The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — more commonly known as the Mormon Church — is one of the most rigidly hierarchical institutions in the world. According to Mormon cosmology and belief, ecclesiastical leaders are directly appointed from God and communicate, quite literally, with the deity. Every six months, Latter-day Saints sustain their leaders as “prophets, seers, and revelators”.
Mormon tenets claim that only the ecclesiastical leaders within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hold the authority from God to perform salvation-granting ordinances, such as baptism and temple rites.
Currently, the leader of the Mormon Church — known as “the Prophet” — is Russell M. Nelson, a former surgeon who has been involved with the church’s governing body (called the Twelve Apostles) since the 1980s. Nelson turned 100 last year and is reportedly in poor health. Recent appearances have seen him struggling to communicate with his followers, and some of his bi-annual sermons have been pre-recorded.
This inevitably raises the question: what happens to the church’s leadership once the Prophet dies?
The Mormon hierarchy
Before answering this, it is worthwhile to delineate the ecclesiastical bodies that govern the Mormon Church. As I’ve indicated, the church is led by the Prophet, who has two counsellors — this is referred to as the First Presidency. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles sits both next to and beneath the First Presidency in terms of ecclesiastical authority.
While the Prophet is the leader and public face of the church, his status is confirmed by the Twelve Apostles once a previous prophet has died. Unlike other Christian denominations — such as the Catholic Church, where there is discussion and voting about who is to be the next pope — it is the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is always the most senior member by confirmation, that will become the next Prophet. Prophets are not released from their station; it is a role that ends at death.
The church’s hierarchy then extends beyond the Twelve Apostles into the various “Quorums of the Seventy”. There are twelve such quorums, and these ecclesiastical roles are filled both by Americans from Mormon headquarters and, in more recent years as the church has become more globalised, from local congregations. These Quorums of Seventy are usually assigned by the church to ensure the church is functioning correctly. Some of them are so-called “area presidencies”, to which, once again, both locals of the geographic area or from the metropole of Salt Lake City may be assigned. Local congregations and “stakes” (similar to dioceses) are lay ministries that report to ecclesiastical leaders.
What is important to note here is that all executive ecclesiastical roles are held by men — it is a staunchly patriarchal religion. This remains a contentious issue within Mormonism, and the last decade has seen the “Ordain Women” movement grow in prominence, particularly within Utah. Though women may serve within various “callings”, the executive power of the “priesthood” is reserved exclusively for men. Women’s roles within the church are always subservient to various male leaders.
Succession is not always clear cut
Historically, there have been significant controversies surrounding the choice of the Prophet, and the Latter-day Saint movement has faced significant fracturing since its establishment in upstate New York in 1830. Indeed, this has been a persistent reality since the church’s early days, with the first large-scale disaffections occurring against the founder of Mormonism himself, Joseph Smith, Jr, in 1838. It was Smith’s violent assassination in 1844 that made the question of succession a pressing issue.
It was at this point that the place of the supremacy of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was engraved within Mormon cosmology, precisely because there were challenges to the Prophetic role from Joseph Smith’s First Counsellor, Sidney Rigdon, as well as other members of the Quorum of the Twelve. (As a side note: one of those claimants, James Strang, later relocated to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan and declared himself a theocratic king over his adherents until he, too, was slain by dissident followers.)
But the biggest split within the Latter-day Saint community after Smith’s death was between what is now called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest and most famous of the splinter religions, and the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The Community of Christ, which like the mainstream Mormon Church, has had proselytes and congregations within Australia since mid-nineteenth century. This faction claimed that the prophethood should remain within the Smith family, going to Joseph Smith III once he came of age, though this has since been revised.
After the death of Smith, the church, which is now headquartered in Utah, was led by President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Brigham Young. Young and his followers migrated to Utah and created an independent theocratic polity that embraced (and later renounced) polygamy. It has since become a globalised religious institution.
There have been numerous other succession crises and splinters from the most prominent expression of the Mormon Church. The most notable is that of the “fundamentalists”, who rejected the “manifesto” received by Mormon prophet Wilford Woodrow in 1890 which outlawed the practice of polygamy. A number of sects arose from the rejection of this revelation, but the most famous became known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whose Prophet, Warren Jeffs, was arrested in 2006 and found guilty of marrying and sexually abusing underage girls.
