Essay

Why Christ Established a Church

You may have wondered, If I believe in Jesus Christ, pray, read the scriptures, and try to live a good life, why do I really need the Church? Maybe organized religion feels unnecessary when you can study the gospel on your own. Maybe you have been disappointed by people at church, do not feel like you fit naturally into your ward, or wonder why you need prophets when you can pray and receive personal revelation yourself.

Those are good questions. Let’s unpack them by starting with Jesus Christ. The Church exists because He established it. He gave His disciples apostles, prophets, priesthood authority, ordinances, covenants, and a community of believers because following Him was always meant to include more than privately believing in Him. Through His Church, He helps you come to Him, receive the ordinances of His gospel, learn revealed truth, serve other people, and gradually become more like Him.

Jesus Christ Established a Church with Apostles and Prophets

When Paul wrote to Christians in Ephesus, they were surrounded by competing beliefs and philosophies. He explained that Christ “gave some, apostles; and some, prophets” to help His people grow spiritually and come to “the knowledge of the Son of God.”

Paul then explained why that kind of guidance matters. Without a firm foundation in revealed truth, people can become “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.” Christ gave apostles and prophets to help His disciples become spiritually mature and eventually grow toward “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

That matters when you are trying to decide what to believe about your identity, your body, relationships, marriage, sexuality, family, success, morality, and the kind of life you want to build. You can hear thousands of confident opinions about those questions in a few minutes online. Some ideas become enormously popular and then change surprisingly quickly.

Living prophets give you a steady place to look because their calling is to point you to Jesus Christ and teach what He has revealed. Paul described the Church as being “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” while making clear that Jesus Christ Himself is the chief cornerstone. Everything in His Church ultimately leads back to Him.

Kenna Wanted a Relationship with God

Kenna wanted to know God and Jesus Christ, but she was not sure where to turn. Eventually, she realized that finding a church community might be part of finding the relationship with God she was looking for.

Her search led her to members and missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Through them she began learning more about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, experienced God’s love personally, and eventually chose to be baptized.

Watch Kenna tell her story:

There is something important in Kenna’s experience. She wanted a relationship with Jesus Christ, and seeking Him eventually brought her into a community where she could learn His gospel and make a covenant with Him through baptism.

That is part of what Christ’s Church gives you. Faith becomes something you practice alongside other disciples through worship, covenants, ordinances, service, repentance, teaching, ministering, and learning to love people who may be very different from you.

What If I Believe but Don’t Feel Like I Belong at Church?

That can be one of the harder parts of this question.

Maybe you are single in a ward where everyone seems married. Maybe you are divorced, returning after being away for years, new to the Church, struggling with questions you do not feel comfortable talking about, or simply sitting in sacrament meeting wondering whether anyone there really understands your life.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke directly to young adults about this when he said:

“You are part of the body of Christ. You belong.”

Belonging in Christ’s Church does not require everyone to have the same personality, background, family situation, questions, or spiritual gifts. Paul compared the Church to a body because every part is different and every part matters. As you participate, you receive strength from other people, and Christ also gives you opportunities to become someone who strengthens them.

Your ward will be filled with imperfect people because all of us are still learning to follow Jesus Christ. That can require patience, forgiveness, humility, and sometimes wise boundaries. It can also teach you things about Christlike love that would be difficult to learn if discipleship involved only God and you.

Why Isn’t Personal Faith Enough by Itself?

Personal prayer and scripture study are essential. So is learning to recognize revelation from the Holy Ghost. But Jesus Christ has also given His people things that cannot be created through private spirituality alone.

You cannot baptize yourself. You cannot confer the gift of the Holy Ghost upon yourself. You cannot administer the sacrament to yourself simply because you sincerely believe in Christ. Temple ordinances and covenants require priesthood authority.

That is one reason the Restoration matters.

The sixth Article of Faith declares, “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church,” including apostles and prophets. The restored Church is not simply a group of people who happen to believe similar things about Jesus. It is the organization through which Christ has restored priesthood authority, saving ordinances, covenants, prophets, apostles, and the fulness of His gospel.

Your personal relationship with Jesus Christ therefore grows within a larger covenant relationship with Him.

Why Would the Adversary Want Me to Disconnect from the Church?

Once you understand what Christ provides through His Church, you can better recognize why separating yourself from it is so spiritually costly.

The scriptures describe Satan as one who seeks to deceive God’s children and lead them away from Christ. One way that can happen is through ideas that sound reasonable at first: I don’t need prophets. I can decide what truth means for myself. I can be spiritual without organized religion. Covenants don’t really matter. I can follow Jesus just as well without His Church.

Paul’s concern about being “tossed to and fro” was not theoretical. Competing voices really can shape what begins to feel normal, good, or true. Christ gives you the Holy Ghost, scripture, prophets, covenants, and His Church so you do not have to sort through every spiritual question alone.

What does it mean to actively choose faith—not simply inherit it from your parents? In this short clip, BYU-Idaho students give their take on why they choose to be active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Their experiences show that faith becomes more meaningful when we choose it for ourselves. Ultimately, discipleship is not just about where we come from—it is about choosing Jesus Christ and His restored gospel, again and again.

What Research Suggests About Religious Participation

Research can help us see some of the mortal blessings associated with worshipping and participating in a religious community.

A longitudinal study following between 5,681 and 7,458 people into young adulthood found that weekly religious-service attendance during adolescence was associated with greater life satisfaction, more positive emotions, several character strengths, and lower rates of some harmful behaviors.

These findings fit with something you can see in everyday discipleship. Participating in Church regularly keeps placing you around worship, scripture, service, moral teaching, supportive adults, faithful friends, opportunities to lead and opportunities to care about people beyond yourself. Those experiences become part of how you learn to live what you believe.

A Few Questions Worth Thinking About

• Where are most of your ideas about identity, relationships, marriage, family, morality, and happiness coming from right now
• How much influence do prophets and apostles have compared with your social media feed, friends, professors, podcasts, or entertainment?
• When a teaching from a prophet feels different from what you hear almost everywhere else, which voices are you most likely to trust first?
• Has an experience with an imperfect Church member affected the way you see Christ’s Church? What parts of that experience need healing, forgiveness, boundaries, or more understanding?

What Can You Do This Week?

This week, you can attend sacrament meeting with a different question than you may usually bring. Instead of only asking, What am I going to get out of church today? ask Heavenly Father, What place do You want me to fill in Your Church right now?

References

• Ephesians 2:19–20
• Ephesians 4:11–16
• Articles of Faith 1:6
• Doctrine and Covenants 115:4
• 3 Nephi 27:7–8
• Russell M. Nelson, “The Correct Name of the Church”
• D. Todd Christofferson, “Choice and Commitment”
• D. Todd Christofferson, “The Doctrine of Belonging”
• “Ever Felt Left Out? | Kenna’s Story”, Come Unto Christ
• Ying Chen and Tyler J. VanderWeele, “Associations of Religious Upbringing With Subsequent Health and Well-Being From Adolescence to Young Adulthood”, American Journal of Epidemiology, 2018.