A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are witnesses that sacred history continues. We believe that throughout history, God has blessed people with inspiration so that there are divine truths in many religious and philosophical traditions. We respect other groups’ sacred stories. We trace our faith’s roots to the times that produced the Bible. We look to Jesus Christ as our Savior and the center point of human history. We also believe that God calls prophets, offers guidance, performs miracles, and invites people to join His work today.

Our modern history begins in the early 1800s, when a farmboy and day laborer named Joseph Smith asked God for direction and was called as a prophet. Like Jesus Christ’s early followers, Joseph and other believers called themselves Saints. Latter-day Saints carry on this identity as disciples of Jesus Christ, blessed by modern revelation.

Joseph Smith was born in 1805. While he was still a boy, environmental problems drove his family and many other struggling farmers from their homes in the northeastern United States. The Smiths moved to Palmyra, New York, a place where preachers held frequent religious revival meetings and competed for converts. As a young man, Joseph thought deeply about the world around him and about spiritual questions, but arguments between different churches left him confused. He was not sure what to do until he found a simple direction in the Bible: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” (James 1:5)

In 1820, acting on that direction, Joseph went into the woods near his family’s home to pray for answers. As he prayed, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. They told him not to join any existing church, but promised they had a work for him that would bring back the power of Christ’s original church.

Three years later, that work began. An angel named Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and told of a lost record that contained the sacred history of an ancient American civilization. This record, the Book of Mormon, is another testament of Jesus Christ. In 1827, the angelic messenger entrusted Joseph with engraved metal plates. Joseph translated them by the power of God. Emma Hale Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, David Whitmer, and others wrote down the words as Joseph translated. They testified that the translation was a miraculous event, unlike any ordinary writing process.

While working on the translation, Joseph and Oliver Cowdery also prayed about the nature of Jesus Christ’s early church. Additional angels visited them to restore lost priesthood authority. On April 6, 1830, they used this authority to organize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A new branch of Christianity had been formed.

The Church grew quickly. To believers, more was happening than the founding of another church: God was reclaiming scattered Israel, fulfilling covenants made long ago. Early converts often left their homes to build cities, temples, and a way of life together. Most Saints played religious roles, caring physically and spiritually for those around them. The Saints built their first temple in Kirtland, Ohio. For them, it was a place to honor Jesus Christ and receive spiritual strength. They also began building a city called Zion in Missouri, on what was then the western edge of the United States. The Saints embraced change. They accepted new ideas. They welcomed new members. In the early 1840s, as many converts from Britain arrived, the Saints’ city of Nauvoo, Illinois, became one of the largest in the region.

Joseph Smith introduced many new teachings that he received through revelation from God. He taught that human beings have a divine nature and potential. He taught that Jesus’s followers can prepare for His return by building a just and righteous society on Earth. He gave practical direction, like guidance to avoid tobacco and alcohol. He taught that heaven is about relationships. He explained how family relationships can endure beyond death.

Like early believers in other religions, the Saints experienced persecution. Mobs dragged Saints from their homes and beat them, attacked the Saints’ shops, and seized their lands. In 1838, Missouri’s governor issued an order to exterminate them or drive them out altogether. The Saints fled and rebuilt in Illinois. In 1844, a mob there murdered Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.

Persecution left the Saints with a strong commitment to religious freedom. A Nauvoo city law guaranteed freedom for all and welcomed groups like Muslims and Catholics who faced prejudice in 1840s America. Persecution also contributed to the Saints’ culture of resilience. After each setback, they helped each other start over. This culture was put to the test in 1846, when Joseph Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, organized a mass migration to escape ongoing violence. The Saints crossed the continent and settled in the dry region west of the Rocky Mountains. Along the way, they set up waystations so others could follow. Brigham Young was committed to helping the poor migrate. He saw including the poor as a spiritual duty. Like the biblical exodus, this pioneer journey became a defining experience in Latter-day Saint memory.

Early Latter-day Saint missionaries visited every inhabited continent. Converts saw themselves as one covenant people. Church organizations helped many migrate to Utah. There, Church leaders organized worship and nurtured community life. The Saints saw spiritual value in efforts like cooperative irrigation and economics. They wrote new hymns and started new traditions. Together, they established a new cooperative religious culture.

