"For thus shall my church be called..." - Week 6

After reflecting on the Come Follow Me lesson this week in Doctrine and Covenants section 115, and how the name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was emphasized again in General Conference, I felt inspired to spread the message more in my life and current responsibilities. I had a good conversation with my Religious Affairs Specialist (they used to be called Chaplain Assistants) who happens to be an ordained pastor for the Church of The Nazarene. I shared with him why we emphasize the true name of the Church: that it is doctrinally important to us to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ, He is the center of our worship, and we do not want to remove His name from what matters most to us. He has respectfully emphasized the name of our church ever since that conversation, instead of using the nickname “Mormon” or “LDS.”

I attended a training with all the other Chaplain teams here in the area and someone brought up a question about “religious accommodation for Mormons.” I raised my hand and said, “I can speak to the needs of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…” and proceeded to answer the question. My Religious Affairs Specialist looked at me and smiled a big grin. He knew I was gently correcting the nickname.

I spoke to the head Chaplain of our Installation to describe these very principles and emailed him the story on the Church Newsroom page about using the appropriate name of the Church (Style Guide — The Name of the Church (churchofjesuschrist.org). He agreed to change the name from “LDS” or “Latter-Day Saint” services to reflect the full name of the Church by our chapel and on all the signs around post. I helped to create a local Facebook page for the Service Member Group here and added a QR Code to the signs with our updated Church logo so people could scan the code and see what services and activities we have going on.

I have faith in President Nelson’s message to us:

“If we do our best to restore the correct name of the Lord’s Church, He whose church this is, will pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints, the likes of which we have never seen. We will have the knowledge and power of God to help us take the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.” (Russell M. Nelson, General Conference address: "The Correct Name of the Church," October 2018 (churchofjesuschrist.org)

I thank all my friends and associates in advance who read this weekly update and may not be members of the same faith, but show kindness and respect to us, for helping to advocate for the correct name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In His Service,
CH John Critchfield