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1. Introduction
Traditional conversion stories tend to start with you meeting someone from the church in person, you attending their services in their church house, and then being baptized and confirmed in that church house. My conversion into Community of Christ is nothing like that! I joined without ever having met someone from it in person, still have never set foot into a Community of Christ building, and was confirmed a member of my church over zoom. For those around me this completely unique and non-conforming conversion story is perfectly “Evan”.
Getting to a place where I converted to Community of Christ was quite a long, exhilarating, and often painful adventure, both for me personally and for Community of Christ institutionally. Today I’d like to tell the story of how I joined a church I’ve never been to.
2. Personal History
2.1. The Early Years
I grew up LDS in Boise. I attended church every Sunday as a kid, but it was nearly always a negative experience for me because I didn’t fit in with my peers and found the lessons boring and repetitive. All of this came to a head when I had just finished my sophomore year in high school. I just didn’t see the value of still attending seminary or church if I wasn’t getting anything out of it.
Over the summer before my junior year I was convinced to give seminary one more try. The seminary teacher was charismatic, made the Doctrine and Covenants fun and interesting, and answered any and all questions that I had (and I made sure to have at least 1 every time I saw him). I decided to stick with seminary.
During this time I was fascinated by the Kirtland Temple dedication. It seemed as if the veil was lifted for nearly everyone there. The distinction between Heaven and Earth was blurred. Angels were mingling with humanity, and I was amazed at how people were able to experience that in the flesh. The experiences in Kirtland stuck with those who were in attendance for the rest of their lives.
I decided that I wanted a similar experience for myself. I felt that if I read all of the D&C I would get an angelic visitation. I diligently read all of it, but, being a teenager I didn’t understand a lot of the historical nuances of what I was reading, and at best my seminary teacher only told me half of the story. I neglected friendships in order to read the D&C. Every day for months I would read it during lunch, free time in classes, and come straight home from school to read till I went to bed. When I finished it I didn’t receive that angelic visitation, which confused and frustrated me. I kept going to seminary and church, but admittedly with less gusto.
After high school I had a bishop that made me jump through a ton of unnecessary hoops while I was getting ready for my mission. After over 6 months of consistent effort I was still nowhere near going out on my mission, so I did what every 18-year-old Mormon does: marry someone that I had only known for 3 months.
2.2. Adulthood in the LDS Church
My ex-wife and I got married and about a year and a half later we started working towards going to the temple and in 2014 it was finally time. I went into the temple completely blind and didn’t know what to expect. I thought that the temple would essentially be meditation in white clothes in the Celestial room as angels surrounded and mingled with you. I wanted it to be that angelic-visitation experience I longed for after I read the D&C as a teenager.
The temple rituals were odd and left me feeling let down; it was far from that angelic experience that I wanted. I distinctly remember telling my ex-wife that I felt like the church worked just fine without the temple rituals.
After that I moved to a new ward which was full of very old people and there was no one near my age (20 at the time). After some self-righteous ecclesiastical leaders violated some boundaries that were laid down, a break from church was in order. Starting in October 2014 I decided that instead of going to church on Sundays I would do things that made me feel spiritually fulfilled at home. By December I was talking about how the LDS church wasn’t fulfilling, and was reconsidering its role in my life.
My favorite topic in seminary had been early church history, and I decided I wanted to learn more about it. I started doing some searches on reddit and quickly found the ExMormon subreddit. I was cautious; after all, apostates were known to not tell the truth. However I saw posts from Mithryn and Curious_Mormon and was blown away by how well researched they were. I decided to hang out more on that subreddit, but refrained from subscribing or commenting out of fear of being caught.
After months and months of being told to read the CES Letter I finally did on February 6th, 2015. I read it all in one sitting over 8 hours.
2.3. Leaving the LDS Church
I was shocked. There were so many things that I had only heard whispers of or never knew about.
I knew horses weren’t in America, so why were they in the Book of Mormon? Why did the nature of God change between versions of the BoM? Why didn’t church leaders disern that Mark Hoffman was lying? Why did Joseph Smith marry teenagers as young as 14? How did Joseph Smith not know that the Kinderhook plates were made to test his prophetic discernment and he failed? Did South Park depict a more accurate version of the translation of the Book of Mormon than I was ever taught growing up?
My world fell apart. I felt betrayed, angry, numb, and panicked that I had never learned any of this, even when I had asked my seminary teacher hundreds of questions about those topics and had hundreds of Sunday classes where I could have learned it.
