Information for Seekers

Are you searching for a spiritual home?

We offer a community where you can belong, be valued and loved, deepen your spirituality, and discover a purpose that can change lives and communities.

Community of Christ is the welcoming, loving faith community that values the worth of every person as a child of God. We provide a safe space for you to explore and deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ and each other. Come discover renewed purpose for your life through compassionate, Christ-like service that ends suffering and fosters justice and peace.

Community of Christ will help you grow spiritually, discover your purpose, and equip you to be part of Christ’s mission of compassion, justice, and peace. 

Change your life; change your community; change the world!

Community of Christ’s 250,000 members live and minister in more than 60 nations. We proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace. Christ’s mission is our mission.

Jesus and the Children

Read more below about Community of Christ mission initiatives and enduring principles.

Mission Initiatives

God’s Vision Made Real in Christ

In Luke 4:18–19, in response to the Spirit’s guidance, Jesus proclaims his mission when he reads from the Isaiah scroll:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Jesus is anointed for a divine mission:

Evangelism—sent to proclaim good news and invite others to join him in mission

Compassionate ministries—reaching the brokenhearted, the suffering, and those who need hope and Christ’s peace

Justice and peacemaking—release those held captive by unjust systems and the circumstances of life that devalue the worth of any person

The kingdom was present in Jesus’ ministry and his disciples’ actions as described in Acts. Those first Christians continued Christ’s mission by proclaiming the Living Christ, inviting all people into fellowship, valuing the worth of each person, generously and compassionately meeting their needs, and pursuing justice and peace for everyone.

Our call is to reclaim the same vision and passion for the full mission of Jesus Christ today! It’s time for us to be a prophetic people characterized by uncommon devotion to the compassion and peace of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Beloved children of the Restoration, your continuing faith adventure with God has been divinely led, eventful, challenging, and sometimes surprising to you. By the grace of God, you are poised to fulfill God’s ultimate vision for the church. —Doctrine & Covenants 164:9a

Mission Made Real

Christ’s mission is our mission. All ministries, personnel, and resources of the World Church are focused on the whole mission of Jesus Christ through five, life-changing, church-changing, and world-changing Mission Initiatives.

Invite People to Christ

We are poised to share the peace of Jesus Christ with those who are waiting to hear the redeeming words of the gospel.

We fulfill God’s ultimate vision as we…

  • Baptize/Confirm Many New Members
  • Open New Congregations
  • Launch the Church in New Nations

Abolish Poverty, End Suffering

We are poised to be Christ’s hands and feet, reaching out through compassionate ministries that serve the poor and hungry and stop conditions that diminish the worth of persons.

We fulfill God’s ultimate vision as we…

  • Help Those Who Hurt
  • Feed the Hungry
  • Support Compassionate Ministries
  • Respond in Times of Crisis

Pursue Peace on Earth

We are poised to restore Christ’s covenant of peace, even the Zion of our hopes. The hope of Zion will become reality when we live Christ’s peace and generously share his peace with others.

We fulfill God’s ultimate vision as we…

  • Establish the Temple as a Center to Promote Peacemaking throughout the World
  • Engage Children in Peacemaking around the World
  • Seek Justice, Create Peacemakers around the World
  • Unite with Others to Make Peace around the World

Develop Disciples to Serve

We are poised to equip men, women, and children to be true and living expressions of the life, ministry, and continuing presence of Christ in the world.

We fulfill God’s ultimate vision as we…

  • Help All Ages Deepen Their Discipleship
  • Empower Priesthood for Mission
  • Grow Pastors and Leaders for Mission
  • Train and Send Ministers for Mission throughout the World

Experience Congregations in Mission

We are poised to become congregations that are the true and living expressions of Jesus Christ, woven together by the Spirit, and sent into the world as evangelistic witnesses, compassionate ministers, and justice and peacemakers.

We fulfill God’s ultimate vision as we…

  • Nurture Congregations of Christ’s Love and Peace
  • Experience God’s Presence through Worship
  • Become a People of Peace, Reconciliation, and Healing of the Spirit

Christ’s Mission—Our Mission—YOUR Mission

Enduring Principles

Our Enduring Principles define the essence, heart, and soul of our faith community. They describe the personality of our church as expressed throughout the world.

The Foundation: God, Christ, Holy Spirit

God’s revelation in Jesus Christ and continuing presence through the Holy Spirit, as proclaimed by scripture, is the foundation of our faith, identity, mission, message, and beliefs.

