RLDS Church project focuses on growth, better communication

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    By CHRISTINE BODEN

    The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is in the process of a change that it calls Transformation 2000.

    Members of the world-wide church are working to bring this transformation about. The RLDS Church’s Web site says the goal of Transformation 2000 is to become a church dedicated to the pursuit of peace, reconciliation and healing of the spirit.

    Pastor Norma Hope of Orem said the church is striving to enlarge the congregation and have better communication. The year 2000 marks the goal date for this accomplishment.

    A member of the RLDS church, Jennifer Killpack of Independence, Mo., said Transformation 2000 has been a great way to get members of the church involved in the community.

    “I think it’s wonderful. It’s given the church new life and provided a reason for members to look outwards to the community and offer their help,” she said.

    In order to achieve these goals, the RLDS Church is hiring new field ministers, creating youth organizations and collecting grants and donations. Killpack said the church is well on its way to achieving its goals.

    Although the RLDS Church headquarters is in Independence, Mo., the church has nearly a quarter of a million members in 40 countries. Hope said there are approximately 30 members of the RLDS Church in Utah Valley.

    The church is organized by districts, one of which includes the Orem, Salt Lake district. As part of Transformation 2000 the church will hire a minister in Salt Lake City. Hope said this will help spread the message of joy, hope, love and peace that the church promotes.

    The RLDS Church Web site says the church looks to the Bible as its central book and to the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants as additional witnesses of the love of God and the ministry of Christ.

    The church’s Web site says members are led by a prophet who receives modern revelation. Hope said every other year representatives from various districts around the world attend a conference and vote on the revelations presented by the prophet. If the revelations are accepted, which Hope said usually are, they are placed in the Doctrine and Covenants as scripture.

    The RLDS Church was officially organized April 6, 1860, in Aboy, Ill. In 1920, church headquarters moved to Independence, Mo.; the place where Joseph Smith Jr., the church’s first prophet, revealed as the modern day Zion.

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