Church Building Efforts Accelerate

Speaking of the need for new meetinghouses, President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “We must house our people as they come into the Church.” His remarks were given during a speech at Brigham Young University on 6 November 1998. “We are experiencing a combined growth of converts and natural increase of some 400,000 a year. Every single year that is the equivalent of 160 new stakes of 2,500 people each. We are building more than 350 to 400 new buildings a year, and we are getting behind. We must increase our efforts and will do so.”

In addition to meetinghouses and temples worldwide, major construction projects are also moving forward at Church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Across the street north of Temple Square, a 21,000-seat assembly building is within a year of completion.

In May, Main Street was permanently closed between North Temple and South Temple Streets so construction could begin on a pedestrian plaza linking Temple Square and the block containing the Church Office Building and other facilities. Work is also going forward on a 168,500-square-foot automated storage and distribution facility at the Church’s main distribution center.

Church Buildings Worldwide
(as of 1 May 1999)

• More than 5,400 meetinghouses in the United States and Canada

• More than 6,600 meetinghouses outside the United States and Canada

• 57 temples

• 18 missionary training centers

• 434 seminary buildings

• 313 institutes of religion