Mormon Missionaries Essay

On April 30th, 1863, Cecilia Swenson set sail from Liverpool England on the John J. Boyd headed for New York Harbor. On board the ship were 767 converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly called Mormons. These saints, as they referred to themselves, were “gathering in Zion” by immigrating to Salt Lake City, Utah territory. A majority of the emigration company was Scandinavian. The Scandinavian saints had first gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, the headquarters of the Scandinavian mission. Then, they traveled by boat and train through Germany and across the North Sea to reach England. Cecila had left her job and family to gather in Utah with other converts. She was twenty-two years old and traveling alone. She did

This paper seeks to show how the Mormon message was spread and why Mormon doctrine was familiar to the people of Denmark. The introduction of a new constitution and discontent with the National Church of Denmark (hereafter referred to as the State Church) combined to lay the groundwork for the acceptance of the Mormon missionary message which emphasized faith, gathering in Zion, modern revelation, and baptism by immersion. The new constitution of Denmark, put into effect in June of 1850, (hereafter called the June Constitution) guaranteed religious liberties. This is a key component which facilitated the spread of the Mormon Church’s message, but it is only part of the story. Dissatisfaction with the State Church had produced a religious crisis. N.F.S. Grundtvig, Søren Kierkegaard, and P.C. Mønster all promoted ideas of religious freedom and what they believed to be correct Christian doctrine. These religious reformer’s ideas promoted freedom of religion and contained teachings that were congruent with Mormon doctrines. These political and religious revolutions in Denmark created fertile ground in which missionaries planted “seeds of the Restored