World Church Leadership Council
The World Church Leadership Council is a leadership body of Community of Christ. It encompasses the First Presidency, the Council of Twelve Apostles, and the Presiding Bishopric. The group convenes at the church headquarters in the Independence Temple. With the adoption of a new set of church bylaws at the 2002 World Conference, this body replaced the predecessor council known as the Joint Council. Bylaw provisions allow for additional members to be added to the World Church Leadership Council. Overview Since its formation, the World Church Leadership Council has been the deliberative and consensus forming body for a number of important decisions, such as the 2002 "Statement on Homosexuality", formation of mission centers, and setting of dates for specially called World Conferences. The World Church Leadership Council assisted with the recommendation to the World Conference by the Council of Twelve that Stephen M. Veazey be ordained as Prophet-President of the church. In 2006, the World Church Leadership Council deliberated significant restructuring of the church's headquarters operations and reduction in the number of paid field ministers. It has contributed to development of a new format for the 2007 Community of Christ World Conference. Prior history of the Joint Council Before the