"For thus shall my church be called..."

The Problem:

Growing up in the Church, I was always puzzled by the lengthy name it went by. Why not just call us "The Church of Jesus Christ"? Serving a mission, we'd explain to investigators that the "of Latter-day Saints" moniker made complete sense as it was "to distinguish the Church in the last days (today) from the same church in ancient times"...why??? Does that even make sense? Should we now change the name to "The Church of Jesus Christ of the 21st Century Saints" to distinguish us from those backward 19th century pioneers?

Regardless of what we know the Church to be called today, the fact is, the Church changed it's name many times during it's early years. Originally the Church of Christ, then later The Church of the Latter Day Saints, and finally The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So why the many name changes? Surely God (who is omnipotent) could foresee any issues with each name and reveal the final name to Joseph Smith in 1830?

Of course, on the other hand, if there was no God involved and it was all made up by men, one might still expect a single name (do you see the Scientologists changing their name?). But as was typical for Joseph Smith, any ideas he had would either evolve with further knowledge or due to circumstances beyond his control, necessitate changes, often retroactively, to combat those problems.

So what was the church called, when was it changed, and why the changes?

1830 - Church of Christ

The church was organised on April 6th, 1830, and according to the revelation recorded in D&C 20 was referred to as the “Church of Christ” and was called this for the first four years of its existence. This correlates with The Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 27:7-8) where it specifies that it was to be called after Christ's name.

The problem with calling the church, the "Church of Christ" is that there were other churches around at that time already using this name (see "Church of Christ (disambiguation)").

1834 - Church of the Latter Day Saints

22 January 1834 - A letter of the First Presidency of the Church, noted “the organization of the Church of Christ, or the Church of the Latter Day Saints, on the 6th of April, 1830” (History of the Church 2:22).

17 February 1834 - We read the “Minutes of the Organization of the High Council of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, Kirtland, (History of the Church 2:28), employing a name nearly identical to the one used today.

3 May 1834 - Kirtland was the scene of “a Conference of the Elders of the Church of Christ” at which “a motion was made by Sidney Rigdon, and seconded by Newel K. Whitney, that this Church be known hereafter by the name of 'The Church of the Latter Day Saints.' Remarks were made by the members, after which the motion passed by unanimous vote” (History of the Church 2:62-63). This name change, unlike the others, did not come as a result of revelation, but by vote.

So who's idea was it to change the name? According to David Whitmer, it was Sidney Rigdon who pushed Joseph Smith to change the name to "Church of the Latter Day Saints":

In June, 1829, the Lord gave us the name by which we must call the church, being the same as He gave the Nephites. We obeyed His commandment, and called it THE CHURCH OF CHRIST until 1834, when, through the influence of Sydney Rigdon, the name of the church was changed to "The Church of the Latter Day Saints," dropping out the name of Christ entirely, that name which we were strictly commanded to call the church by, and which Christ by His own lips makes so plain. (David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ by a Witness to the Divine Authenticity of The Book of Mormon 1887.)

So why the name change? According to Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn:

Apr 23, 1834 - A revelation ends the Kirtland United Order and distributes its real estate assets among Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, Martin Harris, Newel K. Whitney, and John Johnson. Although the revelation says, "it is my will that you shall pay all your debts," Smith requires Whitney to absorb the $1,121.31 Whitney had loaned to him personally as well as $2.484.22 of other men's debts to Whitney. Ten days later the name of the church is officially changed from "The Church of Jesus Christ" to "The Church of the Latter Day Saints" possibly to avoid law suits. (Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power).

Joseph Smith probably thought that since the contracts specified the original name of the church, if he changed the name of the church, the debts wouldn't apply any more...and if this was indeed what he thought, he would have been wrong on this count (not that being wrong ever stopped him from carrying out a "divine" plan).

