Alma’s followers were the believers who gathered to Alma the Elder at the waters of Mormon after he began teaching the words of Abinadi privately, away from King Noah. Alma asked them, “if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord?” (Mosiah 18:10), and the people clapped their hands for joy and answered that this was the desire of their hearts (Mosiah 18:11).
Before baptizing them, Alma set out the terms of the covenant: they were willing to bear one another’s burdens, to mourn with those who mourn, to comfort those in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all places until death (Mosiah 18:8-9). About two hundred and four were baptized in the waters of Mormon (Mosiah 18:16). From that time they were called the church of God, or the church of Christ, and everyone baptized by the power and authority of God was added to the church (Mosiah 18:17).