I ended up telling my family that I no longer believed in the LDS church a couple of months later. They said they still loved me, which was a relief because we were and still are a tight-knit family, but my parents said they didn’t want to talk about it or me to talk to my siblings about it. I decided that I wouldn’t talk directly about the stuff I was learning, but things near it. For example, I taught my family about the successionist crisis and how there were different branches of the Restoration, which no one knew about. I guess some of those history lessons resonated because I have a sibling in attendance today (hahaha)
During this period of my life I felt like a fundamental re-evaluation of my existence was justified.
One of the first things that I re-evaluated was my sexuality. As a teenager I occasionally joked about kissing dudes who I thought were just “really cool”, but secretly I told myself that I likely would have kissed them if they wanted to. It hit me one week when I was 22 that I think boys and girls are cute – I am bisexual!
Another thing I re-evaluated quickly was my relationship with mind altering substances. I tried cannabis and it was a life changingly positive experience. Time felt more malleable, I temporarily wasn’t crushed by overwhelming depression, and was able to appreciate little things like glittering snow and refreshingly crisp water.
Another aspect I needed to re-evaluate was community. The ExMormon subreddit was great at the time, because I got to know dozens of people who were going through similar things as me. However, I needed in-person support, and after looking around I was able to find an ExMormon group in Boise which had weekly coffee meetups, holiday parties, and shared milestones with each other. The people that I met there became some of my best friends. This is my friend Kelly, whom I met in the ExMormon group, right after I asked him to be a groomsman in my wedding
This was the first period of my life where I felt like I could give myself the space to explore who I am, and when I got to know myself I discovered a lot.
2.4. Spiritual Awakening
After I left the LDS church I called myself an Atheist. An old bearded white guy in the sky didn’t make any sense to me. After about a year, I found that Atheism was not spiritually fulfilling and was terrible at creating meaningful communities.
I decided to start looking into decent spiritual alternatives. I wrote out a list of requirements that I would need and set out. I ended up stumbling upon Noah Rasheta’s “Secular Buddhism Podcast”. Noah is a fellow ExMormon who was able to explain Eastern thought to my very Western mind. Buddhism helped me be more mindful about my life, taught me how to meditate, and helped me get through a necessary divorce.
I decided to commit to consistent studying of Buddhism by taking the same ministry course that Noah did. For nearly 2 years I read books, wrote essays, and gave weekly presentations on what I was learning. I learned to let go of spiritual concepts that no longer served me and focused on what helped me grow.
While I was studying Buddhism I also found studies in other areas, namely entheogens, which are the spiritual use of psychedelics. My first real experience with entheogens was a life changing experience. When I looked at the stars, I could see how some were brighter and others dimmer; almost as if I could tell which were closer and which were farther. I saw a tree and the beauty of it as it fractaled out. I saw myself and how my consciousness and body weren’t necessarily synonymous. I was able to close my eyes and envision planets and nebulas, as if I were creating them. I felt like I found that angelic visitation-like experience I had longed for since I was a teenager.
During this time of studying Buddhism I also started dating a wonderful woman. She was sexy, adventurous, I got tongue-tied when I was with her, and I counted the days till I could see her again. Her and I went to music festivals in the mountains and took psychedelics. Over the next couple years her, nature, and entheogens helped me heal mentally, emotionally, and spiritually by helping me connect to the universe, the earth, my loved ones, and myself.
2.5. Return to the Restoration
After I completed my Buddhist ministry course I looked into what I wanted to study next. I floated around for a while and felt aimless.
Again, I decided I wanted to learn more about Mormon history and listened to Bryce Blankenagel’s podcast, “Naked Mormonism”. I was intrigued by the title of one of his episodes: “Smith Entheogen Theory”. I googled it and found that “Entheogen” was the spiritual use of psychedelics. This podcast talked about possible links between Joseph Smith Jr. and psilocybin mushrooms. When I started the episode I didn’t think much of the theory, but it ended up changing the course of my life.
It talked about how there’s a possibility that psychedelics played a role at the Kirtland Temple dedication. It seemingly explained how psychedelics filled that Kirtland experience I longed for. It felt like my present spirituality and my spiritual heritage suddenly merged together.
I needed to do some more research regarding those Kirtland experiences, so I ended up reading some firsthand accounts. Everything from the length of time, the burst of energy, the indescribable feelings, insomnia, and tapering late-night experiences all seemed to mirror psychedelics too closely for dismissal in my mind.
