Our History

Latter-day Saints believe that prophets in the Bible were called of God, and that God inspired many religious teachers through history. For us, sacred history continues today. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in 1830 as a restoration of Jesus Christ’s church. Our experience over the last two centuries is another witness of how God shapes those who answer His call.

In the early 1800s, there was a surge of interest in religion in the newly independent United States. Because the country’s constitution promised religious freedom, people were eager to choose their own ways to worship. During this time, a young man named Joseph Smith searched for answers. He considered the different churches around him. But he also felt the distance between Jesus Christ’s teachings and the way people treated each other. One day in the spring of 1820, he went into the woods to ask God what to do.

In answer to Joseph Smith’s prayer, God and Jesus Christ appeared to him. Jesus Christ called Joseph Smith to His work. Rather than join any other church, Joseph would serve as a modern-day prophet to help to restore the original church that was established by Jesus Christ.

Joseph Smith was called to bring forth the Book of Mormon, a sacred record, as a new volume of scripture alongside the Bible that teaches about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Angels came to Joseph and a man named Oliver Cowdery to bring back lost priesthood authority, so that ordinary people can act in the name and with the power of God.

Joseph Smith was prepared by God to organize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 1830, based on the organization of Jesus Christ’s church two thousand years before.

Many of the early Saints chose to physically gather to build cities and temples together. God directed that in these houses of the Lord, the Saints could use His priesthood authority to make covenants with Him. These covenants linked them more powerfully to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and would allow their families to remain together even after death. The places where they received revelation from God, learned together, and sacrificed for each other are still honored as sacred sites.

Some people felt threatened by the emergence of a new faith. Although the United States Constitution promised religious freedom, intolerance remained. Mobs attacked Saints’ homes and businesses; they abused and even killed believers.

Persecution was most intense in Missouri, where people felt threatened by the Saints’ growing population. Residents in Missouri also felt that Church members held anti-slavery ideas and accused them of trying to interfere with local slavery traditions. In 1838, the governor ordered troops to drive the Saints out of the state.

After building a new city in Illinois, the Saints faced more violence. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered by a mob. Joseph’s successor Brigham Young then led the Saints west, past the Rocky Mountains to what is now the state of Utah. The Saints felt God strengthen them on their exodus and as they established new homes in the American West, northern Mexico, and southern Canada.

As soon as the Church was organized, missionaries began sharing the faith. By 1852, they had reached every inhabited continent. In the 1800s, new Church members often migrated together from their home countries to the Saints’ communities in the United States.

The era of Church-sponsored migration came to an end in the late 1800s. Later generations of Saints applied principles of cooperation from pioneer communities in cities around the world. In 1923, Los Angeles became the first major city where the Saints organized a stake, a group of congregations that nurtured community like a pioneer Latter-day Saint town. In a stake, Church members could pray together, play together, serve together, and support each other.

By 1970, there were stakes on every inhabited continent. Saints also established family history centers and built temples around the world to connect generations. By 2025, there were over 17 million Church members, mostly outside the United States, in over 3,500 stakes.

In every generation, prophets, apostles, and everyday Church members have continued to ask for and receive guidance from God. As a people, we have prepared for the moral challenges of different eras. We have sought God’s guidance about how to face challenges related to migration, economic depression, and war. We have refined our own understanding of how God organizes his work in heaven and what he wants us to do on earth.