The Priesthood in The Church
The term “Priesthood” in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints refers to the power and authority of God delegated to men on earth to act in his name.
Unlike many churches in which pastors or priests who have degrees from theology schools work in their
positions as full-time jobs, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has only a lay priesthood of
ordinary persons who have no vocational religious training.
The Church’s doctrinal position is that a man must be called of God, as was Moses’ Old Testament
spokesman Aaron, to administer in the priesthood. As a result, the Church’s priesthood is composed almost
entirely of ordinary church members who also hold regular jobs in their community and who function in
the priesthood on a non-paid basis.
Although these members are ordained to the priesthood starting at the age of 12, they cannot exercise
leadership authority unless they are “called” and appointed to a specific leadership position. Each of these
positions have carefully defined and limited authority and responsibilities.
A few members who have been called to responsibilities that necessitate a full time commitment leave
their employment for the period of their calling to serve exclusively in their priesthood positions. They
receive a modest living allowance to sustain themselves during their time of service. However, they are not
considered professional clergy and have no special academic theological training. Their authority is limited
to their specific responsibilities and subject to the general consent of members of the Church who vote to
sustain or reject them at annual church meetings. They include Church general officers who have worldwide
responsibilities, members who preside over the Church’s temples and members who lead the Church’s fulltime missionaries in specific geographic locations. Members do not apply or campaign for these positions,
but are chosen from among the membership.
All worthy male members of the Church can hold the priesthood and participate in Church ordinances such as the
blessing shown to the left, but local lay congregational leaders are “called” or appointed for a limited time only.
A local congregation leader receives help from a council consisting of men and women leaders who are also chosen from the congregation and serve without pay.
On the local level, a member is called from among the congregation’s members to be the congregational
leader. This position is referred to as the bishop or, in smaller congregations, the branch president. While
he holds the position, a bishop continues to earn his own living and receives no pay for his service in the
Church. Although there is no stipulated period of service, it is common for a bishop to serve for about five
years, after which he is released from his responsibilities and again assumes the role of an ordinary member.
The absence of a salaried ministry at the congregational level may be one reason why the tradition of volunteerism is firmly established within Latter-day Saint communities. Everyone is expected to help, and there
is no permanent senior rank of local leaders. A person serving as a bishop today may be sitting in a class next
week being taught by someone who was once his assistant. Other priesthood holders in a congregation support and assist the bishop in his duties. The bishop has
two counselors or advisers, as well as receiving help from a council consisting of men and women who also
are called from the congregation and serve without pay.
A holder of the priesthood officiates in ordinances such as blessing the sacramental emblems of the body
(bread) and blood (water), bestowing blessings on the sick and baptizing members into the faith.
Women and the Priesthood
Latter-day Saints believe that both women and men are children of a loving Heavenly Father and are
equal in the sight of God. The Bible says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). In the Latter-day Saint
family, a wife and a husband form an equal partnership in leading and raising a family.
In the Church, that partnership is also equal, although men and women have some different responsibilities. Motherhood and the nurturing of children are held in special respect in the Church and Mormon
women are encouraged to make this a first priority. Their vital contribution to raising children is considered
an important responsibility and privilege of equal importance to priesthood responsibilities.
Women in the Church operate in a variety of volunteer leadership, teaching, speaking and other capacities from
the age of 12 years old up.
Only worthy male members hold the priesthood, but women play an integral leadership role in the
Church. Routine responsibilities such as preaching a sermon or offering formal prayers in meetings are
shared equally between men and women. Women also serve as leaders, counselors, missionaries, teachers,
and in many other responsibilities.
Women lead and staff three of the Church’s major organizations, shouldering a responsibility that is equal
in time, commitment and value to that of their male priesthood counterpoints. These organizations are:
Relief Society
This organization for women in the
Church includes more than 5.5 million
women ages 18 or older in more than 185
countries.
The Relief Society holds a one-hour
weekly Sunday meeting as part of regular
Sunday services in which women teach
and receive religious instruction and guidance for living the gospel of Jesus Christ
and teaching it in their own homes.
Relief Society members also help those in need by providing meals, clothing and other necessities and
teaching literacy and resource management skills.
The Relief Society has a unique program called visiting teaching to provide a support network for woman.
Each woman in a local congregation is assigned two other women who visit her home each month to give
a religious message and offer help as needed.
Young Women
Women lead and teach in an organization called Young Women for teenage girls ages 12-18 that includes
weekly instruction and mentoring activities, a girls’ camp and cooperation with male leaders in joint activities for both young men and women.