This theory led me to wonder if there was a place where I could express my spiritual heritage in a healthy way. I decided to write out a list of things I would need from a healthy spiritual community. Chief among this list was:
- Acceptance of a non-literal interpretation of scripture
- Ordination of Women
- Queer acceptance
- Public temple worship
An acquaintance ended up recommending I research Community of Christ. I had formed my opinion of the church within the first 6 months of leaving the LDS church, and had never revised that opinion. I decided to look into it more, and was surprised at just how well Community of Christ met the requirements I laid out and met others that I didn’t know I needed.
However, as I mentioned, the growth that Community of Christ had to do was just as intense as my personal growth. Just leaving it at “they met the requirements” would rob the story of its richness, complexity, and depth. To truly understand my conversion, it is important to understand the history of the church that I felt comfortable converting to.
3. Community of Christ History
3.1. A Word of Caution
Before I start talking about the history of Community of Christ, I would like to be explicit about something: I am not a historian. I am just some guy who is kinda interested in the history of my church who intends to have John Hamer, who IS an academically trained historian, call me this evening and say “hey… so you got this, this, and this wrong…” (hahahaha)
I’d also like to explain what Community of Christ’s Conference is like before we dive in. While we do get together and have sermons and stuff, a lot of the focus is on decision making; its almost like a legislative session. Our congregations send delegates to vote on resolutions, church policy, budgets, priesthood callings, and even doctrine. A conference and its delegates are considered the most authoritative body in the church.
I will be talking about Community of Christ’s history in 5 parts. These topics are really interconnected, so I’ll try my best to focus on one topic at a time. The topics I’ll cover are the requirements I laid out, with fancy titles:
- The Journey to Non-Literalism
- The Ordination of Women
- Queer acceptance
- Public temple worship
- Community of Christ in Cyberspace
3.2. Journey to non-literalism
The church traditionally had a very literal outlook on things; The Book of Mormon was a literal translation of ancient records, Zion would literally be built in Jackson County, Missouri, and Joseph Smith Jr. literally restored Christ’s church.
That’s all fine and dandy, but Apostle Charles D. Neff had an interesting theory: we were imposing our American cultural biases onto other cultures. As an apostle he worked a lot in countries in Asia, and when he spent time in Japan this theory seemed to be proven correct. In 1965 a minister wrote to Neff and said:
“Frankly speaking … Christians here in Japan and Okinawa are losing their game.”
Japanese people knew as much about Christianity as American people knew about Shinto or Buddhism, that is to say, very little. So when we started talking about The Book of Mormon, Zion in Missouri, and the Restoration, it didn’t make sense because those were uniquely American.
Neff wrote in the Saints’ Herald, the church’s long-running magazine, an article which was entitled “What Shall We Teach?”. He called for a re-examination of church curriculum and advocated for a more universal Christian focus through the lens of local cultures. This necessitated focusing more on the Bible and less on restoration distinctives. This was a controversial decision for some, but it was more-or-less acceptable because the emphasis was still on Christ and the Bible.
Neff would meet with members of the Joint Council, which is the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Presiding Bishopric, and tell them how they were failing to communicate an effective message and that something needed to change. They agreed, but struggled to come up with a solution throughout the 1960s. Eventually surveys were sent out among those who worked with people in the field and the Joint Council found that there seemed to be a confusion regarding church doctrine and that there was a desire to have it clarified. In 1966 the Joint Council agreed that the first two steps would be:
- A Statement on Objectives for the Church
- Continuing theological and historical education
The Statement on Objectives for the Church was developed quickly and was a relatively straightforward 5-point list:
- Clarify the theology of the church and unify the membership in their faith
- Deepen the effectiveness of worship within the church
- Develop World Church concepts and procedures in evangelism and administration
- Decentralize the administration of the church
- Interpret Zionic concept for our day in world terms and aggressively pursue the implementation of Zionic development.
The Joint Council also needed a continuing theological and historical education, which was quite the task. It took some time to figure out who would give the lessons, and ultimately, the Joint Council decided to hire professors from the Methodist-sponsored Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, and in March 1967 the continuing education commenced! The education covered topics like the translation of the Book of Mormon, the nature of Zion, and the validity of the claim of being Christ’s “One True Church”.
The church leaders got to know these professors quite well and became friendly with each other. One day, at the end of a lesson, they were talking, and Professor W. Paul Jones asked prophet-president W. Wallace Smith a question that had enormous implications: “If our mutual studies of Christianity and the RLDS church were to discover that there was a discrepancy between what Jesus taught and what Joseph Smith taught, which would you accept?” Those in the room knew the gravity of what the professor had just asked and the room fell completely silent as everyone stared at the prophet, awaiting an answer. Wallace’s answer was simply “we would go with Jesus”.
