On January 17, 2024, Community of Christ called Stassi Cramm to be the next Prophet-President of the church; a call she has accepted pending a vote by the body of the church in their 2025 World Conference [1]. This is a big deal! [2] And not just for churches that trace their heritage to Joseph Smith: women are relatively rare in positions of top religious leadership across the United States.
I picked up my phone to congratulate my friends that attend Community of Chris on the news. I also wanted to know – what was it like to be a member of the church where this happened? Did it feel natural or groundbreaking? How would this affect or reflect church members’ feelings about gender?
One friend offered to connect me to other members of the Community of Christ in her social network, so I wrote up a quick survey, and by the end of the evening 25 members of the Community of Christ had kindly shared their thoughts on President Cramm’s calling with me. My questions, along with respondents’ thoughts and reactions, are below [3]:
Question group 1: What was your reaction to the news of Stassi Cramm’s call as the Prophet-President of Community of Christ? What does it mean for the church? To what degree does Stassi Cramm embody what you expect in a Prophet-President?
It’s too early – as a “president” she’s proven her ability. Each prophet grows in their own voice and as we understand their voice.
To be honest, besides a sense of God’s spirit and a calling to the office, I never know exactly what to expect in a president/prophet. Each person brings something new and unique to the roll. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. It is a journey not just for the new president/prophet, but also for us as a prophetic people. I’m excited to see where it goes.
Her ordination was very obvious. The church has been [on] a liberalization path for the last 60 years that has changed the core of the church [for the worse] to… a Unitarian Universalist organization with Mormon scriptures.
There is still a year before her call is put before the body at World Conference 2025 and she is ordained so a lot can happen before then. We still have a great many members and “friends” of the church who don’t support women in the priesthood…there needs to be a lot of prayer and conversation.
I love that we have the vision of the divine feminine to bring into the global vision for the church. [4]
I have heard Stassi Cramm’s vibrant testimony of a living, loving Christ. I’m confident in the breath of her experience and knowledge. I believe she will be a leader who is Open and discerning of the Spirit.
It seems natural for her to continue setting the direction for our faith community. I view her as someone with utmost integrity, spirituality, and courage. I have complete confidence in her abilities.
Being a woman aside, Stassi is one of the most gifted, intelligent, compassionate, dedicated leaders in Community of Christ. Those attributes speak louder to me than the novelty.
[I see it as a] Continuation of approachable leadership that takes Jesus’s mission seriously, but not themselves (overly).
She is qualified and the Lord picked her.
Question group 2: What do the words ‘priesthood’ and ‘ordination’ mean to you? Has this changed over time? If so, how?
(From a person whose only religious affiliation has been Community of Christ) Priesthood was given to the church through Joseph Smith during the Restoration. Ordination confers priesthood to the ordained. [My view has changed] from believing it was only an office men could hold to knowing that the Spirit can call women, all people to this sacred office.
Call by God to serve in a higher capacity than just membership. Ordination means to accept the call and have others join in affirming that call.
Priesthood is a role, a calling. Like friend, member, father, wife, etc. it is something both more and less than the word itself….Ordination is simply the means by which a person takes on the formal role of priesthood as defined and within the structure of the church as an organization.
As a young person at church, I was fearful of Priesthood members. Like they were untouchable. As a priesthood member and pastor myself, that has obviously shifted into an understanding and want to bring people to Christ.
While I really appreciate the Community of Christ using priesthood as being for specific roles, and that there is a role for democracy in the process, I also have had concerns that the process relies a lot on leaders’ perception of who is called to what, which can be (at best) limited, or (at worst) nepotistic. I think there is merit to a sense of a priesthood of all believers.
Question 3: How would you describe your role in your church community?
I am a member of the pastorate leadership team and have been for several years and across 2 pastors. I am responsible to attend to the spiritual needs of individuals and families. When we had a major rupture, I stepped in and offered to pastor those who felt they could not be pastored… so that they would not lose community while we grieved and healed. [5]
Involved in leadership at our local congregation and in our mission center, specifically youth work/camps
[Called] to show God’s spirit of love and peace.
To be accepting, perceptive, and authentic
Challenging and purposeful
Question group 3.5: [For participants who had previously been involved with another faith] How would you compare this role – including its relationship to priesthood – to the role you may have had in another faith?
[Before], I was a member but not engaged, now I am engaged but not a member.
Very different. In CofC, we are called [to priesthood] by God through others.
Depends on what other faith. CofC priesthood is unique – so are other faith’s.
I appreciate the chance to have more of a voice in the trajectory of my congregation. This did not feel as possible before in my previous faith.
CofC is… more open to who can be called and hold office and the lifestyles expected of them. We still have a long way to go but it’s no longer an old boys club that are rulers of the universe.
Question Group 4: What has your experience been like as a member of your gender in Community of Christ? If relevant, how does this compare to your experience in other faiths where you’ve been involved? Your secular community (e.g., school, work, neighborhood)?
Before Section 156 [of the Doctrine and Covenants of Community of Christ, which codified that women could hold the priesthood] we were separate and not equal.
Men were always viewed “higher” for many years. As a gay man some lines start to blur. I never understood why people were afraid to accept women in the priesthood, since we are a prophetic based faith. The same stands for the LGBTQ plus community.
I recognise the privilege I have had. Its been fascinating to watch how much women have come to the front of ministry. In some cases, it has seemed like some of the other men have dropped off a bit. Not sure what to make of it, but I’d rather have it this way then a male only priesthood.
I fortunately grew up with priesthood members of both genders so most of my life I’ve felt that your gender doesn’t limit your service to God and others
The equity of genders in my faith has influenced how I see… and work for that also in my community.