1838 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

On April 26, 1838, the Lord speaks again to Joseph Smith and reveals a new official name he has come up with for the church, which has remained ever since: “For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” (D&C 115:4). It's somewhat odd that in the Book of Mormon, the Lord made a point to instruct the Nephites on what the Church should be named, and as shown above it was a different name to the one he revealed to Joseph Smith. It's also reasonable to assume that Christ would have informed Joseph back in 1830 the final name He wanted the Church to be called, not wait until 8 years later to come up the official name...!

So why add "Christ" back into the name of the church? Also from D. Michael Quinn:

Apr 26, 1838 - A revelation changes the official name of the church, this time to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Kirtland dissenters had claimed that Joseph Smith apostatized and became the anti-Christ in 1834 when he changed the church's name to delete reference to Jesus. (Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, p.628)

1838 was a period of trial for Joseph Smith and the church, with many prominent followers excommunicated and speaking out against him accusing him of being a false prophet. Adding "Jesus Christ" back into the name was likely an attempt to give Joseph Smith some credibility back that he was actually the Lord's chosen for leading God's church. 

1851 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

In 1851, Brigham Young incorporated the LDS Church by legislation of the State of Deseret under the name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", which included a hyphenated "Latter-day" and a lower-case "d".

1887 - Church legally disenfranchised by Edmunds-Tucker act

In 1887, the Edmunds-Tucker act disincorporated the LDS Church on the grounds it practised polygamy, of which this act explicitly prohibits. This act dissolved the corporation of the church and directed the confiscation by the federal government of all church properties valued over a limit of $50,000.

1923 - Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Under the direction of President Joseph F. Smith, the church organised several tax-exempt corporations to assist with the transfer of money and capital. These include the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, organized in 1916 under the laws of the state of Utah to acquire, hold, and dispose of real property. In 1923, the church incorporated the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah to receive and manage money and church donations. In 1997, the church incorporated Intellectual Reserve, Inc. (IIC) to hold all the church's copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property.

This will be to topic of a future blog, but for now, be aware that technically, there is no such "church" called "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" - it is purely a trademark owned by the subsidiary IIC, which in turn is owned by the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is owned by the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The church as a "church" has technically not existed since 1890. As such, since you cannot be a member of a trademark, to say you're a "member of the church" is not entirely accurate. I will cover this in more detail in the coming weeks.

Summary:

• 1830: The Church of Christ was the name of the Lord's church. However, there were many other churches also sharing this name.
• 1834: The name changed to the Church of the Latter Day Saints. This was most likely an attempt to thwart debts owed by the "Church of Christ" via the Anti Banking Society debacle.
• 1838: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is revealed by direct revelation. This was during a crisis where Joseph Smith authority was in question by many dissenters. This revelation restores "Jesus Christ" to the church's name.
• 1851: The church is incorporated by Brigham Young.
• 1887: The church is legally disincorporated by the US Government.
• 1923: The "church" becomes a corporation with the name becoming a trademark, not a religion.

Conclusion:

At the end of the day, for me at least, it's not really important WHAT the church is called - I can find no mention in the New Testament of a "name" for the church of Christ. What a person or organisation does or believes is far more important than what they call themselves. My issue is that it must have been important to God for He felt the need to declare the name via direct revelation to Joseph Smith (at least twice).

The main issue raised here is the fact that the inspired name of God's true church changed multiple times, which is not indicative of a Church led by an unchanging perfect God. So, one must accept that either:

1. God changes His mind time and time again, without prejudice or, more likely, 
2. Joseph Smith was not an inspired prophet of God when he named the church (and renamed it and then renamed it again). 

The latter would seem the more plausible option.

Aside:
Regardless of the discussed changes above, the intention to give the Church a divine name has failed - most people I know outside of the Mormon religion, have no idea who "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" is. The "Mormon Church" on the other hand is well known the world over, a nickname derived from the title of the Book of Mormon. 

Links:

MormonThink - The Name of The Church
D. Michael Quinn - Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power
Wikipedia - Name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
FairMormon Answers - Changes in the name of the Church