We Belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

As many of you know, we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some of you may be unfamiliar with the church, the teachings and what it means to be members. While we understand that everyone may not agree with what we believe, we feel that increased mutual respect and strong bonds are built when individuals have an accurate knowledge and understanding of each others religious beliefs. So, we thought we would start by taking a few moments this week to share some facts about the Church as an organization.

As always, we are happy to answer any questions that you may have or to clarify items. We hope you enjoy learning a little bit more about the Church that we greatly value our membership in.

• •“Mormon” is a nickname for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, derived from our use of the Book of Mormon, another book of scripture similar to the Bible. Members are often referred to as “Mormons,” “Latter-day Saints,” or “LDS.” The term “Saint” means “member”, or "follower of Christ".
  

• • The Church was restored in 1830 in upstate New York with Joseph Smith as its first prophet and president. Today it is headquartered in Salt Lake City, with President Thomas S. Monson as the present prophet.

• • There are now over 13.5 million members in 176 countries and territories. About 6 million of these are in the United States, making us the fourth largest Christian denomination in America. As one of the fastest growing Christian faiths in the world, we complete a new chapel every working day. Members pay a tithe, which is 10 percent of their income, making this and other programs possible.

• •Local congregations are led by volunteer, unpaid members. Both men and women serve in assigned leadership positions.

• •Mormons are well represented in politics and government. (In the United States, for example, there are 16 members in Congress, from both political parties.) Members also serve in high and trusted positions throughout the world in business, medicine, law, education, media, sports, and entertainment.

• • Mormons place particularly strong emphasis on family as the basic unit of the Church and of society. We have a deep commitment to marriage (defined as a union between one man and one woman). Polygamy, a limited practice in the early pioneer days of the Church, was discontinued in 1890, some 117 years ago.

• • Families and individuals, whether members of our faith or not, can attend Sunday services in our chapels. Here we worship together, instructing one another from the scriptures.

• • The Church has auxiliary programs for women, youth, and children as a support to the family. These programs provide such things as religious instruction, opportunities for Christian service, sports, drama, music, and Scouting.

• • And there is also much focus on extended family, genealogy, and personal family history, providing young and old with a stronger sense of roots, identity, and belonging. The highest and most sacred ordinances of our faith relate to our families, both living and dead, and some of these ordinances take place in our temples.

We hope reading this has given you more insight about the Church. We hope to write a similar blog entry soon with a greater focus on specific beliefs and values of the Church. In the mean time, if you are interested, here are some links to a couple official Church websites.

www.lds.org - The official main website for the Church. In the top right hand corner there is an option to choose from various languages.

www.mormon.org - A great resource that introduces people to the basic doctrines of the Church.



Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Jason, Laura and Atticus