Where Is the Church? | James E. Faust | 1989

Is the Church found in chapels? Temples? Homes? Only if it is first in the hearts of its members. “The kingdom of God is within you.”

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"I never come to this pulpit without being subdued and humbled, and I invite your faith and prayers.

Some time ago I was walking in the center of Salt Lake City, on my way to City Creek Canyon, where I usually walk every day. A car with an out-of-state license plate was driving by. It pulled over and stopped. The driver asked, “Where is the church of the Mormons?” I assumed that they were thinking of some place or building. I took time to point out the Church Office Building and the Church Administration Building and the magnificent temple and the historic tabernacle, most of which were visible from our vantage point. They thanked me and went on their way.

Is It in Our Buildings?

May I now ask you the same question: “Where is the Church?” Is the Church our beautiful chapels, most of which are well maintained, neat, and clean, of which we are justly proud? Church cannot be just our chapels because for several years in the beginning of the Church, there were no chapels. We had only a temple. So if you were asked, “Where is the Church?” would you answer, “The temples”?

A few years ago, on a beautiful Halloween evening, my wife and I were in the temple in Kirtland, Ohio. In the late fall afternoon the sun was streaking through the old, wavy, hand-blown windowpanes. The building was light and airy and magnificent. Since some of my forebears were involved in its construction, I was humbled and honored to be under its roof. Within its walls and under its spell, I was enchanted by its beauty. I was so impressed with the building that I came back to Church headquarters and told the Brethren that it would be wonderful if that building were still operating as one of our temples. Elder Packer corrected my thinking when he said, “We do not have the building, but, when our people left, they took with them that which was important. They preserved the keys of the ordinances, the covenants, the endowment, and the sealing power. They took with them all the essentials which we have today.” So the Church cannot, in and of itself, be the temples, magnificent as they are, because the temple buildings alone do not bless. They are the exquisite containers for the pearls of great price administered therein by the priesthood of God.

For the past several years I have assisted President Howard W. Hunter, who was assigned by the First Presidency to acquire land in Jerusalem and direct the building of the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. We worked very closely with President Jeffrey R. Holland, David Galbraith, Robert Taylor, Fred Schwendiman, and many, many others in this great endeavor. Through a series of miracles, a center came into being and is now being used by students of this university. The building is magnificent. It is a veritable jewel. None of us who have been involved can explain what we feel in our souls regarding that wonderful edifice. The building is close to some of the places made sacred by the presence of the Savior. It is worthy of the Holy City. It is worthy of this great university and its sponsoring institution, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But the building alone does not bless. Now our great challenge is to use the building so that it somehow, someway, influences the lives of those who study there, who pray there, who worship there—and who change and become more worthy. The magnificence of the center alone may inspire, but our many educational facilities and activities on this campus and elsewhere will get no one into the kingdom of God. So, where is the Church then?

Thanks to my wonderful wife, the Spirit of the Lord has often been in our various dwelling places. While we have lived within them, each has been a holy place for me. In our married life we have lived in single rooms with bathrooms down the hall and small apartments, and we have owned three houses. In a sense the Church has been in each, but I would not want to go back and live in our other houses even though we spent much of our happy lives in them. The kingdom of God is not there.

Is It in Our Families?..."

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