The Council of Twelve Apostles will now direct the months-long, churchwide discernment process to select a new prophet-president for Community of Christ.
In a statement released Wednesday morning, August 30, the First Presidency also offered an update on the medical condition of President Stephen M. Veazey, who was hospitalized on July 27 due to a “medical emergency.” No other details regarding that medical emergency have been released, due to privacy concerns for the Veazey family. This latest update states that President Veazey will continue on medical leave until April 2024.
President Veazey and his two counselors, Scott Murphy and Stassi Cramm, had been leading the discernment process. But that will now be led by the Council of Twelve. It is expected that a successor to President Veazey will be announced by February 2024, with that individual beginning his or her new role as “prophet-president designate” in April. Ordination is scheduled for the next World Conference in Spring 2025.
Here is the full text of the letter from the First Presidency:
Statement from the First Presidency
30 August 2023
Thank you for the continued outpouring of support and prayers for President Stephen M. Veazey and his family.
After consulting his medical team, President Veazey has decided he will need to focus on his treatment and healing to recover fully. In that light, President Veazey has decided to remain on leave from his role as prophet/president until April 2024.
Leading the church in President Veazey’s absence
According to internal practice and policies, President Veazey’s two counselors, Presidents Stassi Cramm and Scott Murphy, retain the authority to act as the First Presidency during his leave. They do not have the right to receive revelation for the whole church.
The discernment process and the calling of a new president
Previously, President Veazey invited members and friends into an intentional process to discern the next leader of the church. The First Presidency believes the discernment process should move forward in accordance with President Veazey’s original plans.
After reviewing succession guidance, scripture, and policies, the First Presidency asked the Council of Twelve Apostles to accept the sacred responsibility of calling the new prophet/president. As a reminder, President Veazey’s call was processed by the Council of Twelve Apostles. The apostles are asked to prayerfully discern whom God is calling to be the next president and to name the one they believe is called.
Presidents Cramm and Murphy met with the World Church Leadership Council and Council of Presidents of Seventy to review this plan, and they were supportive.
Next steps
The Council of Twelve Apostles now is stepping into the lead for the remainder of the discernment process.
The council will follow the current timeline and process previously announced to the church and available at: CofChrist.org/discerning-future-leadership/.
The Presidency has sent the Council of Twelve Apostles all the feedback provided from people around the church regarding the discernment questions.
During this transition, your continued prayers, support, and understanding are appreciated. As a community, we will navigate these changes with faith and unity in Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the First Presidency at FP@CofChrist.org
Following the resignation of then President W. Grant McMurray in November 2004, the Council of Twelve Apostles led the church in a similar period of discernment, which led up to the selection of Stephen Veazey to be the prophet-president of the church. He was ordained at a special World Conference in June 2005. He had been serving as president of the Council of Twelve up until that time.
President Veazey announced his plan to retire at the 2025 World Conference earlier this year. He is 65 years old and has served the church in various capacities since the 1970s.
Note: The image at the top of this post is an interior shot of the spiral ceiling in the Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri. It is symbolic of the discernment process: upward motion represents humankind’s reaching up/inward to Divinity; the downward motion represents Divinity reaching out/down to humankind.
Wheat & Tares 
I’m aware of female ordination in the Community of Christ, but I still did a double take when I read “his or her new role”. That’s unfortunately a novel concept for me. It’s great that a woman could be the prophet-president and it’ll be awesome when it actually happens.
Admitting that it’s a “discernment process” is more honest than claiming “revelation”, but still kind of bogus. Why not just admit that their Church, and especially ours, is a large corporate organization and decisions are made after much analysis and thought and prayer, period? Once you recognize that RMN is more a president than a prophet (and the Q15 is more a board of directors than apostles) it all makes sense.
Tygan:
The office of prophet-president is the only one in CofC in which a woman has not already served. The current president of the Council of Twelve, btw, is Mareva Arnaud Tchong. She is from French Polynesia (6 women and 6 men in C12; 7 members from outside USA). The priesthood office of patriarch was changed to evangelist after women were called to priesthood in mid-1980s.
So, the CofC moves a little further away from precedent. Past successors to the presidency were designated by the prophet in advance. Not always of course; the last CofC prophet that served until his death was Israel A. Smith who passed unexpectantly in 1958.
Mark:
Sometimes precedent can be a good thing, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Other times, it’s a shorter way of saying, “But we’ve always done it that way before.” I appreciate the way CofC goes about selecting a new leader now. As for the LDS approach, well, that’s for them to decide.
CofC: admits that religion is basically made up
Also CofC: elects a new Jesus or something
Part of what made me realize that Mormons are generally missing something with respect to the broader Christian tradition (even if I wouldn’t necessarily go so far as to say, “Mormons aren’t Christians”) were comments where people in Mormon constellation ended up “telling on themselves” that they did not understand common Christian concepts. I definitely have made such comments in the past myself.
This feels like one of those times and one of those comments.
The idea that “discernment” is “less than” “revelation” is a statement that makes sense in Mormonism, but that doesn’t make sense in Christianity.
In an LDS construct, saying “large corporate organization and decisions are made after much analysis and thought and prayer” feels like a “gotcha”.
But like, this is absolutely a thing in most Christian traditions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discernment_(Christianity)
It’s not a “gotcha.” “analysis and thought and prayers” is how things work. That doesn’t make it “kind of bogus” or whatever.
C’mon, Zla’od: I think you’re better than that
Rich, thank you for the write-up on this. So important, especially in this age where the peaceful transition of power in beloved institutions is so precarious, if it even still exists. So too, it’s good to see how such transitions play out across the Restoration tradition. Discernment seems a fine word to describe what is a very big deal for all members of Community of Christ.
And there is still the reality that a good Christian man, a man whose fellowship and leadership many of us are in no hurry to lose, has clearly experienced a major health crisis. Speaking as someone who works in an ICU setting, albeit in a non-clinical role, the tension and worry in such situations can be horrendous, above and beyond the physical and financial ordeals of illness. Prayers for Stephen and his family!
Rich Brown–it’s true tho