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Church of Christ (Assured Way)

denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ5116839 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message – The Assured Way of the Lord, Inc., informally called The Assured Way, is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement based in Independence, Missouri. Founded in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa by Apostle Bama wa Mobutu Gloire on August 20, 1994, and incorporated in the United States of America by Apostle Leonard H. Draves in 2004. The Assured Way church is one of four groups that trace their origin to the church founded by William Draves in 1943, after his split with Otto Fetting, who had founded the Church of Christ (also known as the "Fettingites"). Although all four churches have similar names and nearly identical doctrines, they are not in communion and maintain separate legal organizations. The Assured Way church was legally incorporated by Apostle Bama wa Mobutu Gloire in Africa in 1994. William Draves' son, Leonard Draves, legally incorporated the same church in the United States in 2004, six months after Leonard was removed from the ministry by other leaders of the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Inc. that was organized in 1994. Leonard Draves had previously founded the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Inc. in 1994, after breaking with the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Established Anew 1929.

History

Otto Fetting

The Assured Way church has its origin in the Fettingite movement of the Hedrickite expression of the Latter Day Saint religion.

Editorial summary

“Church of Christ (Assured Way)” enters the record as denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Church, Christ and Assured can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1994, 2004, 1943, 1929—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2004. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Church, Christ and Assured.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Church of Christ (Assured Way)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Church, Christ and Assured provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5116839. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1994, 2004, 1943 and 1929.

Critical limits

Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Church of Christ (Assured Way)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Church of Christ (Assured Way) primary sources, Church of Christ (Assured Way) archive and Church research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Church of Christ (Assured Way)”?
  2. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Church of Christ (Assured Way)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.