This answer would prove to lay the groundwork for what the church would focus on more and more in the coming decades: Christ. The distinctives like The Book of Mormon, Zion in Missouri, and the Restoration would still be important to us, but they would be secondary to Christ.
After these lessons it became clear that the church’s Sunday school curriculum was woefully out of date and often inaccurate. Instead of updating the old one, it was decided to throw it out and have the Department of Religious Education start from scratch. 2 committees were formed to help make this a reality: the first was the Basic Working Committee, which served as liaisons to the church’s leaders. The second was the Curriculum Consultation Committee, which I’ll abbreviate to CCC. The CCC was representative of the widely-varying beliefs of the church’s membership and acted as a sounding board and a method to gauge reactions to the new curriculum.
The head of the Department of Religious Education, Don Landon, proposed a collection of essays be written which spoke rather bluntly about topics for the CCC to talk about and for things that he thought the new curriculum should touch on. These essays were called the “Discussion Papers”, and to say that they were controversial is an understatement.
To illustrate just how controversial these essays were, let’s focus on one of the papers called “The Value of the Book of Mormon”, which covered topics like the story of its origin changing, the lack of archaeological evidence, the reflection 19th century religious concerns and ideologies, portions of Isaiah being quoted before those portions of Isaiah were even written, the text fundamentally changing christology, and anachronisms. Then the conclusion of this essay called for acceptance of openly non-literal views of The Book of Mormon.
I myself discovered all of those issues regarding the book’s historicity for the first time in the CES Letter, which immediately launched me into a faith and existential crisis. These essays, which were commissioned by the RLDS church, represented a similar powderkeg.
The goal with the new curriculum was to talk about these things in such a way that it would be a gentle move towards a new understanding. Unfortunately, what ended up happening was these essays were leaked by members of the CCC. The church tried its best to do damage control and help people understand what the purpose of the essays were, but it proved to be a genie that couldn’t be put back into the bottle. Some, especially younger generations, were relieved at the theological progress that was being made. Others, however, were quite outraged. Some people engaged in apologetics to fight back against these essays while others accused the church of being in apostasy.
In the coming years the church produced many resources. Some sought to orient the Restoration within the greater Christian world, create inter-denominational friendships, and gain valuable insight from Christians outside of the church – all of which signaled a shift away from the policy of near theological isolationism. Other resources studied the church’s history, scriptures, and leaders without the tradition and dogma attached to them.
All of this, again, received mixed reviews.
Theologically liberal folks were fascinated and relieved at the freedom to explore our heritage. The decentralization of administration created a marketplace of beliefs which in turn allowed worship to be more effective and spiritually fulfilling. We were free to breathe new life into our tradition by exploring what scripture meant to us if it didn’t also need to be a history book, what Zion meant to us if it wasn’t tied to a specific geography, what the Restoration’s place is in the greater Christian story. For these people the objectives that the Joint Council laid out were being achieved, and the church was growing theologically.
However, the church’s most conservative were also quite upset about this direction. Many started labeling themselves “Restorationists”, designated certain congregations as conservative ones, banned liberal resources from those congregations, marginalized those who didn’t fit their mold, largely saw the church as being in a state of semi-apostasy, and the most extreme went as far as to harass those who were creating these new resources.
The World Conferences of 1972, 74, and 76 and multiple D&C sections sought to achieve unity in diversity among the church, but this theologically liberal and conservative divide didn’t really close, and in fact reached a boiling point in the 1980s.
3.3. Ordination of Women
Community of Christ’s journey which led to the ordination of women is a beautiful yet painful experience. Talking about this topic for this presentation has been intimidating because I don’t feel like I have the proper time or knowledge to tell this part of our history with any sort of real justice. I will give a brief overview, but if you’re interested in this topic I urge you to listen to some of the episodes on Project Zion Podcast, which do a far better job at telling the history than I could.
That being said, let’s go over the topic!
The 1960s was a time where we began to deconstruct our relationship to our theological conceptions and cultural biases. Along with things like what we just discussed, we also began to question why women weren’t able to have a larger role in Sunday services and congregational life in general. At this point ministry was essentially exclusively reserved for priesthood. You couldn’t even give a prayer during a church service unless you were a part of priesthood!
