The Church has achieved considerable progress in the past 6 months with groundbreakings and dedications of previously announced temples. Eight new temples were dedicated during this time, bringing the total number of completed temples to 222. These new temples include the following:
- Davao Philippines Temple — May 3, 2026 — Dedicated by Dale G. Renlund
- Lindon Utah Temple — May 3, 2026 — Dedicated by Henry B. Eyring
- Bacolod Philippines Temple — May 31, 2026 — Dedicated by Neil L. Andersen
- Willamette Valley Oregon Temple — June 7, 2026 — Dedicated by Dieter F. Uchtdorf
- Yorba Linda California Temple — June 7, 2026 — Dedicated by D. Todd Christofferson
- Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple — August 16, 2026 — Dedicated by Dallin H. Oaks
- Cleveland Ohio Temple — August 16, 2026 — Dedicated by David A. Bednar
- Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple — August 30, 2026 — Dedicated by Patrick Kearon
There are also 10 temples scheduled for dedication by the end of the year, which will bring the total number of completed temples to 232. These temples include the following:
- Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple — October 11, 2026 — Scheduled dedication by Gerrit W. Gong
- Ephraim Utah Temple — October 11, 2026 — Scheduled dedication by Ronald A. Rasband
- Managua Nicaragua Temple — October 18, 2026 — Scheduled dedication by Ronald A. Rasband
- Montpelier Idaho Temple — October 18, 2026 — Scheduled dedication; dedicatory official not listed
- Cody Wyoming Temple — October 25, 2026 — Scheduled dedication by Clark G. Gilbert
- Wichita Kansas Temple — November 1, 2026 — Scheduled dedication by Patrick Kearon
- San Luis Potosí Mexico Temple — November 1, 2026 — Scheduled dedication by Dale G. Renlund
- Modesto California Temple — November 22, 2026 — Scheduled dedication by Quentin L. Cook
- Torreón Mexico Temple — November 22, 2026 — Scheduled dedication by Gary E. Stevenson
- Pago Pago American Samoa Temple — December 13, 2026 — Scheduled dedication by Quentin L. Cook
Additionally, 11 temples have had official groundbreaking ceremonies in the past 6 months, including the following temples:
- Teresina Brazil Temple — April 18, 2026 — Groundbreaking by Ciro Schmeil
- Missoula Montana Temple — June 6, 2026 — Groundbreaking by José A. Teixeira
- Springfield Missouri Temple — June 6, 2026 — Groundbreaking by Aroldo B. Cavalcante
- Santos Brazil Temple — August 1, 2026 — Groundbreaking by Ronald M. Barcellos
- Naga Philippines Temple — August 8, 2026 — Groundbreaking by Steven D. Shumway
- Huntsville Alabama Temple — August 15, 2026 — Groundbreaking by John D. Amos
- Tulsa Oklahoma Temple — August 22, 2026 — Groundbreaking by Pedro X. Larreal
- Victoria British Columbia Temple — August 22, 2026 — Groundbreaking by James E. Evanson
- Coeur d'Alene Idaho Temple — August 29, 2026 — Groundbreaking by Hutch U. Fale
- Colorado Springs Colorado Temple — September 12, 2026 — Groundbreaking by Karl D. Hirst
- Barcelona Spain Temple — September 19, 2026 — Groundbreaking by James W. McConkie III
There are also seven scheduled groundbreakings before the end of 2026. These temples include:
- Maceió Brazil Temple — October 10, 2026 — Scheduled groundbreaking by B. Corey Cuvelier
- Iquitos Peru Temple — October 10, 2026 — Scheduled groundbreaking by Sandino Roman
- Vienna Austria Temple — October 17, 2026 — Scheduled groundbreaking by Michael Cziesla
- Cincinnati Ohio Temple — November 7, 2026 — Scheduled groundbreaking by Alan T. Phillips
- Piura Peru Temple — November 14, 2026 — Scheduled groundbreaking by Steven C. Barlow
- Cuernavaca Mexico Temple — November 14, 2026 — Scheduled groundbreaking by Moisés Villanueva
- La Paz Bolivia Temple — November 21, 2026 — Scheduled groundbreaking by Juan Pablo Villar
Altogether, there will be 21 dedications and 22 groundbreakings in 2026 if all scheduled dedications and groundbreakings proceed as planned.
Based on these statistics, I believe the Church may announce more temples in the coming months than it has during the past year. The total number of planned temples that have no groundbreaking or dedication date scheduled would decrease to 90 by the end of the year if no additional temples are announced (this number was 105 back in March of 2026). Only two temples have been announced since I last updated my new temples prediction list (i.e., the Marysville Washington Temple in April and the Otavalo Ecuador Temple in May), and only three new temples have been announced in the past 12 months (the other temple that was announced was the Portland Maine Temple in December of 2025). Recent temple announcements have followed a new pattern in which announcements are made locally by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or Area Presidencies, although this may not preclude future announcements in General Conference. The large number of announced temples that has accumulated over the years is likely the greatest contributor in the dramatic slowdown in temple announcements, as efforts appear to have focused on the planning and construction of the hundreds of new temples announced since 2018.