I have experienced plenty of misogyny in professional and personal life, but have not felt that within CoC. Not to say it doesn’t exist, I just have not experienced it.
In my work I’ve spent much more time wondering how being a woman would impact my ability to succeed because I’ve worked in a very male dominated space…. I’ve never wondered that in community of Christ. My entire life I’ve seen women in every position except, until now, president. I’m excited.
I did not feel able to come out [as nonbinary] or live authentically as a member of the LDS church.… I didn’t have many relationships to rely on because I did not trust anyone. Community of Christ has been the complete opposite of that.
I am viewed more as a person of worth with my CoC family [compared to my secular community]. Not because of my gender, or in spite of it, but because we are family.
Is there anything else related to Stassi Cramm’s ordination as president/prophet you want [people] to know?
God calls who He calls. Let us celebrate Stassi, but the glory is all God’s.
When I first texted my friends, the friend who helped me send out the survey (who has always belonged to Community of Christ) responded: “I thought it was cool, but… women are just all over our leadership in equal numbers, so I wasn’t shocked or even surprised. Maybe I should have been lol.”
I was shocked by her lack of shock. I was shocked again by Community of Christ members who shared their thoughts. People were “excited,” ”delighted,” “hopeful.” But they were also “not surprised,” saying “I expected it.”
Indeed – not a single person expressed surprise. People were excited because it hadn’t happened yet. Not a single person expressed excited surprise because they weren’t sure it ever could. There was no sense of a sea change, of a dam bursting, of floodgates opening. More like a current of God moving the church forward in a fullness of truth through a people prepared to receive it. [6]
I suppose this comes from the major revelations that permeate their history. Since the death of Joseph Smith, Community of Christ has added 51 sections to the Doctrine and Covenants (and archived a few) – all manifestations of modern revelation. [7] It has also ratified these sections “by common consent” (in this case, majority vote) of the membership of the church. [8] And while some of these 51 new sections deal primarily with administrative matters (much like the rest of the Doctrine and Covenants!) many of these revelations are deeply impactful. Community of Christ was one of the first religious denominations to formally ordain women to the priesthood when it did so in 1985. [9] They never had a race-based ban on priesthood ordination. In 2013, they accepted LGBTQ+ members in full fellowship in the church, sanctioning marriages and performing priesthood ordinations.
And that one’s interesting. As my friend tells the story, several years before the Community of Christ President-Prophet, along with the First Presidency, told the general membership of the church that God had revealed that gay members of the church should be accepted in full fellowship and eligible for ordination. But this failed the ratifying vote of general church membership. So the President-Prophet said God would wait until the people were ready for it. Then in 2013, they were. One Community of Christ pastor reflected on this when he said “I always knew [my call to ministry] was coming, but as a gay man, never thought it would become ‘real’ so I ignored it for a long time.” [10]
Krister Stendahl, former dean of the Harvard Divinity School and Bishop of Stockholm in the Church of Sweden, introduced the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the concept of “holy envy.” In a 2011 Mormon Message discussing temples and baptism for the dead, he said “it’s a beautiful thing. I could think of myself taking part in such an act. Extending the blessings that have come to me in and through Jesus Christ. That’s a beautiful way of letting the eternal mix into the temporal.” Truman G. Madsen reported that once, in a similar conversation, Dr. Stendahl then said “I have holy envy for that.”
This has been on my mind because, in calling Stassi Cramm as their new President-Prophet, Community of Christ has done a beautiful thing. One that, as one person said, both “is and isn’t a big deal…[with] rainbow chards on the floor from the shattered pieces of the glass ceiling.” I could think of myself being “pleased but not surprised” at the focus of a woman’s calling to be widespread recognition that she “is a qualified highly qualified leader;” for her gender to be “icing on the cake.” Thus extending the process of high-impact revelation received by prophets and affirmed by church members in unity of the faith through Jesus Christ. That’s a beautiful way of letting the eternal mix into the temporal.
I have holy envy for that.
—
I recognize that, as a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my representation of Community of Christ is offered from an outside perspective. While I tried to do my research, I acknowledge I probably got some things wrong and I welcome any feedback, from terminology to concepts to historical information, that would help this post better represent the significance of Stassi Cramm’s call as Prophet-President in Community of Christ.
All readers’ thoughts on Stassi Cramm’s call, the questions above, or more are welcome in the comments section below. As always, any comments that include direct or passive aggressive personal attacks, blanket disparagement of any person or group, or that invalidate anyone’s personal experiences will be deleted without further explanation.
[1] Note that this is by no means a foregone conclusion as it would be in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ratification requires a majority vote of church membership. That said, her call seems to enjoy broad public support.
[2] See news articles here, here and here.
[3] In case you’re curious, while I obviously couldn’t include each participant in every section, quotes from all 25 participants are represented in this post
[4] This comment came from a woman formerly affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
[5] This comment also came from a woman formerly affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, different than the one above.
[6] One respondent cited secularism, not God, as the source of this current. And several respondents referenced a schism after women’s ordination was announced – Community of Christ’s process is not always drama-free. Those same respondents tended to also discuss how the church had learned from that schism in how it extended full fellowship to LGBTQ+ members a few decades later.
[7] In Community of Christ, the Doctrine and Covenants basically functions like the Church Handbook of Instructions in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[8] One of the archived sections is what is Section 132 in the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
[9] Women had been acting in priesthood capacities, based on the needs of their congregation, since 1974.
[10] In Community of Christ, pastors serve basically the same role as bishops in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many titles are consistent or recognizable across the two denominations (e.g., ‘President-Prophet’ vs ‘President’ and ‘Prophet’); this one is not.