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The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite) is an organization officially titled The Church of Jesus Christ with Headquarters in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. Its members are known informally as the Bickertonites. The church also calls itself The Church. Although unaffiliated with any other church, the Bickertonites are a denomination of the Latter Day Saint or (Mormon) Restoration movement. Generally considered the third largest of the denominations resulting from the 1844 succession crisis, the church has members in North, Central and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa — or approximately 10,000 worldwide.
The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite) presents itself as the true successor to the Gospel as restored by God through the movement's founding prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. during the 1820s and 1830s. The church publishes a monthly periodical called The Gospel News.
History The Bickertonite Church shares its early history with the larger The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and the Community of Christ churches. After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1844, the Latter Day Saint movement experienced a succession crisis. The only surviving member of the Church's highest ruling body, the First Presidency, was Joseph Smith's the First Counselor of the Church, Sidney Rigdon. Rigdon had been an early and important convert to the movement and had been a partner in the First Presidency since its organization. Smith had been running as an independent candidate for the U.S. Presidency at the time of his death, with Sidney Rigdon as his vice presidential candidate. Many members presumed that Rigdon would assume control of the large body of the Church at its headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois. Rigdon, however, was opposed by an inner circle of Latter Day Saints who were secretly practicing polygamy. This faction, led by Brigham Young, succeeded in replacing the First Presidency of the Church with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles by a vote of a large, assembled congregation. Rigdon broke with Young and moved from Nauvoo to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he reorganized a faction of the movement. Many important Mormons who originally backed Rigdon eventually broke with him, some joining other factional leaders such as James J. Strang, Lyman Wight, and eventually Joseph Smith Jr.'s son, Joseph Smith III.  A core group of Rigdonites remained in the Pittsburgh area and by the 1860s these Latter Day Saints found themselves unaffiliated with any other Restoration church. These Latter Day Saints decided to organize their own Church of Jesus Christ in July 1862 with William Bickerton as their leader. The Church was officially incorporated, with its headquarters at Monongahela, Pennsylvania, on April 5, 1941. The church maintains a publishing house and prints its own edition of the Book of Mormon. The church was also the first Latter Day Saint group to publish an edition of the Book of Mormon translated into Italian. Today, the church has a worldwide membership of about 7,000, with about 2,600 located in the United States. The Bickertonites are led by a Quorum of Twelve Apostles, the chief of whom are the President of the Church and his two counselors. Other Church officers include a first Quorum of Seventy Evangelists. The Bickertonites continue to experience significant growth in comparison to some of the other smaller Latter Day Saint organizations, opening a number of new chapels in the eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania area within the last decade.
The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite) is not affiliated with any of the other Latter Day Saint groups, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) with headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Bickertonites have long rejected plural marriage and believe that that this doctrine was never taught by Joseph Smith Jr. The Bickertonite view of the nature of God also differs from that of Utah Mormons. The Bickertonites retain many ordinances, such as feet-washing and speaking in tongues, practiced by the early Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio.
Doctrines and Practices Church members greet each other with a "holy kiss" (following New Testament precedents). Members refer to each other as "Brother" and "Sister." The church counsels members to be moderate in their dress and appearance.
In services, members of the church do not prepare sermons prior to the meeting. Instead, members believe that they speak under the inspiration of Jesus Christ, allowing the Spirit to direct their words. Each week, church services begin with a "testimony" portion of the meeting, during which time members of the congregation (and visitors) are given the opportunity to "praise God for what He has done for them."
Chapels of the church contain neither altars nor crosses or even pictures. The church does not recognize and special religious holidays — instead serving God and following Jesus is a "365 day per year activity."
The offices of the priesthood in the church are:
Although women may serve as deaconesses, only men may become elders in the church. Deacons (and deaconesses) prepare the communion tables and set up chairs and prepare the chapel for meetings. Elders are responsible for the spiritual well-being of the church. Church elders are never referred to as "Father" or "Reverend." Elders and all church officials, including the Church Presidency and Quorum of Apostles are volunteers and are not compensated for their activities monetarily. Elders sometimes administer to the sick through the "laying on of hands," using oil if the illness is physical. According to the doctrine of the church, Elders are called to their positions by revelation.
In the sacrament or communion, the church uses bread and wine, representing the body and blood Christ sacrificed. The communion is administered only to the dutiful members of the church. Church members also follow the ordinance of "feet washing" three or four times a year as a demonstration of personal humility.
The church practices baptism by immursion and then laying on of hands by the elders for the reception of the Holy Ghost or Spirit.
Members of the church believe in "speaking in tongues" where one member speaks what they believe is an unknown language. Another member then gives what they believe to be the inspired interpretation of that language. Members also "speak with the Spirit" and give what they consider revelations using the phrase, "thus saith the Lord."
The church accepts the King James Version of the Bible as well as its own edition of the Book of Mormon as scripture.
References - W. H. Cadman, A History of the Church of Jesus Christ, Monongahela, PA: 1945.
- Jerry Valenti, "Welcome to The Church of Jesus Christ," The Gospel News, Vol. 56, No. 9, Sept. 2000.
External link - Official website (http://www.the_church.org/)
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