Disciples of Jesus Christ in the Church and Community

As members of the Church, it is our privilege and our charge to “stand as witnesses of God at all times” (Mosiah 18:9). On page 4 of this issue, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles teaches that standing as witnesses of Jesus Christ to those around us can make a difference in our communities. On page 16, I explain that we can also fulfill this responsibility by the way we testify of Jesus Christ and the truthfulness of His restored Church to other members.

We can bear witness with confidence of the truthfulness of the Lord’s restored Church and its leaders as we recognize that neither the Church, its leaders, nor its members need be perfect in order for the Church to be true. Indeed, the Lord stated that His purpose is “the perfecting of the saints” (Ephesians 4:12). The Church embraces the Lord’s imperfect but striving children. Through its teachings, ordinances, covenants, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the Church helps us until “we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man” (Ephesians 4:13), which we will not fully accomplish in this life.

I testify that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is led by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself through living prophets and apostles; that those who receive the ordinances of salvation and exaltation and keep the associated covenants will be exalted in the celestial kingdom of God; and that the Holy Ghost will bear witness of these things to sincere seekers of the truth.

Sincerely,

Elder J. Devn Cornish

Emeritus General Authority Seventy