The government of the overall people may have vanished, but the order of the church has not. There is still a church into which the people may be baptized, and an ecclesiastical organization to serve them. It is certain that this church cut across the tribal delineations, and served as many as would believe.
Narrative: From the perspective of Mormon’s narrative, he has painted a bleak picture of those who would not believe. However, he knows that there were righteous people remaining, and those righteous will become the focus of his narrative with the Savior appears. Therefore, Mormon makes them explicitly present in his text.