While serving my mission, I frequently had the chance to interact with both members and non-members from around the world. Due to my love of peoples and cultures, interacting with such persons was always a highlight of my day. While serving on-site at the Peter Whitmer Farm (the site where the church was formally organized on April 6th, 1830), a tour came through of Tahitians who had flown into New York to specifically visit the church historical sites. Due to my own connection to Polynesia at the time(having visited Tonga, New Zealand, and Fiji-my sister’s husband born and raised in Tonga-my father on church assignment to various Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian islands-my great (x4) Grandfather Noah Rogers being assigned to serve the first LDS mission to Tahiti in 1843), the chance to guide a tour of Tahitian saints was a particularly special opportunity for me.
The positive stereotype of the Polynesian people once again proved true; weeping Tahitians humbly bowed their heads with tears streaming down their cheeks as my companion and I told the story of the unique events that took place on the Peter Whitmer Farm, specifically, the first formal meeting of the church, the day in which the church was formally organized. Occasionally, at random throughout the tour, a Tahitian sister would reach out with wide arms and hug me, gently kissing my cheek and saying thank you for our service. As a missionary who was homesick for my mother’s arms, this was the next best thing.
After exiting the Whitmer Cabin, as we began to lead the tour into the visitor’s center where the artwork displayed explains the organization of the church (both anciently and modern), we noticed some concerned voices among the group and sensed overall hesitation---“Sisters, thank you,” their group leader explained, “but we will end our tour here. Our history differs from yours and so it is best we end the tour here. Thank you!”
Confused, we looked at each other as the group made their way back to the parking lot, waving back at us to say goodbye with friendly smiles. “Their history?” my companion questioned, “what are they talking about?” Suddenly, we noticed a senior Elder hurrying down the path towards us. “Sisters,” he said, “how did that tour go? Did you have any problems?” “No” we answered in reply, “they were an excellent tour but they ended the tour early without hearing about the organizational structure of the church---they said it was different than their history?” “Yes,” the Elder responded. “We just got a call from the missionaries at the Hill Cumorah---apparently there is another Tahitian group over there. These folks aren’t LDS, they’re RLDS---the breakaways…”
His sentence trailed off without him finishing. We knew about “the breakaways”---most people who knew some church history were aware that after the death of Joseph Smith, there was confusion over who should head the church, and whether or not the Lord even intended for that to happen. Eventually, most of the saints headed west with Brigham Young while Emma Smith, Joseph’s widow, stayed behind in Nauvoo with her children. After some years, Emma’s son, Joseph Smith III, reorganized the saints left behind in Nauvoo and headed the church that eventually had its headquarters in Independence, Missouri, where today there is a temple signifying the Lord’s gathering of his people in the latter-days. Today, this group of reorganized Latter-day Saints are called “The Community of Christ,” with a global membership of around 250,000.
When my great (x4) grandfather Noah Rogers sailed to Tahiti, the church was organized among the locals but later fractured as the mission was closed for a time, during which the RLDS sent their missionaries to the island. The group of Tahitian saints we had just toured with were the descendants of that missionary effort. Today, differences between the LDS and the Community of Christ include the following: the LDS church places great emphasis on doctrinal affirmations while the CoC (Community of Christ) very intentionally avoids credalism, something that originates in shared history when Joseph Smith encountered the divine and was told that all existing sectarian creeds were “an abomination.”[1] Additionally, the LDS church maintains exclusivity while the CoC considers itself an instrumental movement within the body of Christ, but also accepts the salvific state of all believing Christians.[2] Further, the CoC maintains a redemptive view of their history, seeing it as something to study, learn from and build on, as well as formally calling out errors in previous church doctrine and trajectory---as opposed to the LDS narrative of its history that is often portrayed as systematic and intentional, something that LDS historian Robert Bushman says is “not true.”[3] While the LDS church remains patriarchal and maintains a male-only Priesthood ordination, the CoC has adapted to include women in its priesthood, seeing and validating that “all are called”[4] to the work of ministry, with spiritual gifts being extended without consideration of sex and or gender.
In light of General Conference weekend and the reality that “Mormonism” is, just like its cousin Christian sects, fractured, my heart is heavy with both the desire for unity of the faithful as well as a hope for reconciliation of differences. My experience with the beautiful and loving Tahitian saints of the CoC is fresh on my mind as I consider this divide; I find it fascinating that the Restoration movements that swept America’s communities in the 19th century all shared a common desire for a “unification of all Christians in a single body patterned after the church of the New Testament.”[5]
My hope for General Conference is that all who listen receive a message that gives us more reasons to include rather than exclude, to receive a message that fosters unity rather than otherness, and that promotes the appreciation of differences within the body of Christ, acknowledging that there can indeed be unity in diversity, affirming that God can and does work through anyone sincerely attempting to further their discipleship in Christ.
Happy General Conference, all.
[1] Joseph Smith History v. 19 [2] https://www.cofchrist.org/history [3] Blake Bishop, “Richard and Claudia Bushman,” YouTube video, 00:44:40, June 12, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA0YS8LWWX4. [4] https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles [5] Rubel Shelly, I Just Want to Be a Christian, 20th Century Christian, Nashville, TN 1984, ISBN 0-89098-021-7