We do our best to uphold these principles (values, concepts, themes) as a faithful response to our heritage and our continuing experience with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Enduring Principles

  • Grace and Generosity
  • Sacredness of Creation
  • Continuing Revelation
  • Worth of All Persons
  • All Are Called
  • Responsible Choices
  • Pursuit of Peace (Shalom)
  • Unity in Diversity
  • Blessings of Community

Each principle includes statements that help explain its meaning. These statements are not meant to be limiting or comprehensive. 

Grace and Generosity

  • God’s grace, especially as revealed in Jesus Christ, is generous and unconditional.
  • Having received God’s generous grace, we respond generously and graciously receive the generosity of others.
  • We offer all we are and have to God’s purposes as revealed in Jesus Christ.
  • We generously share our witness, resources, ministries, and sacraments according to our true capacity.

Sacredness of Creation

  • In the beginning, God created and called it all good.
  • Spirit and material, seen and unseen, are related.
  • Creation’s power to create or destroy reminds us of our vulnerability in this life.
  • God is still creating to fulfill divine purpose.
  • We join with God as stewards of care and hope for all creation.

Continuing Revelation

  • Scripture is an inspired and indispensable witness of human response to God’s revelation of divine nature.
  • God graciously reveals divine will today as in the past.
  • The Holy Spirit inspires and provides witness to divine truth.
  • In humility, individually and in community, we prayerfully listen to understand God’s will for our lives, the church, and creation more completely.

Worth of All Persons

  • God views all people as having inestimable and equal worth.
  • God wants all people to experience wholeness of body, mind, spirit, and relationships.
  • We seek to uphold and restore the worth of all people individually and in community, challenging unjust systems that diminish human worth.
  • We join with Jesus Christ in bringing good news to the poor, sick, captive, and oppressed.

All Are Called

  • God graciously gives people gifts and opportunities to do good and to share in God’s purposes.
  • Jesus Christ invites people to follow him by becoming disciples who share his life and ministry.
  • Some disciples are called and ordained to particular priesthood responsibilities and ministries for the sake of the community, the congregation, and the world.
  • We respond faithfully, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to our best understanding of God’s call.

Responsible Choices

  • God gives humans the ability to make choices about whom or what they will serve. Some people experience conditions that diminish their ability to make choices.
  • Human choices contribute to good or evil in our lives and in the world.
  • Many aspects of creation need redemption because of irresponsible and sinful human choices.
  • We are called to make responsible choices within the circumstances of our lives that contribute to the purposes of God.

Pursuit of Peace (Shalom)

  • God wants shalom (justice, reconciliation, well-being, wholeness, and peace) for all of creation.
  • Jesus Christ, the embodiment of God’s shalom (peace), reveals the meaning of God’s peace in all aspects of life.
  • The vision of Zion is to promote God’s reign on earth, as proclaimed by Jesus Christ, through the leavening influence of just and peaceful communities.
  • We courageously and generously share the peace of Jesus Christ with others.
  • Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation.
  • We celebrate God’s peace wherever it appears or is being pursued by people of good will.

Unity in Diversity

  • Community of Christ is a diverse, international family of disciples, seekers, and congregations.
  • Local and worldwide ministries are interdependent and important to the church’s mission.
  • The church embraces diversity and unity through the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • We seek agreement or common consent in important matters. If we cannot achieve agreement, we commit to ongoing dialogue and lovingly uphold our common faith in Jesus Christ and the mission of the church.
  • We confess that our lack of agreement on certain matters is hurtful to some of God’s beloved children and creation.

Blessings of Community

  • The gospel of Jesus Christ is expressed best in community life where people become vulnerable to God’s grace and each other.
  • True community includes compassion for and solidarity with the poor, marginalized, and oppressed.
  • True community upholds the worth of persons while providing a healthy alternative to self-centeredness, isolation, and conformity.
  • Sacred community provides nurture and growth opportunities for all people, especially those who cannot fully care for themselves.
  • We value our connections and share a strong sense of trust in and belonging with one another—even if we never have met.
  • Some disciples are called and ordained to particular priesthood responsibilities and ministries for the sake of the community, the congregation, and the world.
  • We are called to create communities of Christ’s peace in our families and congregations and across villages, tribes, nations, and throughout creation.