The World Conference of 1970 was the first time that women being ordained to the priesthood was openly discussed. At the time, this resolution was not well received, but the fact that this was talked about publicly could not be undone. It was clear that ordaining women to the priesthood was on peoples’ radar.
By 1971 the First Presidency appointed a committee to study women’s issues, and the next year at World Conference delegates affirmed the church’s belief in the principle of women’s equality and encouraged Church administrators to appoint, hire, and nominate more women for positions not scripturally requiring priesthood. This also included widening our definition of what ministry was and who was able to do it. Marge Troeh boiled down the revised definition of ministry to “perceiving a need and responding to it”. Favoring this wide definition of what ministry meant opened up possibilities for women to enhance worship services, Sunday school lessons, and financial planning.
However, around that same time people began to really wonder why women couldn’t have the priesthood to begin with. Many women felt that since they were already performing some of the duties of priesthood, they were already priesthood in all but title. As early as 1973 there were women who were being considered for ordination to the priesthood, because local church leaders could not think of a scripturally valid reason for this priesthood ban. However, no women were ordained, because this was a theological gray area and was new and unexplored territory.
However, the march for equality continued on! Women like Barbara Howard, who was the Saints’ Herald assistant editor, got the general church talking about discrimination both outside and inside the church. Women like Marge Troeh got church leaders talking behind the scenes. The topic of ordaining women permeated every level of the church, and was talked about in leadership meetings, Sunday school classes, and at kitchen tables.
It became clear that prophetic guidance would be needed to resolve this topic, and many people felt the call for the ordination of women was impending; mere moments away. People were optimistic about the World Conference in 1976, but at this conference W. Wallace Smith said that he wasn’t in favor of ordaining women. This is just one of the many setbacks that we experienced, and luckily his comment was far from definitive.
The next prophet-president was ordained in 1978. Wallace B. Smith, affectionately known as “Wally-B”, was a bit of a shake up in the institutional church because he wasn’t part of the Joint Council beforehand. In preparation for his ordination he poured himself into studies with theologians, historians, activists, and cultural exposure for years. Many feared that Wally would end up being rather theologically conservative like his father. However, through his studies he found that he was a liberal theologian.
One of the first things he did was create the “Faith To Grow Challenge”. He wanted to see not only the institutional church spiritually mature and grow, but he also wanted individual members to likewise grow. Wally wanted to honor the church’s heritage, but also move it into the future, but this was risky because the Church was in a tense place. Moving too slowly risked stagnation, but going too fast risked creating schisms.
It is tradition in Community of Christ for a document that is being proposed for canonization to be introduced on a Tuesday and for the vote to happen on a Thursday. On April 3rd, 1984, what would become Doctrine and Covenants section 156 was introduced by Wally-B and finally, after more than 150 years, it clarified that women should have equal access to the priesthood.
This document was immediately one of the most controversial things the church had ever seen. There was initially a significant number of people who voted against it, voted to exclude certain verses, or for it to be voted upon at the next conference. However, the document was ultimately voted upon by delegates and was canonized in its entirety by an “overwhelming majority” on April 5th, 1984.
For some this section represented full-blown apostasy. Conservatives often refused to recognize the priesthood authority of women, and would often loudly and vocally protest when women were performing priesthood duties like blessing communion. Conservatives disliked D&C 156 so much that they tried to decanonize it for the next several conferences. The theological contention during this time became so polarized that it strained and often broke familial connections. As much as 1/3 of the church left between 1984-1990 after it became clear that women’s ordination was here to stay, and many of those people would go on to create schismatic churches.
I have talked to many people who saw the canonization of section 156 and everything that followed after. Everyone who was in the church at this time knows exactly where they were when they heard the news of the introduction and subsequent canonization of section 156. Many people told me that they felt relief that women could be ordained, because they felt as if the church had been urged to move this direction for decades. Others felt optimistic about the future of the church, because it would open up new forms of worship and unity that weren’t possible before. It was a cause for celebration for many, and nearly 40 years later is still a cause for celebration.
3.4. Queer Acceptance
People being queer is as natural as having brown hair or big eyebrows and our part in human history is valuable. However, I am not going to stand here today and pretend like Community of Christ has always recognized our value. It has had a history of “straightwashing” us, demonizing suspected queer folks, and acting as if we are something to be cured. In my eyes, these are very serious sins. However, I want to be afforded the opportunity to give up harmful ideologies and behaviors and grow and change for the better, and need to give it to others, including institutional churches.
