Church Organization is Like Scaffolding for the Body of Christ

Alcobaça Monastery, Portugal

Why Do We Need a Church?

The church is not a set of books, a bunch of buildings, or a series of classes. It is not a typical organization, a charity, or a business. The church is more than a set of doctrines or beliefs. The church is us. The church is the "Body of Christ" or everyone working to become more like our Savior.

An ecclesiastical structure and a consistent organization all makeup what helps the church. The structure or organization of the church is like scaffolding (as L. Tom Perry told us in a devotion address in December 2012). God has always worked to gather and organize his children "to bring to pass our immortal and eternal life." Reyna I. Alburto told us this in her beautiful talk at General Conference in April 2022, "with that purpose in mind, He has instructed us to build places of worship where we receive knowledge and the ordinances of salvation and exaltation; make and keep covenants that bind us to Jesus Christ; are endowed with ‘the power of godliness’; and gather together often to remember Jesus and strengthen each other in Him. The Church organization and its buildings exist for our spiritual benefit."

The Focus of a Church Should Be On Changing Hearts

In general, a church or religion's purpose is to help people "change their hearts." Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, or the spirit of the Lord, are the ones who can change hearts. Sometimes, religion seems to get in the way of that process. Churches today spend a lot of time arguing and pointing out faults instead of being a means to a changed heart and their followers becoming a new person.

Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there can be a lot of focus on the work that needs to be done in helping others, organizing meetings, or administrative affairs. Ours is a church of a lay ministry. In the rush and need for better organization, better activities, more efficient lesson teaching, or getting all the necessary interviews, leaders and members need to remember that Christ works differently. He works one-on-one. We should not forget to do the same. The worldly measures and data about growth and success do not apply to changing hearts.

Lucy Mack Smith made an important point about what she saw in church organization and focus as she struggled to find that change of heart in her youth. This was before she married Joseph Smith Sr., so long before the future prophet would face the same challenges. She had just faced a myriad of family struggles and the deaths of siblings, and she wrote this, "In the midst of this anxiety of mind, I determined to obtain that which I had heard spoken of so much from the pulpit— a change of heart. To accomplish this, I spent much of my time in reading the Bible, and praying; but, notwithstanding my great anxiety to experience a change of heart, another matter would always interpose in all my meditations."

That other matter was what she saw in the churches and congregations around her at the time. "If I remain a member of no church, all religious people will say I am of the world; and if I join some one of the different denominations, all the rest will say I am in error. No church will admit that I am right, except the one with which I am associated. This makes them witnesses against each other; and how can I decide in such a case as this, seeing they are all unlike the Church of Christ, as it existed in former days!" (Source: Smith, Lucy Mack; Pratt, Orson. The History of Joseph Smith By His Mother. 1853 First Edition - Complete and Unabridged: Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, The Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations)

The churches’ focus on growth, administration, and correctness hindered her change of heart. In the rush to "convert" people, they lost track of the individual and the love, patience, and care that Christ showed them.

Alma Organizes the Church

There is so much contention in the world today. There are so many different ways people understand, use, and teach the gospel - as well as in all religions. There is hatred and misunderstanding. There are rumors and evil talk about those who think differently, look differently, or approach life differently. Some try to understand everything and feel that those who don't are less than them. Others have a simpler understanding and do not trust those who want more. So much politics creeps into our churches and congregations. There are break-off groups, and fingers are pointed at those who stay in a belief system. None of this is the way the Lord wanted it.

Let's examine how the Lord had Alma organize the church in his day. Much of this may sound familiar to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I wonder how well we are doing. (find this in Mosiah 18:17-28)

• The church's name was The Church of Christ (or the Church of God). It was named after the person the members followed, worshiped, and tried to emulate in their lives.

• You entered the church membership by being baptized.

• The church leader was given the power to do so by God.

• Priests were ordained so that smaller groups could be supported, taught, led, and worship together. In this case, the size was one priest for every 50 members.

• They were to teach only the things that were spoken by prophets. (Scriptures and prophets of their day)

• They should teach and preach only repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

• There should be no contention.

• They should look forward together with "one eye," having faith and being baptized. Their hearts should be knit together in love and unity.

• They should observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

• They were to gather together on one day a week (the Sabbath) to teach the gospel and worship.

• They should pray and give thanks to the Lord every day.

• The priests (and church leaders) labor with their own hands for their support. They are not financially or materially supported by the church or the members. The priests receive the grace of God as they labor for their own support and in support of the people. This helps them grow personally in the spirit and knowledge of God.

• All people were to impart their substance for the help of others and the growth of the Kingdom of God. Those who had much should give much, and those who have little will be required to give only a little. For those who had nothing, nothing was required of them.

• They were to give of their own free will to support the church and their neighbors. They should give to the needy and the "naked soul."

We see in the middle of this lesson that as they do this, they become the "Children of God."

Becoming One Through the Sacrament

The sacrament ordinance is meant to be performed as a group or a congregation. While that is not a requirement, sometimes it may be performed individually, but that is almost always a temporary process due to challenging circumstances. From the time that Jesus instituted the ordinance through the early Christian Church and through the restoration, this is a communal ordinance.

In his teachings, Paul used the word 'communion,' or a Greek term that many English Bible translators have translated as "communion". This word carries a profound meaning - the shared participation in an emotional or spiritual experience. For Paul, the bread and wine were not just an ordinance instituted by Christ but a spiritual experience that bound them together. His message was clear: through the sacrament ordinance, they were to be united, to be one.

In today's divided world, joining together to partake of the cup and the broken bread and to promise always to remember Him is the healing balm for all our contention. We become one body as we follow Him and remember Him always.

"Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf." (1 Corinthians 10:16-17 BSB)