CCHSF Autumn Lecture Series: Community of Christ’s Global History

Community of Christ Historic Sites Foundation (CCHSF) is hosting online lectures every Thursday night at 7:00 pm (Central) from October 1 – November 19, 2020. Each week CCHSF will journey, through the pages of church history, to a new area of the world. The 8-week series will feature church history around the globe: Korea, India, England, Southeastern Nigeria, Canada, and the Holy Land.

The online lectures are free and open to the public with any donations received going to support the ongoing preservation and maintenance of Community of Christ historic sites.

Find the Autumn Lecture Series HERE!

Schedule:

October 1 Lecture:
“A Global Family”: Strategies for Visualizing and Narrating Community of Christ’s Global History with John-Charles Duffy

Doctrine and Covenants 161:6b challenges Community of Christ to “heed the urgent call to become a global family….” Part of becoming a global family is developing a shared story of who we are as a worldwide body, along with shared images of our worldwide community. In his presentation, John-Charles Duffy will share ongoing efforts to develop such a story and image. John-Charles will explore such questions as: How can we tell our story in a way that pulls back from the “Center Place” in the US to capture more prominently what is happening elsewhere in the globe? In what different ways can we literally map–and thus visualize–Community of Christ’s history at a global level? This is a lecture you don’t want to miss!

October 8 Lecture:
The Story of Community of Christ in India with David Howlett

Join David Howlett as he explores the historic people and places involved in the beginning of the RLDS/Community of Christ in India. David will discuss the complex details of Christianity in India and the significant sacrifices made by some of the earliest Community of Christ converts.

October 15 Lecture: 
The Story of Community of Christ in Southeastern Nigeria with Dima Hurlbut

This lecture examines the expansion of the Community of Christ in Southeastern Nigeria during the 1960s and 1970s. It analyzes why Nigerians wanted to become members of the Community of Christ, and the impact that the global expansion of the church had on its theology and mission policy.

October 22 Lecture:
Community of Christ History in the Holy Land with Barbara Walden

Join Barb Walden as she shares the stories behind a wide variety of Latter Day Saints from the 19th and early 20th centuries who traveled to Palestine. A highlight of the lecture will include the history of women involved in the Palestine Mission (RLDS/Community of Christ) from 1910-1935.

October 29 Lecture:
Latter Day Saint British Isles Missions, 1837-1863 with Andrew Bolton

Missionary work began in Canada in 1833, but it was the 1837 British Isles mission that really launched Latter Day Saintism as an international movement. By 1851 over 50,000 people had been baptized, and W. H. G. Armytage, a British social historian, called it “The most spectacular harvest of souls since Wesley’s time.”  Why this amazing growth and what happened next?

November 5 Lecture:
The Church Encounters Asia. Beginnings: Korea with Steve Shields

The first baptisms of indigenous church members in Asia took place in November 1954 in Korea. Japan followed the next year, and India about 5 years later. In Korea, the church grew under the leadership of US military personnel stationed in the country after the end of the Korean War and was modeled on the typical congregation in the USA. In the succeeding sixty-six years, the Korea Church has been challenged with missional relevance, been led by a mix of local and World Church appointee leaders, has enjoyed periods of numerical growth, and has maintained a small but stable membership population.

November 12 Lecture:
1830s Latter Day Saint Missiology with Seth Bryant

The ordination prayers over the first apostles and seventies (ordained in 1835 in Kirtland) reveal the orientation of our early missiology. Repeatedly, they were called to go, as apostolic representatives, to the edges of the globe. In their conception of the world, islands served as a rarefied space beyond the domestic, and were the ultimate realm of their apostolic calling. In this presentation, Seth will explore early Latter Day Saint missiology, and how it shaped the identity of the church.

November 19 Lecture:
Bishop R.C. Evans of Canada: From the RLDS First Presidency to Schismatic Church Leader with John Hamer

Join John Hamer as he explores the life and legacy of R.C. Evans. Evan was born and raised in Canada, a convert to the RLDS church who wore a variety of hats: convert, seventy, apostle, counselor in the First Presidency for two church presidents, and bishop over Canada. John will discuss Evan’s 40+ years in leadership, the reasons for his sudden departure, and the founding of an opposition church.