In the mid-1950s George Mesley had been serving as an apostle for nearly 20 years. In 1954, Mesley was accused of being queer and was pressured to resign as an apostle. It was tradition to honor outgoing apostles in the next D&C section, which would have been section 143, but Mesley received no such honors after he stepped down. After his days as an apostle were over he continued to be stigmatized and silenced because of these accusations, despite being an active and beloved member of the church.
The next time homosexuality was discussed by church leaders was in 1962 when we were revising our relationship with the concept of divorce and specified that homosexuality was a valid cause for it. Several months later the Standing High Council suggested to the First Presidency that homosexuality in adulthood should be regarded as something to be cured, bar queer folks from the priesthood, and be seen as a sin which could be grounds for excommunication – which put it right alongside adultery and child abuse. The First Presidency approved of this policy at the time, and sent it out to the church.
Some heterosexual allies were upset and asked “what if God calls a homosexual?” Queer members of the church wrote anonymous articles in the church’s magazine pleading for inclusion and understanding. However, at this point the leaderships’s hearts were hardened and reaffirmed their homophobia by citing verses like Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:27.
After this, the topic wasn’t talked about in public much until the Stonewall Uprising in June 1969. These are the protests where queer folks, who had been systemically marginalized and often criminalized, stood up for their right to exist. Pride month and pride parades are a tradition which was started from this uprising, and we queers have made great strides in society since we stood up and demanded our rights.
These events re-ignited the topic in Community of Christ as well. Into the 1970s, as we’ve talked about, represented a shift in our collective understanding, and even those who helped design the homophobic policies began to question their validity. In 1978 prophet Wally-B commissioned a committee to study human sexuality, which then was later expanded and transformed into a taskforce. This task force then organized a subcommittee which focused on queer topics, and from this subcomittee we queer folks saw the first advocacy for us at an institutional level in 1981. It called for queer acceptance, the possibility for queer ordination to the priesthood, and the church to be queer civil rights advocates.
Others, in the church, weren’t as thrilled with the progress. They said that queer folks could be ordained ONLY if they remained celibate, and made distinctions between homosexual inclinations and behaviors, the latter always being considered unacceptable while the former as an unfortunate reality. This became the church’s official policy in 1982.
The work did not stop there, though. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance, “GALA”, built community within Community of Christ for queer folks. It sponsored retreats and often served as liaisons for these issues among church leaders. Its successor organization, Harmony, continues to serve this purpose today.
In 1992 a resolution was brought forward by Gwendolyn Hawks-Blue and Curtis Filer which would supersede the 1982 policy. It stated that prejudice based on many things, including sexual orientation, undermines the personal and spiritual development of both the abused and the abuser and that as people of faith we have a responsibility to resist that hate and fear and instead seek unity in diversity. After a discussion, this resolution was passed unanimously.
The months that followed brought a wave of discussion regarding queer acceptance. Some felt like the church was on the right course and that God “summons us to free ourselves from antiquated religious laws and concepts”, while others clung to the more traditionally homophobic perspectives and felt like the church should explore conversion “therapy” as an official stance.
The First Presidency continued to desire further light and knowledge, so in 1995 the Human Sexuality Task Force was reinvigorated and added queer representation to it, which is the first time that we were able to openly represent ourselves. At the 1998 World Conference we gave a report on some of our findings, and we did a powerful exercise: the delegates were asked to stand if they loved someone, like a family member or friend, who was queer. About half of the delegates stood up. This experience is often described as the “outing” for the church. The entire church was able to see us, and recognize that we are loved ones in the church.
Unfortunately, in 2002 the prophet would clarify that the discriminatory 1982 policy was still in effect. This was devastating, because we had thought that W. Grant McMurray was an ally and was pushing for greater inclusion.
It became clear that this was a divisive topic, and marriage equality was quickly coming over the horizon. People were worried that this divisiveness would lead to further schisms like we saw in the 1980s. Instead, we learned from our past and worked to create understanding and unity. The president-elect of GALA, David Howard, worked to provide advocacy and education for not only the general church membership, but also the new church leadership, including the current prophet Stephen Veazey in 2008. It became clear that the church needed to have real discussions about what we were going to do moving forward. We had learned from when we lifted the priesthood ban on women that this was something that the entire church needed to explicitly talk about for multiple years.
The 2010 World Conference would prove to be a historic one, as there were twenty-one resolutions that were presented from around the world regarding queer folks. One of the biggest questions was how to be inclusive and celebratory in some countries, while also protecting members whos nations’ laws were rabidly homophobic.
