Church of the Force

"Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force."

- Lor San Tekka

The Church of the Force was an religious faith institution composed of loosely-affiliated worshipers of the Force. Members of the faith believed that the Jedi Order had to return in order to restore balance in the Force.

Description
The Church of the Force began as an underground faith whose followers believed in the ideals of the Jedi Order. It existed during the time of the Galactic Empire, when such spiritual beliefs were strictly forbidden. Despite the threat of Imperial rule, and the destruction of the Jedi Order at the end of the Clone Wars, the Church of the Force believed that the light of the Jedi would one day return to the galaxy.

History
"This will begin to make things right."

- Lor San Tekka

The Church of the Force existed as an underground movement during the Age of the Empire, when the Jedi Knights were hunted to near-extinction and worship in the supernatural was prohibited by Imperial law. One member of the faith was Lor San Tekka, an explorer who did not believe the Imperial description of the so-called Jedi betrayal of the Galactic Republic. He spent years searching and preserving the history of the Jedi that the Empire had tried to suppress, and eventually helped Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi, in his own search for Jedi lore. During the New Republic Era, the Church was much more free, after Skywalker vanished following the destruction of his new generation of Jedi, San Tekka held a fragment of a map that showed where Skywalker had gone into exile. Believing that the Jedi had to return in order for there to be balance in the Force, San Tekka gave the map fragment to Resistance pilot Poe Dameron before San Tekka was killed by Kylo Ren&mdash;Skywalker's nephew, and the man who killed the new Jedi. However, San Tekka's death was not in vain, as Skywalker was located by a young Force-sensitive woman named Rey.

Behind the scenes
Through the appearance of Lor San Tekka and the Tuanal villagers, the Church of the Force first appeared in the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. It was identified as the Church of the Force in the reference book Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary, which provided some history for San Tekka. Lucasfilm Ltd. employee and author of the Visual Dictionary Pablo Hidalgo revealed in an interview that the Church was originally conceived by George Lucas for Star Wars: Underworld, a canned live-action Star Wars TV series. The Church's story was put on hold before appearing in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams.

Appearances

 * Aftermath: Empire's End
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens novelization
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Junior Novel
 * The Force Awakens Golden Book
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens Graphic Novel Adaptation
 * The Force Awakens, Part I