Everyone could contribute. Church organizations like the Relief Society for women, the Mutual Improvement Association for young people, the Primary for children, and Sunday schools for all helped unite and refine the Saints. In temples, the early Saints performed religious ordinances that could unite families for eternity. Some pioneer traditions were limited to that time. From the 1840s through the 1880s, leaders encouraged plural marriage or polygamy, which went against American and European norms. Two generations of polygamous marriages and family life strengthened the Saints’ sense of a distinct identity. During the frontier period, polygamous families also created a strong network of relationships that connected pioneer communities.

Latter-day Saints believe that revelation continues. God is eternal, but times change. Our preparation to receive insight evolves. God works with his children step by step. Under prophetic direction, Saints accepted major changes at the end of the 1800s and in the 1900s.

In 1890, Wilford Woodruff received revelation that led to the end of of the practice of plural marriage in the Church. He also showed how Saints could help link the human family together by expanding temple sealings for past generations. The Church founded a genealogical society that became world-renowned in its field. Other prophets worked to strengthen the Saints’ commitment to the biblical law of tithing and the Word of Wisdom counsel against tobacco, alcohol, coffee, and tea. In 1918, at the end of WWI and during a pandemic, Joseph F. Smith recorded a hopeful vision of the spirit world. He saw people teaching and learning about the gospel after death, helping each other progress spiritually.

In the early 1900s, Latter-day Saints embraced new ways to worship, socialize, and organize. Congregations called wards and branches were the center of Church life. With that shift, Latter-day Saints could flourish in places where they were a tiny minority. More converts remained in their home countries. More Church members moved out of Utah. Members in California, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, and other places became the pioneers of an increasingly global faith.

Instead of looking to paid clergy, members accepted assignments known as callings. With this system of rotating responsibilities, everyone had a place. New members could integrate more easily. In addition to meetinghouses, the Saints began building temples around the world. In meetinghouses, they met to worship, learn, and serve. In temples, they could step away from life’s pressures, reaffirm their commitment to God through sacred covenants, and link families together across generations. Temples reminded the Saints that relationships can be eternal through Jesus Christ.

Developing from a Utah-centered faith into a worldwide faith required ongoing change. In the decades after WWII, missionary work expanded. The Church also worked to become more responsive to diverse, global needs. Church leaders in the 1850s had adopted a practice of restricting Black Latter-day Saints from priesthood ordination and most temple worship. The Saints rejoiced in 1978 when a revelation to President Spencer W. Kimball lifted that restriction. Around the world, Saints from different racial, ethnic, and national backgrounds worked together to serve God’s children.

By the beginning of the 21st century, Latter-day Saints were well established as a global faith. After 1997, most members lived outside the United States. In 2004, Mexico became the second country with one million Saints. In 2007, Brazil became the third. Rapid growth in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African nations, the Philippines, and Australia further extended the Church beyond its earlier centers in the Americas and the Pacific. That growth bore spiritual fruits. As missionary service, migration, and media helped Saints connect to each other, they grew in love and faith. They got better at truly seeing each other as children of God.

Wherever they live, Latter-day Saints work to be good members of their communities. They try to live honorably and serve others. Drawing on our history helps Latter-day Saints address complex problems. Mindful of our own exodus, we work to assist refugees and migrants. Latter-day Saints often have an outsize impact in the responses after natural disasters. With spiritual power and perspective from temple worship, Latter-day Saints strengthen families and nurture relationships of trust and mutual care. We work to face the growing challenges of loneliness and isolation.

Time tests all faiths. While the two centuries since the Church’s organization are only a short part of human history, they have been filled with change. As the Church approaches its third century, we are mindful of the challenges in a world where many struggle to see God’s hand in their lives. In the New Testament, Jesus asked, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?” (Luke 18:8). As a people, we remain determined to welcome Jesus back to Earth, whenever He comes, with waiting arms. We offer our history as a living witness of Jesus Christ in these latter days.