Basic Information

The main body of Latter-day Saints is headquarted in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle are located. This church was organized on April 6, 1830 at Fayette, New York by Joseph Smith. Members believe that Joseph Smith was divinely directed to restore the gospel to the earth, and that through him the keys to the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods and temple work also were restored.

History

	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1830)	continuedChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
		split into Church of Christ (Temple Lot) (1867) Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite) (1875) Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) (1853) Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Strangite) (1845) Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (1860)

Snapshot

	1990	2000	Growth/Decline
Congregations	9,208	11,515	+2,307 (25.1%)
Adherents	3,540,820	4,224,026	+683,206 (19.3%)

Notes

Snapshot data are from Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990 and Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States 2000. Copyright © 2002, Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). All rights reserved. Published by Glenmary Research Center, 1312 Fifth Ave., North, Nashville, TN 37208. www.glenmary.org/grc.

History data were taken from the National Council of Churches' Historic Archive CD and recent editions of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches [More information on history data sources]