The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Missouri

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Historic Liberty Jail

As of December 31, 2019, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported 72,525 members in 18 stakes, 154 congregations (132 wards and 22 branches), 51 Family History Centers, 2 missions, and 2 temples (St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri) in Missouri.[1]

Stakes are located in Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Far West, Hazelwood, Independence, Joplin, Kansas City, Lake St Louis, Liberty, Monett, Platte City, St Louis (2), St Robert, Springfield (2), Warrensburg, and West Plains.

History

In 1831, Joseph Smith told LDS Church members that Independence, Missouri, was to be the gathering spot for the church.[2]

There were many Mormons in Missouri and it served as one of the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1830s. In 1838 Lilburn W. Boggs issued the Extermination Order to drive Mormons from the state, and for a time there was no organized Church presence here.

Later in the 1840s members of the Church, both immigrants from Britain and migrants from Nauvoo, Illinois moved to St. Louis, Missouri and a branch was organized there in 1844. In 1852 the steamship Saluda exploded near Lexington, Missouri with many of those killed being Latter-day Saints headed towards Fremont, Nebraska to then outfit to go to Utah.

By 1849 there were over 3,000 Latter-day Saints in the St. Louis area, and in 1854 a stake was organized there with Milo Andrus as president. Among those baptized in Missouri about this time was Henry Eyring a German immigrant who would latter lead Latter-day Saint missionary efforts among the Cherokee in Oklahoma and many of whose descendants would be prominent latter in the LDS Church. In 1858 the stake was dissolved and most of the Mormon migrated to Utah.

In the late 19th century there was limited missionary presence. However from 1904 a mission was headquartered in Independence. In 1911 a branch was organized there with Joseph F. Smith dedicating a chapel in 1914. Shortly after this Spencer W. Kimball, later president of the Church, served a mission in Missouri.

The church began to expand in the 1920s with five new chapels dedicated in 1926 and 1927. The first Missouri stake was organized in Kansas City in 1956 with another organized in St. Louis in 1958. Columbia, Missouri got a stake in 1970, the Independence Stake was split from the Kansas City stake in 1971 and a stake was organized in Springfield in 1973. The first LDS temple in Missouri was dedicated by Gordon B. Hinckley in the St. Louis area in 1997.[3]

For much of the early 20th century Liahona The Elders' Journal was published in Independence, Missouri this was the main LDS publication aimed at church members living in the United States outside of the Mormon corridor.

In 2010, the Kansas City Missouri Temple was dedicated—the temple stands not far from Liberty, Missouri where LDS Church founder Joseph Smith Jr. was incarcerated in the winter of 1838-39.[4]

In 2020, the LDS Church canceled services and other public gatherings indefinitely in response to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.[5]

Missouri Membership History

Year Membership
1974 13,796
1980 25,243
1990 35,084
1999 51,187
2008 63,666
2019 72,525

Missions

Mission Organized
Missouri Independence North Mission 4 Apr 1904
Missouri St Louis Mission 1 Jul 1977

Temples

Missouri currently has two operating temples and three in which construction has been indefinitely suspended.

50 St. Louis Missouri Temple Operating 58,749 sq ft (5,458 m2) 14 acres (56,656 m2) June 1, 1997 Gordon B. Hinckley edit
137 Kansas City Missouri Temple Operating 32,000 sq ft (2,973 m2) 8.05 acres (32,577 m2) May 6, 2012 Thomas S. Monson edit
Temple Lot Efforts halted in 1830s April 1829 edit
Far West Temple Efforts halted in 1830s 640 acres (2,589,988 m2) April 16, 1838 Joseph Smith edit
Adam-ondi-Ahman Temple Efforts halted in 1830s 3,000 acres (12,140,569 m2) April 26, 1838 Joseph Smith edit

See also

References

  1. ^ "Facts and Statistics Missouri". www.newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  2. ^ L "Facts and Statistics", Church News, 2020. Retrieved on 2 April 2020.
  3. ^ LDS Church Almanac, published by the Deseret News, 2011 edition, p. 360-361
  4. ^ Burnes, Brian. "New Mormon temple in Kansas City, North, to open in April", The Kansas City Star, 19 January 2012. Retrieved on 27 March 2020.
  5. ^ Lovett, Ian. "Mormon Church Cancels Services World-Wide Amid Coronavirus Crisis", The Wall Street Journal, 12 March 2020. Retrieved on 31 March 2020.

External links

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