While Wallace B. Smith introduced his controversial D&C section just days before the vote occurred, Steve Veazey took a different approach with his section which would become section 164. Veazey published this section twice before World Conference so people could get a sense of what direction was coming and they could have time to ponder on it.
D&C 164 was canonized into scripture on April 14th, 2010. Among other things, this section advocated for unity in diversity and tolerance of gender identity and sexual orientation. It clarified that God “ultimately is concerned about behaviors and relationships that uphold the worth and giftedness of all people and that protect the most vulnerable” than what genders the people in the relationship are.
This section also created a new theological innovation: national conferences. Each nation would now be permitted to determine for themselves if it would be safe for them to permit things like the ordination of queer folks as well as solemnize our marraiges.
He later joined United Church of Christ
For many of us this scripture was canonized too late and we chose to continue our journey elsewhere. Curtis Filer, who helped pass the resolution in 1992, is one of those people. Community of Christ has to bear the shame of the fact that we alienated our queer family and friends, and we must work to heal the wounds that we inflicted.
For others the fight for equality is not yet over. Currently to qualify for priesthood you must either be married to your partner or not live with them. If you cohabitate with your partner before marriage, you may have your priesthood silenced or removed. This is a policy that does not understand queer life experiences. American queers only gained our federal right to marriage a little over 6 years ago. Our relationship with the sacrament of marriage is new and complicated, and this policy does not accommodate for that lived experience. Many Queer folks and their allies are working to let go of this policy at our next conference in 2023.
While Community of Chirst is not perfect, as a bisexual I do feel seen, accepted, and loved for who I am within my spiritual community. It is a rare and wonderful thing.
3.5. Public Temple Worship
So as we all know, we dedicated the Kirtland Temple on March 27th, 1836, sang “The Spirit of God”, listened to sermons, and a ton of people had visions. That’s chiefly what the first floor of the temple was for. The second floor was for training the church’s priesthood in what was called “The School of the Prophets”. The third floor also was used for schooling and administrative office space for the church.
At this time the Nauvoo-era rituals like baptism for the dead, washing and anointings, endowments, and sealings were either not fully developed or not even conceived of yet, so the Kirtland temple made no accommodations for these rituals.
What many people are less familiar with is what happened to the Kirtland temple. After the Kirtland Safety Society anti-banking scandal happened, where many people lost their life savings, there was an understandably deep schism in the church. Joseph Smith Jr., who was a part of the scandal and received a lot of the blame, ended up leaving Ohio for Missouri. The Kirtland temple, at this time, was more-or less forgotten about.
I won’t go into why, but eventually Missouri wasn’t the place for us either, so many of us went to Nauvoo where we built the Nauvoo temple. This was the temple which accommodated the rituals that many associate with the temple today. It was completed and used for a couple years after Joseph Smith Jr. died, but was abandoned, sold, damaged, and demolished after Brigham Young and his followers went west.
Meanwhile, the Kirtland temple had shifted hands between various offshoots and it was unclear who owned it at this point, but eventually Community of Christ was able to gain possession of it. It was regularly used for Sunday services until the 1950s and every year since then it has housed 50-60 worship services, classes, retreats, and other special events, like Sunstone.
Community of Christ also acquired a lot of the land which Joseph Smith Jr. had designated for temples in Independence, Missouri. We believed that one day we would build a temple on the Temple Lot, just as Joseph Smith Jr. prophesied. It was a core part of our early understanding of what Zion is. We dreamed of one day building our temple there.
Introduced D&C 149 and 149A
Introduced D&C 156
Then, on April 1st, 1968 prophet W. Wallace Smith introduced what would become D&C 149, which said that it was time to start making that dream a reality. Many people didn’t know what temple worship would look like, especially in light of our history in Nauvoo. The question of what the purpose of the temple was such a burning one that president Smith would give a second document which would become D&C 149A. This document clarified that the temple would not have any secret ordinances and the full purpose was still yet to be revealed.
Further guidance came to the first presidency in June of that same year. The temple would not serve as a retreat from the world, make accommodations for Nauvoo-era rituals, or serve as a sign of Divine favoritism. Instead, it would serve as a center for education, a place to ask difficult but necessary questions, and be a symbol for the church’s mission. The article also went on to say that if the temple fell short of this goal then it would be better not to build it at all.
We as a church saved as much money as we could to fund the temple as we eagerly looked forward to seeing this dream become reality. Further guidance came in 1984 in D&C 156, which said that the temple would be dedicated to the pursuit of peace and its function was for education, reconciliation, and healing the spirit.
