RE: To The Christians...What Denomination Are You?
December 19, 2014 at 3:06 pm
(This post was last modified: December 19, 2014 at 3:12 pm by vorlon13.)
(December 17, 2014 at 3:22 pm)Jenny A Wrote: (December 17, 2014 at 12:20 pm)vorlon13 Wrote: Just an aside to note the Mormons have schismed over 100 times in less than 200 years. And some of the 'spinoffs' are VERY adamant about the correctness of their particular franchise, and the falsity of all the others.
So I've read. But are any of the schisms of any real size? I've never met any but the main branch--at least not knowingly.
RLDS (currently Community of Christ) has 1/4 million. I think FLDS might be in the 10s of thousands.
An interesting point about some of the early (and now defunct) schisms like the Whitmerites and the Strangites is they were founded by very highly placed Mormons who ran afoul of Smith or Young. IIRC, more than one 'actual' witness to the gold plates or angels appearing to Joseph Smith later on apostacized or were excommunicated.
The group that founded the early settlement of Preparation, Iowa were led by a con man, although the followers took a while to figure that out.
The 100 schisms include groups that schismed from schisms. For instance, the Remnant Church has split from RLDS, and they split from LDS. I'm not sure if anyone has split from the Remnant Church, (I know a couple members) but if I hear of any, I'll post about it.
Here's an imperfect chart from Wiki (if it formats incorrectly I may have to delete it)
Current denominations or sub-groups in the Latter Day Saint movement
Primary — Secondary *
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
15 million (2013), about 98% of Latter Day Saint movement – Utah-based John Taylor
presided 1877–1887 Brigham Young
presided 1844–1877
Joseph Smith, Jr.
presided 1830–1844[a]
Community of Christ
250,000 (2011), about 2% of Latter Day Saint movement – Missouri-based Wallace B. Smith
presided 1978–1996 Joseph Smith III
presided 1860–1914
Smaller *
The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)
19,029 members (Dec.31,2012) – Pennsylvania-based William Bickerton
presided 1862–1880 Sidney Rigdon
presided 1844–1847[b]
Church of Christ With the Elijah Message
over 12,000 members (1998) – Missouri-based William Draves
presided 1943–1994
Apostolic United Brethren
approximately 10,000 members (1998)– Utah-based John Woolley / Lorin Woolley
presided 1918–1928 / 1928–1934
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
approximately 10,000 members (2011) – Utah-based
[show] v t e
— Additional fundamentalist denominations —
RLDS/Restoration Branches which have created the
Joint Conference of Restoration Branches
6,000–7,000 members[c] (2010) – Missouri-based
[show] v t e
— Additional Restoration Branch groupings —
Church of Christ (Fettingite)
2,000 members (1988); Missouri-based Otto Fetting
presided 1927–1933
Church of Christ (Temple Lot)
2,400 members (1998) – Missouri-based Granville Hedrick
presided 1863–1881
[show] v t e
— Additional Temple Lot – derived denominations —
Minuscule, founded in the 19th century *†
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite)
300 members (1998) – Wisconsin-based James Strang
presided 1844–1856
Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite)
approximately 12 members (2010) – Missouri-based Alpheus Cutler
presided 1853–1864