Community of Christ today describes itself as a Trinitarian, sacramental church within the broad Christian tradition, a self-understanding that separates it doctrinally from the non-Trinitarian theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints even though both trace their origin to Joseph Smith. It continues to hold the Book of Mormon as scripture alongside the Bible, together with its own Doctrine and Covenants, a living collection of revelations that the church continues to add to through its World Conference, but it does not teach a plurality of gods, celestial marriage, or the temple endowment ritual associated with the Utah church.
The church ordained its first woman to the priesthood in 1984, a decision that itself produced a schism among members who rejected it, and priesthood offices have been open to all genders since.
Leadership passed out of the Smith family for the first time in 1996, and the church has continued to liberalize, affirming full participation of LGBTQ members in ministry and marriage since 2013 and practicing open communion, welcoming any Christian to its table rather than restricting it to members in good standing.
Its spiritual and administrative center remains Independence, Missouri, where the Community of Christ Temple, dedicated in 1994, is built explicitly as a temple of peace rather than a ritual temple in the Latter-day Saint sense, housing a daily prayer for peace and framing the church's international identity around a ministry of reconciliation and nonviolence.