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"The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered." –Augsburg Confession [8] Christian theologians such as Bostwick Hawley teach that church membership is commanded in scripture, grounding this in the fact that "apostolic letters are addressed to the Churches", "Apostolic salutations are to Churches", "Jesus Christ is ...
The Half-Way Covenant was a form of partial church membership adopted by the Congregational churches of colonial New England in the 1660s. The Puritan-controlled Congregational churches required evidence of a personal conversion experience before granting church membership and the right to have one's children baptized.
Church members believe in Jesus Christ as the literal Son of God and Messiah, his crucifixion as a conclusion of a sin offering, and his subsequent resurrection. [95] [96]: 171–172 However, Latter-day Saints reject the ecumenical creeds and the definition of the Trinity. [97] Jesus is also seen as the elder brother of all who live in this world.
The word church is used in the sense of a distinct congregation in a given city in slightly under half of the 200 uses of the term in the New Testament. [1] John Locke defined a church as "a voluntary society of men, joining themselves together of their own accord in order to the public worshipping of God in such manner as they judge acceptable to him".
In common with other Restorationist churches, the LDS Church teaches that a Great Apostasy occurred. It teaches that after the death of Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, the priesthood authority was lost and some important doctrinal teachings, including the text of the Bible, were changed from their original form, thus necessitating a restoration prior to the Second Coming.
The Lutheran Christian theologian Balthasar Münter stated that church attendance is the "foundation for the Christian life" as "the Christian Bible and the sacraments provide the framework for the faith"; he also states that it is important for believers because it aids in the prevention of backsliding, as well as offers "the company of other ...
Church culture puts notable emphasis on the family, and the distinctive concept of a united family which lives and progresses forever is at the core of Latter-day Saint doctrine. Church leaders encourage members to marry and have children, and as a result, Latter-day Saint families tend to be larger than average.
With more than 1.1 billion baptized members, the Catholic Church is the largest Christian church and represents 50.1% [1] of all Christians as well as 16.7% of the world's population. [ 389 ] [ 390 ] [ 391 ] Catholics live all over the world through missions , diaspora , and conversions .