Church of Christ (Fettingite)

Church of Christ
Fettingite meetinghouse in Independence, Missouri
Classification	Latter Day Saint movement
Orientation	Latter Day Saints
Polity	Church conference
Moderator	None; all members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles are equal
Region	United States
Founder	Otto Fetting
Origin	1929
Separated from	Church of Christ (Temple Lot) (a.k.a. "Hedrickites")
Separations	Church of Christ with the Elijah Message Church of Christ

The Church of Christ, informally referred to as the Fettingites, is a denomination within the Latter Day Saint movement which split from the Church of Christ—informally known as "Hedrickites"— in late 1929. The faction was formally established on April 8, 1930, and an Associated Press report published in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times April 7, 1930, describes it as having been briefly named "The Church of Jesus Christ" and later, the "Church of Christ". It is informally referred to as the "Church of Christ (Fettingite)", after its founder, Otto Fetting, but this sect has never officially been named as such. Otto Fetting, an Apostle in the Church of Christ, was the alleged recipient of a series of messages delivered by John the Baptist concerning construction of a temple on the Temple Lot, along with other aspects of Hedrickite doctrine and practice. The rejection of his "Twelfth Message"^[1] by a majority vote of his fellow Apostles in October 1929 led to a split in the Temple Lot organization between those who rejected Fetting's messages and those who accepted them. The "Fettingites" subsequently established their own church organization.

While Fettingite doctrine and practices are virtually identical to those of the Church of Christ, a significant difference exists today in the acceptance of the messages' authenticity between Hedrickites and Fettingites. The Hedrickite leadership voted at their April, 1936 conference to formally reject Otto Fetting's claim of having heard from John the Baptist, but some laity in the Hedrickite sect have informally expressed interest or belief in his claims, to where about a half-dozen Hedrickites^[who?] today believe Fetting received some or all of the revelations he claimed. After its founder's death in 1933, the Fettingite sect further divided into various factions, including The Church of Christ (Restored), the Church of Christ at Halley's Bluff, and the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message. As with the Church of Christ, each of these groups declares itself to be the "only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth."^[2]