The uneven legacy of Russell Nelson
Russell Nelson became Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2018, after the death of his predecessor, Thomas Monson. A surgeon by profession, Nelson became a strong advocate of social distancing and vaccinations, and he promoted safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the death of 24-year-old Silvia Deyanira Melendez from COVID-19 at Utah Hospital in March 2020, temples were closed off to the public and Mormon congregations ceased to meet unless authorised by state authorities.
Ironically, this stance placed Nelson at odds with a significant number of his American adherents, who are almost universally conservative and/or Republican. This dissidence towards Nelson’s views on public health led to increased tensions within the church.
Nevertheless, under Nelson the number of temples constructed around the world grew exponentially. The Mormon Church currently has 200 completed temples, with a further 182 announced or in development — including within Australia. Moreover, under Nelson the first apostles of Asian and South American heritage were called, indicating the global identity of the church.
It was also under Nelson that a number of scandals and controversies came to light. In 2020, whistleblowers revealed the Mormon Church has investments, stock portfolios and cash reserves of at least $100 billion. In Australia and New Zealand, investigative journalists alleged that the church may be contravening tax laws.
Finally, under Nelson the controversial 2015 declaration that Mormons in same-sex relationships were “apostates” and that children of gay parents could not be baptised was reversed — even though that declaration was touted as direct revelation. This decision came after concerted efforts from within to make the Mormon Church more open towards its LGBTQI+ members.
The seeds of schism
Though the Mormon Church still prides itself on having emerged from the crucible of anti-establishment fervour in the early-nineteenth century — with Joseph Smith’s lack of formal education or priestly training still held up as evidence of his call to prophethood — the church has grown significantly over the last two centuries in both wealth and respectability.
Through the established mechanisms of ecclesiastical hierarchy, the Prophet will always be the most senior Apostle — the one who was ordained and set apart first. Unlike other religions, there are no nominations and no ballots being cast. Hence, when President Nelson dies, he will likely be replaced by the 84-year-old Jeffrey R. Holland, unless, of course, Holland passes first. These mechanisms ensure that, unless there is an unofficial splintering, the identity of the next Prophet is always clear.
Even so, there is always the risk of further splintering. Though the Mormon Church has become increasingly centralised and hierarchical since its inception, the faith does emphasise the individual’s own connection with God. The church teaches that its prophets and apostles speak on behalf of the deity, but that individual’s must also develop their own direct relationship. This leaves the church in a difficult position: on the one hand, it mandates hierarchies; on the other hand, it encourages a cosmology that tends towards a more charismatic Christianity.
This tension has led to numerous secessions from mainstream Mormonism. These have usually occurred at the instigation of those who believe church authorities have failed to maintain the original religion as established by Joseph Smith. For example, in 1984 the brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty — who were raised in the church but left it to form their own polygamist offshoot of Mormonism — murdered their sister-in-law, Brenda and her 15-month-old daughter. The murders shocked the church and scandalised broader society in Utah, for they were justified by the claim that God had commanded the brothers to “remove” Brenda Lafferty.
The 2022 dramatisation of these events, Under the Banner of Heaven, based on a book by Jon Krakauer, renewed discussion and debate over the challenge posed by a church that seeks to enforce hierarchy but emphasises individual revelation.
More recently, since his excommunication in 2013, Utah-based lawyer Denver Snuffer has similarly claimed that Mormon leaders — from Brigham Young to the present — have succumbed to social, cultural and political pressure and have led members astray from God’s commands. Though Snuffer is not a polygamist, he has convinced upwards of 10,000 American Mormons to leave the religion and establish loosely connected but not hierarchically managed “fellowships”. Members of the Remnant fellowship still adhere to key Mormon scriptures and beliefs, albeit with additions or adaptations from Snuffer himself.
Again, in 2019, Lori Vallow-Daybell and Chad Daybell were arrested and found guilty for the murder of Lori’s children, Tylee and J.J. Vallow. The Daybells had been raised as members of the Mormon Church but had broken away, having become obsessed with a millenarian belief about an impending end of days. The Daybells still believed in the Mormon scriptures but were adamant they had received a command from God to commit these murders.
These are only three recent examples of the difficultly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has with maintaining its ecclesiastical authority. There is an undeniable centralised hierarchy which will dictate who the next Prophet will be — and the restorationist, charismatic roots of the religion are central to Mormon cosmology. Though the line of succession for the Prophet of the Mormon Church is clear, the seeds of schism remain.
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