Talk:Church of Christ With the Elijah Message

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Some of the wording seems to assume that John the Baptist did in fact appear to some people in the United States. Wikipedia should take no position as to whether this actually took place; we need only explain what members of this church believe. I don't have time to rewrite it now. --Zantastik 21:07, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Agreed, done. Probably somewhat awkwardly in places, feel free to rework. Alai 22:37, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Hello. I am formerly a member of this church. It is the belief of the members of this church the resurrected personage of John the Baptist appeared not only to an Apostle of this church, but others in the past also: i.e. Apostle, Otto Fetting and Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter-Day Saint Movement in 1829. If you have any questions relating to church history, contact Apostle George Wilkin: georgehwilkin@yahoo.com. He's my uncle and very knowledgeable of church history.

I recommend the article about W.A. Draves not be merged with any other article, partly because the church he was associated with, splintered into at least three factions after his death in 1994. Doniphan 08:26, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

True Church of Jesus Christ Restored--Deletion

I deleted the "See Also: True Church of Jesus Christ Restored" section, because while David Roberts may have been affiliated with the Elijah Message organization at one time in his life, his church does not really claim its provinance via that organization, as Roberts claims to be the successor of James Strang--who was leader of a completely different faction of the Latter Day Saint movement that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Elijah Message church or any other "Hedrickite" organization (Church of Christ (Temple Lot), Church of Christ (Fettingite), etc.). From that article's history, it seems it was deleted due to copyright issues anyway, and given what is stated above, there is no need that I can see to link to it here. - Ecjmartin (talk) 01:34, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Number of members

I find the number of members to be {{Dubious}}. This number is a self published value almost two and a half times the number of the sect it broke off from. This needs an independent source.--ARTEST4ECHO (^talk/_contribs) 11:52, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

The number is dated, for sure. IAC, a substantial percentage of this denomination's membership was due to converts in Africa. I'll try to Google up something relating to whether the denomination has retained these congregations under its umbrella, if possible.--Hodgson-Burnett's Secret Garden (talk) 03:12, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Here's a snippet from a missionary blog from 2010, "... Sunday morning of the 14th of February 2010 found us in the Kitale Local preaching and sharing the Word of the Lord to over 300 beloved souls and some guests from other denominations. ..." I see from the blog that they have missionaries in the Philippines, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda. When I come back online I'll try to scrounge up a somewhat recent membership stat for the denomination, if possible.--Hodgson-Burnett's Secret Garden (talk) 03:18, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

1. Images of the New Jerusalem: Latter Day Saint faction interpretations of Independence, Missouri, by Craig S. Campbell (professor of geography at Youngstown State University), Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2004 (pg. 255): "[T]he Church of Christ with the Elijah Message has[...]a membership of at least twelve thousand[...]with an active missionary work being focused on Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa (Sorgen 1992)."
2. Encyclopedia of American Religions, by J. Gordon Melton (1996), p576: "The Church of Christ "With the Elijah Message"[...i]n 1987[...]reported 2500 members, 15 churches, and 125 ministers in the United States. There were 12500 members worldwide. Periodicals: The Voice of Peace."

--Hodgson-Burnett's Secret Garden (talk) 07:41, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Regarding an apparent 21st-century schism within the CCEM

I've posted an inquiry here: Talk:List of sects in the Latter Day Saint movement#Elijah Message.--Hodgson-Burnett's Secret Garden (talk) 20:01, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Page move

Although the CCEM appears to vary the way it styles its name, their most formal method of doing so appears to be with a capital-W and quotation marks setting off "with the Elijah Message," for example:

1. According to Google Books, official publications of the church (eg The Voice of Peace, etc.) are authored by The Church of Christ "With the Elijah Message"
2. Here is a quote from The Voice of Peace, 1994: "[...]Leighton-Floyd to have a meeting of the Board of Directors of The Church of Christ 'With the Elijah Message,' Established Anew 1929, Inc., October 8, 1994, at 3:00 p.m. Seconded by Brother Charles S. Martin. CARRIED." And--
3. The self-described Official Site of THE CHURCH OF CHRIST "With The Elijah Message" styles itself in the same way.

So, since Wikipedia endeavors to hew to whatever form a name is used in within the preponderance of sources and favors formal names to informal usages in article titles, I went ahead and moved this article's name to the form in the above citations.--Hodgson-Burnett's Secret Garden (talk) 09:07, 24 September 2011 (UTC)