Sign in with Facebook
Some of the many stops on the huge organ
The Church of Jesus Christ - Cutlerite branch
Valley of the Grand River at Adam-ondi-Ahman
Imposing structure of the Stone ChurchCHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST - CUTLERITE
One of the smallest surviving branches of the Mormon schismata of 1845 is the Church of Jesus Christ - Cutlerite branch. Their history is a fairly complicated one - an incomplete version can be found on their website - suffice it to say that those who followed Alpheus Cutler as Mormon leader following the death of founding prophet Joseph Smith came to settle in the small southwestern Iowan town of Manti. Cutler died in 1864 and his successor, Chauncey Whitney, led the faithful to the Minnesota community of Clitherall (“Old Town”). A communal Order of Enoch became the order of the day, but defections to the RLDS due to an extremely rigid ordered lifestyle - much as was the case at the Amana Colonies further south in Iowa - kept the movement small. In 1928, the church decided to return to Zion - Independence - where all but one member live today. Supposedly, the 30-some members still live the communal Order of Enoch to this day. The small church building lying a few blocks south of the Temple Lot is a two-storied building in which the ground floor is where normal worship services are held. The upstairs is reserved for special rituals not unlike those found in LDS temples.
