to Mexico (Yucatán Peninsula) in 1953, where it had around 200 members in 1980. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) also became missionary outside of America. In 2006 the number of members worldwide was around 6,000. By 2013, global membership had risen to 7,310, of whom 1,909 lived in the Church's 20 or so wards in the United States.
distribution
Currently (2013) the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) has 7,310 members in 11 or 12 states. Most of the members live in the USA, which is also where the two largest congregations, Independence Local (the congregation uses the main building of the church consecrated in 1992 for their services) and East Independence Local (founded in 1958, with its own church building consecrated in 1968) are located. In the 1970s, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) also turned to the Native Americans: a congregation was planted in a Cherokee reservation in North Carolina in Calico in 1978 and in 1988 also in Akwesasne on a Mohawk reservation in New York State, and In both parishes, their own church buildings were built in the traditional style (in Calico 1978, in Akwesasne 1994). After 2001, other churches were also planted in other parts of the United States. The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) established itself in Honduras in 1997, and since May 2000 it has also been represented in Kenya, where it had more than 1,000 members in 30 congregations in 2010, in Tanzania since 2001 and in India since 2006. In addition, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) has been missioning in the Philippines since 2001, where it had over 1,700 members in 3 congregations and 40 mission stations in 2005, mainly on the island of Mindanao . Parishes of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) also exist in Nigeria, Malawi and Congo. In Ethiopia , the Church began its missionary work in 2013, in Uganda in 2015. The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) is not represented in Europe and Australia.
Teaching
The teaching of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) is heavily influenced by the writings of David Whitmer (1805–1888), one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, whom Joseph Smith called "apostates" before his death. Whitmer published a pamphlet in 1887 in which he sharply criticized Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon . This script is now widely used and widely used among the members of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), it is also sold in the vestibule of their main building in Independence. In this scripture, Whitmer repeatedly claims that Joseph Smith "fell away" or began to "fall" from his divine calling almost as soon as the Church was organized in 1830 or even before that. In support of this claim, Whitmer argues, among other things, that Smith should “have no office” other than translating the Book of Mormon, and that he should never have been more than a “first elder” among “equal elders” in the young Church.
Although the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) initially accepted the guidance and teaching of the founder of the Mormon movement, Joseph Smith, in the 1920s it changed its mind about which of his revelations should be accepted. She then stated that the revelations recorded after the Book of Mormon was published in 1830 were not divinely inspired. She claimed that Joseph Smith was a "fallen" prophet with doctrines such as polygamy and with the establishment of hierarchical offices in the Church, including the office of high priest, in June 1831. Therefore, in the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) - unlike other Mormon religious communities - not the office of President and no First Presidency ( First Presidency ). The Church declares that it is instead directed directly by Jesus Christ through a Quorum of Twelve Apostles . The Church's official spokesman is its secretary.
The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) rejects the baptism of the dead , the temple rituals and the image of God of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as the addition of "Latter-day Saints" to a revelation to Joseph Smith on April 26, 1838 is based.
temple
The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) maintains that the property owned by Joseph Smith on August 3, 1831 and named Temple Lot should be used to build a temple of the Lord. No other temples could be built. The temple should not serve certain rituals, such as B. baptism in the dead or the "sealing of heavenly marriages", but serve the same purpose as the Kirtland Temple , the original temple of Mormonism in Kirtland in the state of Ohio .
Fonts
The official foundations of the faith of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) are the Bible , the Book of Commandments , a predecessor of the Doctrine and Covenants of Other Mormon Communities, and the Book of Mormon, the 1908 edition of which is reprinted and used is identical to the Book of Mormon used by the fellowship of Christ. The corresponding [[Bible Concordance <Concordance]] is also the same for both of the above-mentioned religious communities. The first church newspaper was founded under the name Truth Teller in 1864, and it was followed as the official organ Searchlight (1896-1900) and The Evening and Morning Star (1900-1916).
Today's church newspaper of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) has been published every two months since May 1922 under the title Zion's Advocate . Apart from various brochures and information pamphlets, the church also publishes a one-volume church history and has had its own hymn book since 1975.
Management and organization
The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) is led by a council of the Twelve Apostles ( Quorum of Twelve Apostles ), and it knows offices such as high priest, patriarch, president or first presidency - in contrast to others from the Church of Jesus Christ of the Saints Religious communities that emerged in recent days - not. The Council of Bishops is subordinate to the Council of the Twelve Apostles . The individual local communities, " locals " are called, respectively by an elder ( Elder passed). A local congregation consists of at least six baptized church members, one of whom must be an elder. Other offices in the priesthood of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), to which the ordination is done by laying are: Seventies ( Seventy , also called "evangelists", elders with missionary vocation), teacher, deacon and priest. The latter can teach and baptize, but cannot bestow the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
The office of a prophet does not exist in the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), because the Church teaches that God can speak at all times through every person - regardless of their office.
The work in the priesthood of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) is voluntary and without financial support. Only members who work full-time and exclusively for the church receive remuneration. The individual local congregations are responsible for their own financial support; the tithes donated by the members of their net income are not used for this purpose. The tithe serves missionary and social purposes.
See also
literature
- Board of Publications Church of Christ (Temple Lot), editors: History of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) , Volume 1: 1830–1950, BC Flint (1953), Volume 2: 1950–2008 Roland L. Sarratt, Donald E. McIndoo (2012); also online
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 8. Independence 2010
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 11 Independence 2010
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 29. Independence 2010
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 24 Independence 2010
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 54. Independence 2010
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 55. Independence 2010
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 80. Independence 2010
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 106. Independence 2010
- ↑ Board of Publications of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot): History of the Church of Christ , p. 365. Independence 2012
- ↑ David Trobisch : The Mormons - The Saints of Lately? P. 112, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1998.
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 121 Independence 2010
- ^ Jean Addams: Upon the Temple Lot , p. 135. Independence 2010
- ↑ Zion's Advocate, Volume 83, Issue December 2006, p. 125.
- ↑ Zion's Advocate, Volume 90, Edition July / August 2013, p. 78.
- ↑ Zion's Advocate, Volume 90, Edition July / August 2013, p. 78.
- ^ Board of Publications of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot): History of the Church of Christ , p. 320. Independence 2012
- ↑ Board of Publications of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot): History of the Church of Christ , p. 232. Independence 2012
- ↑ Zion's Advocate, Volume 87, Edition July / August 2010, p. 60.
- ^ Board of Publications of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot): History of the Church of Christ , p. 272. Independence 2012
- ↑ http://the-ends-of-the-earth.blogspot.de/
- ↑ Shields, Steven L .: Divergent Paths of the Restoration, p. 83, Independence 2001.
- ^ Trobisch, David: The Mormons - The Saints of Lately? P. 111, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1998.
- ↑ Shields, Steven L .: Divergent Paths of the Restoration, p. 81, Independence 2001.
- ↑ Shields, Steven L .: Divergent Paths of the Restoration, p. 79, Independence 2001.
- ↑ Shields, Steven L .: Divergent Paths of the Restoration, p. 81, Independence 2001.