Question ...

Why is there a need to move beyond the government of the branch at this time?  Why is it so necessary that the church return to doing the business of the church through an association of branches or conference which appears to be a more centralized form of church government?

Response ...

Although the restoration branches who have remained faithful to the teaching of the restored gospel are the primary and congregational units of the Church of Jesus Christ, these branches are limited in their individual power to act in reordering the church.  Joseph Smith, III while reflecting back on a similar period of history in the church wrote:

The holding of local and general conferences we believe to have been, and still to be, one of the surest, safest, and best means that could have been or that can be used to the accomplishmnet of a proper assimilation of thought and spirit among the brethren, and the right understanding of doctrine among the teachers and those taught.  These local and general conferences we believe to be authorized by the general laws of the church under which the promulgation of the gospel was to be carried on; and they are not therefore the creatures of local organizations called churches or branches.  They are natural and necessary assemblings of the church officers for the transaction of necessary business connected with the carrying out the great program of salvation, and for the free interchange of thought, expression of opinion, and the preaching of the word. . . . Those who now fear the concentration of power would do well to make a more thorough examination of the objects of church association, and study to a better conclusion the theory of the gospel as applied to human associations. Church History, Vol. 3, page 664-665.  

Written by Joseph Smith, III in late 1871, early 1872 in a series of articles entitled "The Situation."

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