Encyclopedia > Restoration Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Restoration Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a sect of Mormonism headquartered in Independence, Missouri. The church was formed beginning in 1981 from members of the Community of Christ who had grown disaffected with that church's late-Twentieth-Century reforms. Mormonism (also called Latter Day Saint theology or Mormon theology and Latter Day Saint culture or Mormon culture) is a religion, ethnic group, movement, ideology and subculture originating in the early 1800s as a product of the Latter Day Saint movement. ... Independence is a city located in Missouri, in the Kansas City metropolitan area. ... Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri, USA. Dedicated 1994 Community of Christ, previously known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or RLDS church is a branch of Mormon Restorationism, and is the second largest denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement. ...
The early history of the church during the 1980s and early 1990s was heavily influenced by M. Norman Page, a Seventy in the Community of Christ who claimed to receive two revelations calling for a reorganization of the church. In 1993, Marcus Juby was named as the first President of the church, a position which he held until his resignation in 2001. Mark Evans was chosen as President shortly after Juby's resignation. // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ... The Quorums of the Seventy are area and General Authorities in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ...
LatterDaySaints trace their religious heritage through Joseph Smith, Jr., and teach that he restored the original Christian church, which LatterDaySaints believe had disappeared from the earth after a period of apostasy.
LatterDaySaints consider themselves to be "saints" in the earliest Christian sense of the word, meaning members of the original church which they believe Jesus organized before his death in the First Century, CE.
The size and prominence of the LDS Church, however, has led to the terms Mormon and Mormonism being generally understood as applying only to the LDS Church and its polygamous 20th century offshoots, who generally are happy to call themselves Mormons or LatterDaySaints.