El Santo Gringo from La Jolla, California:

A Mormon congregation in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Dale Wight.

Hi friend. I'm happy you want to learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the “Mormon Church”). Our Sunday services have three parts. The first part, “Sacrament meeting” starts with a prayer and a congregational hymn. The “bishop” (local church leader) or one of his counselors (assistants) then goes through announcements relevant to our community (i.e., community get-togethers, other church activities, etc.). We then sing another hymn and subsequently participate in the ordinance (ceremony) of the sacrament, which is like the Lord's Supper in other churches. Bread and water (not wine) are distributed to the congregation to help us remember and honor the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Following the sacrament, 2 or 3 sermons are preached. We are a church of volunteers, so usually regular people from the congregation give the sermons. We then close the meeting with another hymn and prayer.

The second of the three meetings is called Sunday School. This meeting is more interactive than Sacrament Meeting. One of the members of the congregation is asked to give a class about some gospel topic. Class members ask questions and make comments, so Sunday School, ideally, should be like a friendly group conversation.

Finally, there are Priesthood/Relief Society meetings. These meetings are like Sunday School, but they are geared specifically to the spiritual needs of men and women. Women usually attend the Relief-Society meeting, and men attend the Priesthood meeting.

Children attend sacrament meeting with their families, even if they are a little on the noisy side. We believe children should begin worshiping God from a young age so they can be raised learning how to receive and act on spiritual feelings. However, during Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society, children have their own religious classes, called “Primary classes.”

Many Mormons keep food storage because of our emphasis on self sufficiency. In case of emergency, we want to be able to provide for our own needs. It's not just individual Mormons who believe in this principle; the Church itself also has vast stores of food that it distributes to members of our faith and others as well during emergencies. The power of this practice was obvious during Hurricane Katrina, for example, when the Church sent literally tons of food to New Orleans in the days following the disaster. Over the course of the past 20 years, the LDS Church has donated over $1 billion to humanitarian causes.

Baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints requires full immersion in water by a person who holds the priesthood authority to baptize.

Baptism is a sacred ordinance (ceremony) that signifies one's desire to be reborn as a disciple of Christ. After a convert has learned about the Church by chatting with our missionaries and visiting one of our chapels to see how we worship, they may choose to officially join our church through baptism. Friends, family, and other church members all get together to support the new convert. We sing hymns, pray, and offer words of support to the person who's decided to join the Church. During this meeting, the convert is baptized, usually in a baptismal font in the chapel itself. Baptism by immersions is important because of its unique symbolism. When we enter into the water, we symbolically bury our old sins. When we come out of the water, we're reborn as a disciple of Christ.

I've written about Mormons dating/marrying non-Mormons elsewhere on this site. You can also read more about Mormons and children, in case you're interested.

If you'd like to learn more about the LDS Church, I suggest you chat with the Mormon missionaries. There are over 50,000 Mormon missionaries in the world who visit people in their homes to teach them more about Jesus Christ. Most people who are interested in Mormonism learn about our basic beliefs from these missionaries. You can request a missionary visit online.

You can also learn the address of the Mormon chapel nearest your house online. Please don't hesitate to visit us any Sunday morning (9:00) to see how we worship! Mormons love visitors.

I hope this answer helps. Contact me if you have any more questions. I'm happy to help.

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