NCCG.ORG - The LDS Page - A Guided Tour of Mormonism

It often comes as a surprise to Mormons and non-Mormons alike to discover that there isn't just one "Mormon Church" but hundreds of them, most of them with different names, and nearly all of their members calling themselves "Latter Day Saints". Many of these denominations have become extinct over the last one and a half centuries but far more are popping up to replace them.

Thanks to the "truant officer of the Restoration Movement" as he has affectionally come to be called by many, Steven L. Shields, who has increased exposure and knowledge of the LDS factions through his magazine, "Restoration: The Journal of Latter Day Saint History", we now have an extensive archive of different Restoration beliefs which has been published in a book by the same man called, "Divergent Paths of the Restoration" which has passed through at least two editions and may possibly be passing through a third. Steven is RLDS (a member of the second largest faction of the Restoration Movement, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, headquartered in Independence, Missouri) and has an important leadership position in his Church in Korea where he originally served as an LDS missionary. An ecumenical in the truest sense of the word, Steve has tried to foster inter-faction dialogue. He is also a personal friend of mine and has published many of my articles in his Journal.

It is impossible to say just how many factions of the Mormon Church have existed in history but there are probably somewhere around 300. Of these there are probably about 100 in existence with about 75 definitely located and known to be in operation, with nearly all of them claiming to be the one and only true Church established through Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830. Most claim to be the continuation of the original Church established by Smith and most claim that the parent body and/or it's successors have "apostatised" at various stages of development and that they are the true preservation of the original or a reformation of earlier corruptions.

It is not our purpose to look into any of these factions except the three largest, namely:

1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, Mormon, Utah Mormons, Salt Lake City Mormons, Brighamites - estimated membership, ca. 10 million, of whom more than half are inactive)
2. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS, Saints' Church, Missouri Mormons, Independence Mormons, Josephites - estimated membership, ca. 250,000); and
3. Fundamentalist (Polygamous) Mormons, who, though forming nuclei around different leaders, all claim to be the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (estimated membership, ca. 60,000).

We shall mostly be referring to these in our discussion, and occasionally some of the other more interesting factions that provide interesting snap-shots of different stages of Mormon crystalisation.

Another little know fact amongst Mormons and non-Mormons is that the Mormon Church has evolved considerbly in doctrine, practice and name. This will explain in part why many of the factions have different sounding names. During the lifetime of the Church established by Joseph Smith (1830-1844), it changed names at least four times:

1. Church of Christ;

2. Church of the Latter-day Saints;

3. Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints;

4. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; and

5. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

This should be remembered in later discussions where the correct name of Christ's true church is considered important in establishing a signpost of its claimed divine authority.

The known Mormon denominations are listed below (many of them have identical names based on their claims to authority):

1. Aaronic Order (Eskdale, Utah)
2. Akihito (Toyko, Japan)
3. Apostolic United Brethren (West Jordan, Utah)
4. Christ's Church (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
5. Church of Christ (Oak Grove, Missouri)
6. Church of Christ (Independence, Missouri)
7. Church of Christ (Holden, Missouri)
8. Church of Christ (Elijah Message) (Greenwood, Missouri)
9. Church of Christ (Restored) (Morton, Mississippi)
10. Church of Christ "Restored" (Independence, Missouri)
11. Church of Christ, Restored (Oak Grove, Missouri)
12. Church of Christ (Temple Lot) (Independence, Missouri)
13. Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Established Anew in 1929 (Independence, Missouri)
14. Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Inc. (Blue Springs, Missouri)
15. Church of Christ - His Zion's Remnant (Independence, Missouri)
16. Church of Israel (Schell City, Missouri)
17. Church of Jesus Christ (Monongahela, Pennsylvania)
18. Church of Jesus Christ (Independence, Missouri)
19. Church of Jesus Christ (Omaha, Nebraska)
20. Church of Jesus Christ (Calexico, California)
21. Church of Jesus Christ in Solemn Assembly (Big Water, Utah)
22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Great Lakes Mormons - Strang) (Burlington, Wisconsin)
23. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) (Burlington, Wisconsin)
24. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Fundmentalists (Cauvin, Canada)
25. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Order of Enoch (Golden, Colorado)
26. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City, Utah)
27. Church of Jesus Christ of Restoration Latter Day Saints (Lees Summit, Missouri)
28. Church of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God (Independence, Missouri)
29. Church of Jesus Christ, Zion's Branch (Independence, Missouri)
30. Church of the Firstborn (Ontario, Canada)
31. Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times (Chihuahua, Mexico)
32. Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times (Baja California Norte, Mexico)
33. Church of Christ, The Firstborn of the Fullness of Times (El Paso, texas)
34. Church of the New Covenant5 in Christ (Willamina, Oregon)
35. Committee for Unity (Ozark, Missouri)
36. Conference of Restoration Elders (Independence, Missouri)
37. Davis County Co-op Society/Latter-day Church of Christ (Bountiful, Utah)
38. Dunlap, Wayne Group (Independence, Missouri)
39. El Reino de Dios en su Plenitud (Ozumba, Mexico)
40. Essene Community (Lamoni, Iowa)
41. Evangelism Council (Independence, Missouri)
42. Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Sandy, Utah)
43. Israel's Gathering/Ephraim's Group (Buckner, Missouri)
44. La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de la Plenitud de los Tiempos (Puebla, Mixico)
45. Patriarchal Church of Jonathan, the House of the Lord (West Jordan, Utah)
46. Peyote Way Church of God (Klondyke, Arizona)
47. Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Conference of Restoration Elders)
48. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Independence, Missouri)
49. Restoration Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Independence, Missouri)
50. Restoration Church of Jesus Christ (Salt Lake City, Utah)
51. Restoration Fellowship in Jesus Christ (San Diego, California)
52. Restoration of the Covenant Ministries (Independence, Missouri)
53. Restored Church of Jesus Christ (Independence, Missouri)
54. Restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - Strangite/Melchizedek Priesthood (Ontaria, Canada)
55. School of the Prophets (Salem, Utah)
56. Sons Aumen Israel (Canebeds, Arizona)
57. True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days (Manti, Utah)
58. True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Los Angeles, California)
59. Work, The (Colordado City, Arizona)
60. World Church of Jesus Christ (Independence, Missouri)
61. Zion's Order, Inc. (Mansfield, Missouri)

Some of these groups are very small, others much larger and numbering in the several thousand. Most have come into existence since 1945 though some, like the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) are over 150 years old. For an alternative list of Mormon denominations, see Wikipedia's List of sects in the Latter Day Saint movement

With this at the back of our minds, let us take a look at the history of the Restoration Movement and see how it came into existence, remembering that the Mormon Church, inspite of its size and sucess, is but one expression of Mormonism.

This page was created on 7 September 1999