The Organization of the Church

The same structure Christ set up in the New Testament, restored in full and operating today.

Built on Apostles and Prophets

The Church of Jesus Christ is not organized by human preference. Its structure was given by Christ, who built His Church on a specific foundation with Himself at the head.

Ephesians 2:19–20

“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.”

Paul listed the offices Christ placed in His Church and gave the reason they exist — to unify the Saints in the faith and keep them from being deceived. These offices were not meant to expire; they were meant to continue until the Church reached that unity.

Ephesians 4:11–14

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets … For the perfecting of the saints … till we all come in the unity of the faith … that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro.”

The Restoration brought this whole structure back. As the sixth Article of Faith states, the Church believes in the same organization that existed in the primitive Church — apostles, prophets, and the rest — not a modern imitation of it.

How It Is Led

At the head of the Church is the First Presidency — the President of the Church, who is the Lord's living prophet, and his counselors. Alongside them is the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, special witnesses of Jesus Christ to all the world. Together these fifteen men hold and exercise all the priesthood keys on the earth, and they lead the Church by revelation, not by consensus or campaign.

Assisting them are the Quorums of the Seventy, who carry the work into the regions of the world, and the Presiding Bishopric, who oversee temporal affairs. This is the same principle the Lord established anciently: He directs His Church through prophets.

Amos 3:7

“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

The Local Church

The same order continues at the local level. Members are organized into congregations called wards, each led by a bishop and his counselors. Wards are grouped into stakes, led by a stake president. The bishop is a common judge in Israel who cares for the members of his ward, both spiritually and temporally, and presides over the Aaronic Priesthood there.

Every leader is called, sustained, and set apart by proper authority; none volunteer for or campaign for their positions. The work is carried out by ordinary members serving in unpaid callings — there is no professional, paid local clergy. This keeps the Church a body of disciples serving one another rather than an institution run by hired ministers.

From the prophet to the newest deacon, the structure is one connected order of authority, established by Christ and operating today exactly as He designed it.

Key References