The president of the church is the highest office of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was the office originally held by Joseph Smith, the church's founder. The church's president is its leader and is head of the First Presidency, its highest governing body. Latter-day Saints consider the president of the church to be a "prophet, seer, and revelator" and refer to him as "the Prophet", a title that was originally given to Smith. When the name of the president is used by adherents, it is usually prefaced by the title "President". Latter-day Saints consider the church's president to be God's spokesman to the entire world and the highest priesthood authority on earth, with the exclusive right to receive revelations from God on behalf of the entire church and the entire world.
The president of the church serves as the head of both the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes and the Council of the Church. The president of the church also serves as the ex officio chairman of the Church Boards of Trustees/Education.
History Joseph Smith
The concept that the Church of Christ would have a single presiding officer arose in late 1831. Initially, after the church's formation on April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith referred to himself as "an apostle of Jesus Christ, and elder of the church"."Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ", June 9, 1830; see also However, there was another apostle, Oliver Cowdery, and several other elders of the church, making the formal hierarchy of the church unclear.
In September 1830, after Hiram Page said he had received revelations for the church, a revelation to Smith stated that "no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., for he receiveth them even as Moses." That established Smith's exclusive right to lead the church.
In early June 1831, Smith was ordained to the "high priesthood," along with twenty-two other men, including prominent figures in the church such as Hyrum Smith, Parley P. Pratt, and Martin Harris. As "high priests", they were higher in the priesthood hierarchy than the elders of the church. However, it was still unclear whether Smith's and Cowdery's callings as apostles gave them superior authority to that of other high priests.
On November 11, 1831, a revelation to Smith stated that "it must needs be that one be appointed of the high priesthood to preside over the Priesthood and he shall be called President of the high priesthood of the Church... and again the duty of the President of the high priesthood is to preside over the whole church". Smith was ordained to that position and sustained by the church on January 25, 1832, at a conference in Amherst, Ohio.
In 1835, the "Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ" were revised, changing the phrase "an... elder of the church" to "the first elder of this Church". Thus, after 1835, Smith was sometimes referred to as the "First Elder" of the church. The 1835 revision also added a verse that referred to the office of "president of the high priesthood (or presiding elder)", which had since been added to the church hierarchy.
Succession crisis
In 1844, in jail awaiting trial for treason charges, Joseph Smith was killed by an armed mob. Hyrum Smith, his brother and presumed successor, was killed in the same incident. Joseph Smith had not indisputably established who was next in line as successor to the president of the church. Several claimants to the role of church president emerged during the succession crisis that ensued.
Before a large meeting convened to discuss the succession in Nauvoo, Illinois, Sidney Rigdon, the senior surviving member of the church's First Presidency, argued there could be no successor to the deceased prophet and that he should be made the "Protector" of the church. Brigham Young opposed that reasoning and motion, as Smith had earlier recorded a revelation, which stated the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was "equal in authority and power" to the First Presidency, so Young claimed that the leadership of the church fell to the Twelve Apostles. Most who were in attendance were persuaded that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles should lead the church and Young was sustained as "the president of the quorum of the Twelve and first presidency of the church," thereby assuming leadership of the church.Times and Seasons, 5 [1 November 1844]: 692 However, Young was not ordained president of the church at the time.
Later developments On December 27, 1847, three-and-a-half years after Smith's death, Young was ordained the president of the church. At the time, seniority was determined by the first date of ordination as an apostle. By that definition, Heber C. Kimball was the most senior. However, since he was called to the First Presidency, Orson Hyde, who was the next most senior apostle became the president of the Quorum of the Twelve. In 1869, Young changed the order of the seniority, placing Brigham Young Jr., who was the most recently called member of the Quorum, ahead of Joseph F. Smith. Smith had been in the Quorum longer, but Young Jr. had been an apostle longer.
In 1875, Young changed the definition of seniority to be determined by the longest continuous term as an apostle. Since Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt had been temporarily removed from the apostleship during the Nauvoo years, they were removed from their position and placed in seniority, based on when they were reinstated as an apostle. That gave John Taylor the highest seniority, since Kimball had died.