By the late 1980s it was realistically time to start building the temple. The sorrow and pessimism from the schism from women’s ordination was being replaced by excitement and optimism for the future.
Inside the temple there would be a dimly-lit hallway for walking meditation called the “Worshipper’s Path”, which symbolized the darkness of man’s understanding. The path led to the main sanctuary which was brilliantly lit up and would hold over 1,800 people and feature a 180-foot ceiling under the tall spiral steeple on the exterior. The temple was also designed with a 150-seat chapel, class rooms for training priesthood, a library, an archive which housed our historical artifacts, a museum, a lecture hall, a Japanese peace garden, and our administrative offices.
Most notable during this time was a new tradition and ritual which was started on December 3, 1993: a daily prayer for peace. This is a service that is held every day at the temple at 1PM. We gather in silence, are called to prayer by the sound of a bell or chime, light a candle to signal the formal beginning of the service, read a couple scripture verses, give the prayer for peace, sing a hymn, have a short meditation, and then a closing message. The actual prayer for peace is focused on a country or people from around the world; today’s prayer is for Mexico.
Everything in both of our Houses of the Lord are freely accessed by members and non-members alike. That alone met my requirements. However, Community of Christ has gone above and beyond and made the temple a testament to our love of Christ and our commitment to emulate the love that he displayed during his ministry and strive to achieve world peace.
4. Community of Christ in Cyberspace
Our world is increasingly becoming digitized. The very fact that this is being streamed to people around the world right now is a testament to that fact. Community of Christ has, to me, proven to be a church which grows when more resources become available, and technology has not been an exception.
Like a lot of people, my first real exposure to Community of Christ was John Hamer on the Mormon Stories Podcast. Hamer has talked about the Succession Crisis of 1844, the history of Community of Christ, the 19th-century context of the Book of Mormon, and his case for why Community of Christ makes a good home for transitioning Mormons.
In a couple of his episodes he mentioned that his congregation in Toronto, Canada often does lectures, which turned out to be fascinating and thorough. However, Hamer’s lectures were just the tip of the iceberg. The Toronto congregation has been piloting “Beyond the Walls”, or online church services, since 2017. Beyond the Walls was instrumental in getting communion to be performed over zoom, which was officially approved in the fall of 2019, prophetically just months before the pandemic started. This then, in turn, paved the way for other sacraments like confirmation to be done over video call.
Back in 2015 the “Project Zion Podcast” was started by a couple of folks, and was largely led by Brittany Mangelson. These guests have included nearly everyone from Community of Christ, including prophets, apostles, historians, theologians, and new converts like me who speak on everything from the Old Testament, to church finances, to the nature of God. This podcast has become an invaluable resource for those who are wanting to learn more about contemporary Community of Christ culture and theology.
Both Brittany and John have done a great job at also developing community. Brittany helps runs the “Latter-day Seekers” group, which provides a space for people with an LDS background to explore Community of Christ in a way that is more catered to our background. John, as a pastor, has helped pilot online communities which have paved the way for Community of Christ to embrace technology as a theological tool.
5. Joining Community of Christ
So, in 2020 Community of Christ is equipped with non-literal interpretations of scripture, women and queers in the priesthood, marriage equality, public temple worship, has an active online ministry, and the ability for me to join online. This was everything that I needed and then some! It was odd, seeing a dream become a reality. It seemed almost too good to be true.
Eventually, I sat down with John Hamer and every worry and doubt I had about Community of Christ just… dissolved. It became crystal clear that Community of Christ would be my spiritual home.
My confirmation proved to be one of the most meaningful rituals I would engage in, and it was rightfully entitled “A Sacred Homecoming”; it took place on February 6th, 2021, which was the 6th anniversary of me leaving my first spiritual home; several of the graphics I created were featured; my grandfather and one of my best friends read scripture verses; I picked the hymns, including “The Spirit of God”; and my friends Brittany Mangelson and John Hamer, who were instrumental in my conversion, performed the confirmation.
6. Conclusion
My story into Community of Christ has been far from normal, in fact I feel like I am doing it backwards in some regards. I joined, and then met people from the church, and I have yet to attend an in-person worship service. I am like the Benjamin Button of Community of Christ!
While it is a completely unprecedented conversion story, it is perfectly “Evan”. I feel valued. I feel loved. I feel at home. I feel optimistic about my spiritual future and my spiritual community. I feel like it was a perfect match for me and I am a perfect match for it.