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Growth of the Church in Kirtland

Although about nine families living in Kirtland in 1830 joined the Church shortly after the introduction of the gospel in the Western Reserve, some of these members migrated to Missouri, and only a few other settlers living in Kirtland joined the Church. Most Latter-day Saints who resided there during the thirties were converts who had emigrated from other parts of North America, especially New England, Pennsylvania, and New York. In obedience to instructions from Church leaders and missionaries, between 1831 and 1838 hundreds of Latter-day Saints settled in Kirtland to live near the Prophet and among other Latter-day Saints. During this decade, all of the men who would preside over the Church during the nineteenth century, following the martyrdom of the Prophet, were converted and traveled to Kirtland, where they became acquainted with Joseph Smith. Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Lorenzo Snow settled in Kirtland, and Wilford Woodruff used Kirtland as a base for his missionary activities.

As a consequence of the constant influx of converts into Kirtland, Latter-day Saint membership in that township continued to increase. In the years 1836 to 1838, probably half or more of all residents in Kirtland were members of the Church.

The message proclaimed by the earliest missionaries and embraced by the converts of the 1830s was that the gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored to the earth through a latter-day prophet. In discussing the reality of the restoration, the missionaries informed their listeners of the disruption of the primitive church, including the alteration of beliefs and the loss of God's authority. Then they bore witness that the heavens had opened, that latter-day visions were occurring, and that the priesthood, the power and authority to act in the name of God, had been reestablished by angelic messengers. Many testified that they had experienced the power of God and knew that the gifts of the spirit evident among the early Christians were again being manifested. They also told of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and testified that this work was a new witness for Christ.

The missionaries generally concentrated on the first principles of the gospel. "Repent and embrace the gospel," they preached. When they discussed repentance, they often coupled this principle with the doctrines of faith in Christ, baptism by immersion by those in authority for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The early missionaries also warned people to prepare for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sensing an urgency to his mission, Joseph Smith frequently told of the imminence of the Second Coming and of the calamities that would occur prior to the millennial reign of Christ. In a letter intended for publication, written in January 1833 to N. E. Seaton, an editor of the American Revivalist and Rochester Observer in New York, the Prophet warned: "Not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel from the north country."