When Young died in 1877, Taylor assumed leadership instead of Hyde. Wilford Woodruff, explained in 1879, "Elder Taylor is the oldest in Ordination and that is why he presides today." The First Presidency was dissolved, and the previous members were ordained as counselors to the Twelve. Other men were called to fill the vacancies in the Quorum. When Taylor died, the pattern changed, and the members of the First Presidency rejoined the Quorum based on their seniority. In 1889, Wilford Woodruff was ordained as church president and Lorenzo Snow was the president of the Quorum.
When Woodruff died in 1898, his counselors returned to the Quorum based on the date they were ordained an apostle, placing George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith below Brigham Young Jr. and John Willard Young. Heber J. Grant objected to that, arguing that seniority should be based on ordination to the Quorum rather than ordination as an apostle. Young argued that an apostle should not be demoted as long as he is worthy of the position.
On March 31, 1900, Snow met with his counselors, Cannon and Smith, and decided to change the policy to gauge seniority based on entrance to the Quorum, rather than ordination as an apostle. Part of the reasoning was the ordination of Brigham Young Jr was done privately by his father, Brigham Young, without the members voting on the ordination. That put Cannon and Smith ahead of both Brigham Young Jr. and John Willard Young. However, Brigham Young Jr. maintained his position as quorum president. Before Snow died, he instructed Smith not to wait to reorganize the First Presidency, which gave no time to John Willard Young to object. After this point, it became significantly less common for individuals to be ordained Apostles without also being called as members of the Quorum; the only examples since 1900 have been Sylvester Q. Cannon, who was ordained an Apostle in April 1938 but was not added to the Quorum until October 1939, and Alvin R. Dyer, who was ordained an Apostle in October 1967 and subsequently served as a counselor in the First Presidency, but was never added to the Quorum.
On November 23, 1918, Anthon H. Lund, the most senior apostle, was called to serve in the First Presidency. Rather than give up his title as president of the quorum, as had been done earlier, he maintained his title, and Rudger Clawson was given the title of Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The church continues to use that pattern.
LDS Church president
Current Following the September 27, 2025, death of the 17th church president, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks was ordained and set apart on October 14, 2025, as the church's 18th president. Oaks was introduced that day as the new church president by Gary E. Stevenson, the senior apostle on the Church Public Affairs Committee, in a broadcast originating from the church's Conference Center. Oaks then introduced his counselors and the new leadership of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles., Church Newsroom, 14 October 2025. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
Succession to the presidency
In the LDS Church, when a president of the church dies, the First Presidency is dissolved, and the members of the First Presidency who were formerly members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles rejoin it. The Quorum of the Twelve, which may number greater than twelve with the returning members from the First Presidency, then becomes the presiding council of the church, with the senior apostle as its president. Seniority is determined by the time since joining the Quorum, not by age. The President of the Quorum of the Twelve becomes the highest-ranking official in the church, and by longstanding convention always becomes the next church president.Brent L. Top and Lawrence R. Flake, "'The Kingdom of God Will Roll On': Succession in the Presidency", Ensign, August 1996, p. 22. The appointment is not made official until the Quorum of the Twelve meets to select and set apart the next president of the church.
Since the late 19th century, the Quorum of the Twelve has moved quickly to reconstitute the First Presidency within days or weeks of the late church president's death. However, Brigham Young presided over the church for three years as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve before the First Presidency was reconstituted after the death of Joseph Smith. The tradition of waiting for two to three years before selecting a new president continued until the 1898 death of the fourth president of the church, Wilford Woodruff.N. Eldon Tanner, "Administration of the Restored Church", Tambuli, September 1978, p. 2."Succession in the Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", churchofjesuschrist.org.
Since then, the surviving apostles have typically met in the Salt Lake Temple on the Sunday following the late president's funeral, to select and set apart the next president of the church. That was done in 1973, and described in detail by N. Eldon Tanner to Brigham Young University students in 1978.N. Eldon Tanner, "Administration of the Restored Church", Tambuli, September 1978, p. 2."Succession in the Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", churchofjesuschrist.org. At the next regularly scheduled general conference, the membership of the church have the opportunity to sustain their new leader by common consent, at a special conference session referred to as a "solemn assembly".
Seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is important, as the senior apostle presides over the Quorum and usually becomes the president of the church after the current president's death. Specific rules have been applied to unusual situations that have arisen over time, including a member being removed from the quorum by disfellowshipment or excommunication and later being restored to the quorum. It was decided that the removed apostle then loses his seniority in the quorum.