In the recent (September 2018) issue of the Ensign, the issue of ecclesiology and the non-infallibility of the Church and its leadership is explicated by a member of the Seventy. Elder J. Devn Cornish in his article The True Church: “For the Perfecting of the Saints” wrote (pp. 60-61):
What is the Purpose of the Church?
Nowhere in our scriptures, our doctrine, or the teaching of latter-day apostles and prophets is it taught that the purpose of the Lord is to perfect or to save the Church. Rather, the purpose of the Church is “for the perfecting of the saints . . . till we all come in the unity of the faith . . . unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13). The Lord’s primary purpose is to perfect His saints. The Church serves to support that objective.
Thus we will be thrilled by what we find in our history if we expect it to demonstrate how the process of the Restoration not only established the Lord’s true Church on earth but also provided the experiences by which its leaders and members could grow toward perfection as they learned from their triumphs and their mistakes. Their experiences can increase our faith in God and Christ and help us see how our participation in this same divinely directed process can change and bless us. In other words, the history of the Church gives us hope that we too can ultimately be “perfected in [Christ]” (Moroni 10:32).
What Does It Mean That This Is the True Church?
If the leaders and members of the past were able to establish Christ’s Church even though their efforts were sometimes imperfect, and if they sometimes made mistakes, then what does it mean to say that this is the true Church? It means that we may have complete confidence in the validity of the restored priesthood authority, the saving ordinances, the revealed doctrine, the scriptures, and the united quorums of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency. It means that we may know that the Savior Himself directs the Church and that the Holy Ghost will bear witness to all sincere seekers of the truth of these things. It means that by striving to keep the covenants associated with the ordinances, and continually repenting, even imperfect but sincere people like you and me will live in celestial glory with God and Christ and our families forever through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