Primary
Women lead this organization for children up to age 12. Together with men who serve as some of the
teachers, women teach children up to age 12 about the gospel of Jesus Christ in a weekly Sunday meeting
called Primary.
Other Service Opportunities
In addition, both women and men serve as full-time missionaries, teachers in the Church’s weekly Sunday School, church historians, public relations representatives, family history consultants, volunteer workers
in Mormon temples and visitors centers, libraries and other public facilities, and perform a wide variety of
other responsibilities on an equal basis with
men.
Race and the Priesthood
The gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone.
The Book of Mormon states, “Black and white,
bond and free, male and female; … all are alike
unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33, Book of Mormon).
This is the Church’s official teaching.
People of all races have always been welcomed and baptized into the Church, and the
Church’s congregations have been integrated
since the Church’s founding in 1820. All worthy men, without regard to race, are ordained
to the Church’s priesthood and serve in leadership positions.
The Church unequivocally condemns racism, including any and all past racism by inLatter-day Saint congregations are racially integrated.
dividuals both inside and outside
the Church. In 2006, then Church
president Gordon B. Hinckley declared that “no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those
of another race can consider himself
a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he
consider himself to be in harmony
with the teachings of the Church.
Let us all recognize that each of us
is a son or daughter of our Father in
Heaven, who loves all of His children.”
The history of the Church’s position on race is as follows:
The Church’s members are from all races, cultures and social and economic classes.
By the end of his life in 1844, Joseph Smith, the Church’s founder,
opposed slavery. During this time,
some African American men were ordained to the priesthood.
At some point in the 19th century, the Church stopped ordaining male members of African descent to
the priesthood, although there were a few exceptions. The Church’s records are incomplete in this regard
and it is not known precisely why, how or when this practice took effect in the Church. The practice ended
more than 30 years ago after Church leaders studied the matter extensively and sought divine guidance in
prayer regarding the issue. The Church extended the priesthood to all worthy male members in 1978 and
immediately began ordaining members to priesthood offices throughout the world.
Some have attempted to explain the reasons for the past restriction, but the Church has declared in an
official statement that those attempts were speculation and personal opinion, not doctrine. While various
references are sometimes cited in publications, none of them were official church statements and do not
represent Church doctrine.
Several of the Church’s presidents, including President Spencer W. Kimball who was instrumental in
changing the practice, rejected the notion that it had a doctrinal basis.
The lifting of the restriction happened concurrently with major social and political changes in some of
the areas in which members of African descent lived. In the southern United States, parts of Africa and
Brazil, a general breakdown of painful and long-standing racial barriers has taken place in the past 30 years.
These trends have helped provide a general environment in which African Americans can serve in priesthood leadership positions over integrated congregations without fear of social repercussions from the larger
societies in which they live.
These conditions have helped to make Africa one of the fastest growing areas of the Church with some
320,000 members, the majority of whom have joined the Church over the past three decades. African members hold priesthood positions in the more than 900 congregations across the continent. Some hold general
worldwide Church leadership positions.
The Church also is heavily involved in humanitarian aid and educational efforts in Africa that have
reached 46 million people. Among major projects the Church has worked on alone or in cooperation with
other relief organizations have been piping clean water to villages, immunizing children, teaching 53,000
medical personnel to perform neonatal resuscitation, vision care for more 130,000 Africans, improving food
production and nutrition and distributing 40,000 wheelchairs.
Another Church program that has benefited 3,000 people in Africa is a loan system, the Perpetual Education Fund, that facilitates university and technical education. The program is funded through contributions
of Church members and others throughout the world that support its mission to help families become more
self-sufficient. It is a revolving resource in which money is loaned to an individual to help pay for training or
advanced education. With better skills, the student then pays back the loan to the fund at a low interest rate.
Local church leaders in some congregations in Africa also have participated in food initiatives to train
farmers in better agricultural practices, food processing and marketing their produce.
Today both in the United States and other countries, many Latter-day Saint congregations are racially
diverse, reflecting a wide range of cultures and experiences. The Church’s missionary force of more than
50,000 also includes those of every race and almost every country in the world. More than half of the 14
million Church members reside outside of the United States in more than 185 countries and the Church
translates its printed and electronic materials as well as general conference proceedings into more than 100
languages.
The Church does not keep records on the race of its members, so an exact count of the number of members of various races is not available.
Questions? Contact us.
Priesthood
Bishop
Lay Leadership: Volunteer Ministry of the Church
The Church’s Unpaid Clergy
Women in the Church
Relief Society
Relief Society Presidency
Race and the Church: All are Alike Unto God
Race Relations
1978 Official Declaration
Mormons in Africa: A Bright Land of Hope
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