Community of Christ: Becoming a New Church

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  Interviewer: You mentioned your college education experience. What do you think that, uh, educational training, how's that helped you in your ministry? Stassi D. Cramm: Yeah. So, a lot of people have asked, gosh, you've got all these different degrees. How do they all fit together? So engineers are problem solvers and so we look at situations and sometimes it's things that are broken and we try to figure out how to fix them. And those things could be processes or um you know the way that people interact with the world and they're looking for new ways to interact. And so you learn to imagine the world in a way of what it could be, not just what it is. And um you know Brueggemann who's just recently passed but was a modern-day theologian he talks a lot about prophetic imagination. And in a way engineers have an essence of that. Of course, it's not we don't feel like it's divinely guided, but it is what can we imagine? And then is it possible to make that happen? And in some ways, that's the role of our call as followers of Christ. What does God want the world to be? How do we imagine it? And then how do we make it happen? ... Interviewer: So you've talked about the past. Let's talk about the present and the present and future future. How would you describe this moment in the Community of Christ? ... Stassi D. Cramm: We had people present in Independence. And um one of our people made the comment cuz you know some people would say gosh Christianity is having a really hard time. Christianity is in decline. Community of Christ is in decline along with the rest of you know Christianity. But one person said and I didn't hear her say it directly but she said something akin to this doesn't feel like a church that's dying. This feels like a church that's being reborn. And I would underscore that. I mean there was so much excitement about the future about the resolutions that we were working on about our sense and call to be actively engaged in our communities and cultures working for social justice in tangible actionable ways and there was such a strong sense of belonging and being together. It was it it far exceeded I think all of our expectations and just reminded me and I think hopefully reminded everyone that with God anything is possible and we need to remember to dream big. Interviewer: So I want to go to a subject that we reported on quite extensively but uh I want to get your perspective again. The sale of the Kirtland Temple and some other historic properties and documents to the LDS church. How has it affected the membership in the Community of Christ? Stassi D. Cramm: Yeah. So, um, so some of our members it did not impact at all. Um, they did not necessarily have strong ties to those locations. They understood it as part of our history, part of our story, but but the physical locations they've maybe never visited, may never visit. And so it was not critical to them. Um, others I think understood the the nature of the decision and why it was um why it was a decision that was difficult and they understood that it was difficult. They celebrated leadership's courage and willingness to look to the future and to basically invest in our future mission. And then there was clearly um a group of people who are still struggling with the decision and feel very betrayed by it and feel like that leaders didn't give enough warning about what was happening that although we were talking about needing to make difficult decisions and everything being on the table that the fact that we didn't actually ask our world conference do you want us to sell these so we can make these choices about future mission. You know, they felt betrayed by the absence of that opportunity. And so in those areas where those feelings exist, we're trying to be very intentional in listening and in hearing people's perspectives. What we're trying to talk about what does transparency actually mean and where are we transparent and where can we be transparent but where do leaders sometimes have to make the decisions that the conference have sustained us to make. So, it's like any decision in a family. Not everyone agrees. Not everyone likes it. You know, some struggle with it, and yet we're still clinging to each other and clinging to our overall call and mission and committed to finding our way into the future together. ... Interviewer: So I read in your official bio that you like the word "onward." what what does it mean to you that word? Stassi D. Cramm: Yeah. So, way back when when I was um when I was switching careers and so I was leaving um my engineering career and going to work for the church, I had kind of a sign off I had always used on my um engineering emails and one day I was, you know, sitting at my desk and I was, you know, typing an email under my CofChrist.org organ. I was like, uh, I need a new sign off. And, um, and so the word "onward" popped into my mind. Um, there's an old hymn that, you know, I used to sing as a kid. Um, onward to Zion. And, um, and so, you know, onward to Zion, faithful and strong. And so, you know, that kind of, you know, came into my mind because, um, for me, our faith has always been about creating, um, this new community that God wants us to be a part of. And not just for those in our faith, but for the whole world, you know, and so our call is just to be salt or yeast, you know, to help make that happen in the in the broader world. So, that was one thing I think that it it really came from. But for me also onward is sort of another word that upholds the idea of grace. And you know the idea that no matter what we do today, you know, we can repent, we can seek forgiveness, we can choose to do better tomorrow. And so um you know and that does not mean that we don't have to pay the consequences for whatever choices that we make. But as far as you know God is concerned, God is always drawing us into this preferred future. So God is always drawing us beyond our current limitations, beyond our current mistakes and onward into this new desired future for humanity. ... Interviewer: So a final question, what are your hopes, dreams/plans for the future? You've you've alluded to a few, but what do you envision? What would you like to accomplish? Stassi D. Cramm: Yeah. So one thing if we're talking just you know in the next couple of years we're going to be giving some pretty serious attention to leadership development. So, we've gone through some very difficult budget times and as a result of that, we've lost focus, if you will, on some of our disciple formation and leadership development and and so we really want to be intentional about promoting our identity, message, mission and beliefs. President Veazey, our previous president, he did this fabulous job in providing us this great foundation and really re-establishing who we are. And now we need to put it into action. And so my hope is that we've gotten beyond what you might call our phase of identity crisis and it's really clear who Community of Christ is in the world today. And now we need to take that message and say so what do groups of Community of Christ do in the world where they live and serve. So I am really looking forward to some more intentionality in how our you know faith groups around the world engage in their local communities, their local areas in putting our faith into action. And and we think we can get there through some intentional leadership development, through painting that vision, and through inviting others into imagining (back to imagining), imagining, you know, what their faith in action needs to look like on the ground where they live.

  The Salt Lake Tribune

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  • Community of Christ: Becoming a New Church

  21 Oct 2026