The Restoration is God's call to a prophet, and then to a prophetic people, to establish Zion and prepare for the Second Coming of Christ.

This call was received by the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.  He understood his mission as restoring the church from apostasy to purity and power.  His followers, believing themselves to be the latter-day inheritors of Jesus' first-century church, declared that they belonged to the only true and living church on the face of the earth.  They also looked down on Christianity at large, and the world, seeing both as fallen.

We honor the call of the Restoration and of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.  We uphold that Community of Christ "was brought into being by divine initiative, is guided and administered by divine authority, is sustained by the light of the Holy Spirit, and exists for divine purposes."  But we have matured in our understanding of the one true church and our tradition's call from God.

Today, we seek to be a true church--recognizing that the church belongs to Christ alone, and transcends any earthly institution or doctrine.  We seek to restore ourselves and all of creation to the plan of salvation through Christ.  This we do through proclaiming peace and walking justly.  The Restoration means, to us today, that we must go out into the world, as a prophetic people, and restore creation to the purposes of the Creator.  Today, we see Zion, not as isolation from the world, but the world at its best.