Building the New Jerusalem in all the places we live — Historian’s Corner

By John Hamer, Canada Mission Centre Historian 

Members of the early Restoration movement were apocalypticists who believed that the world would literally end in their lifetimes. Church president Joseph Smith assured his followers that the end would come no later than 1891, and likely much sooner.  He also predicted that, at that cosmic moment, Christ would appear in glory above the Old Jerusalem, but then would build Zion — a New Jerusalem — in Jackson County, Missouri, centered on a parcel of land they called “Temple Lot.” 

The heavens would open and the perfected city of the antediluvian patriarch Enoch would descend to Earth, which would be returned to a condition like the Garden of Eden. And Christ, having returned would dwell there with his disciples at the center place of the Celestial Kingdom. 

These promises of the final dispensation becoming manifest physically and tangibly excited the hopes and imaginations of thousands of believers, most of whom were poor and relatively uneducated farmers, inspiring them to gather and move to the center place to share in the experience.  What would the New Jerusalem be like? Something glorious, surely, but also imaginable. Few members had any experience with what passed for cities in 1830s North America. New York at the time had a population of just 200,000, while Toronto had a paltry 3,000 people. 

Turning to the Book of Acts, members understood that the old Jerusalem had a temple at its heart, and reasoned that would also be true for the New Jerusalem. They dedicated a spot in Independence, Missouri, where they planned to build their temple. But what was a temple? In truth, they did not really know. 

In fact, their plans for the city involved building 24 temples, some of which would act as printing houses, others as warehouses.  The existing Missouri settlers were not impressed with the apocalyptic fervor of their new neighbours and did not want their settlement reinvisioned as Zion.  They ultimately resorted to vigilantism and violence to drive early church members from the county and later the state.

After a period of schism and disorganization, members of the reorganized church (now Community of Christ) began returning to Independence in the 1870s and 1880s. By the 1920s, a new church president, Frederick M. Smith, announced his new vision for Zion, updated for the industrial era of the early 20th century. 

At its heart, the church would build a monumental structure on the old temple parcel. Beneath one of the largest reinforced concrete domes of its era, the plans were to construct an assembly hall that could seat more people than the contemporary population of Independence. The edifice would include all the components of Fred M’s understanding of a temple: a massive sanctuary to assemble and worship, spaces for learning, offices of church headquarters. 

But being a modern man, Fred M gave his edifice a modern name: The Auditorium. Like a medieval cathedral, the Auditorium took decades to complete.  By the late 1960s and early 1970s, a new leader, W. Wallace Smith, who may not have known his elder brother's thinking, began to speak of a need to build a structure specifically designated as the temple. 

That idea became a reality in 1994 under the leadership of his son, Wallace B. Smith, when the magnificent Independence temple was dedicated. This was a long journey, and we in Community of Christ have gained knowledge and wisdom along the way. 

We no longer imagine that Christ will build a literal New Jerusalem at the Temple Lot in Independence, Missouri, or anywhere else on Earth. Instead, we seek to live out those ideals meaningfully by promoting Christ's just and peaceable Kingdom in all the places we live, building Zion in our neighborhoods.

And rather than confining our understanding of God's dwelling place to a single physical structure, we understand the true temple of the Lord to be formed when the Spirit connects disciples all around the world who are committed to sharing mission.  May we make ourselves a Temple open to God’s presence and grace.

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