I use several variables to identify prospective sites. These include: the size of the Church in a given area (stakes, districts, wards, and branches), the age of the oldest stake, growth trends, distance to the nearest temple, traffic and transportation considerations, temple square footage, the historical number of weekly endowment sessions, and member/missionary reports on activity, temple attendance, and convert retention. Altogether, there are 193 potential temples on the map (which is 3 potential temple sites more than the total number of potential sites identified in March 2026). The following five locations have been added to the temples prediction map with this current update—all of which are in Africa or the Intermountain West and have been added to the less-likely category:
- Abeokuta, Nigeria
- Ammon, Idaho
- Hyrum, Utah
- Onitsha, Nigeria
- West Haven, Utah
Also, there were two locations that were moved from the less likely to be announced list to the more likely to be announced list. The following locations were moved from the “less likely” to the “more likely” category based on the following factors:
- Greensboro, North Carolina (two new stakes created in the Greensboro area earlier this year, steady growth in the number of members and congregations in North Carolina in recent years, small square footage for Raleigh North Carolina Temple)
- Murcia or Málaga, Spain (recent creation of new congregations throughout Spain, organization of the Málaga Spain Stake earlier this year, steady growth in Spain in recent years as a whole)
There are dozens of additional locations that may be added to the less likely locations to have a temple announced in the coming months and years, pending whether recent growth developments are sustained and result in measurable, sustained growth and maturation of the Church.
See below for my top 20 most likely locations for a temple announcement within the next 6 months. This is the same list I provided back in March, as none of these locations have had temples announced. Your predictions are welcome in the comments.
- Angeles or Olongapo, Philippines
- Bo, Sierra Leone
- Port Harcourt, Nigeria
- Rigby, Idaho
- Lomé, Togo
- Southeast Salt Lake City, Utah (i.e., Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, or Sandy)
- Evanston, Wyoming
- San Pablo City, Philippines
- Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
- Ibadan, Nigeria
- Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Lilongwe, Malawi
- Santa Maria, Brazil
- Kimbanseke, Kinshasa, DR Congo
- Tema, Ghana
- Yopougon, Côte d’Ivoire
- San Luis Valley, Colorado
- Longview, Texas
- Lahore, Pakistan
- Luputa, DR Congo
19 comments:
The Aba Nigeria Temple with over 80 stakes assigned to it has the largeat temple district in the world. At the sane time with 11,500 square feet its temple space per stake is very low.
I think it may actually have less than 1 seat per stake in the endowment rooms.
To put thos is perspective we essentially have 8 seats per stake in the endowment rooms in the Detroit Temple.
We have a set up where in general the endowment rooms are used so you start in one and go to the other. We can start a session in the 2nd room but there needs to be movememt to the second room at some point. We also do not have a chapel. So if we had a chapel and two rooms of the same size but with both set up so the full ceremony could be done there we would be able to performmore ordinances, especially at peak times on Saturday.
So endowment seating is not the only comparison that can be done. However it is one, and by that measure compared with stakes Nigeria has about 8 times the temple needs of Michigan.
Michigan has another temple under way. Nigeria has 6 under way, and Benim City might be big enough we could count it as 2 in comparison to Aba.
By these calculations Nigeria could use maybe 8 more temples, although if some more are 30,000 square feet range, it might not be that many.
For this reason I think Port Harcourt Nigeria is one of the most likely temples to be announced. 3-4 more in Nigeria beyomd that also seems likely in the fairly near term.
Beyond Nigeria I think Lome, Togo; Cotonou, Benin; Bo, Sierra Leone; Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; a 2nd Kinshasa Temple closer to the airport; Luputa, DR Congo; Kolwezi, DR Congo and Greensboro, North Carolina and stromg contenders.
I also think a 4th metro Dallas Temple; Little Rock, Arkansas; Somewhere in Mississippi; Charleston, West Virginia and a temple in southern France and likely.
Olongopo Philippines also seems a atrong contender.
Does anyone have a document of the status of the temples announced by President Nelson? When all announced for dedication are dedicated 147 left to dedicate. Of those when every temple announced for groundbreaking is under construction 87 still announced. Though eight still have full construction pending. Of those 87 47 have a site announced. Seems like announcements are pending.
Leaves 40 left without a site announcement. Russia, China and UAE lots of red tape there, but the work won’t be stopped forever.
Other 37 could be announced any week. When will the number left to be announced dwindle? When all all 200 he announced be dedicated? May take a few years, but any guesses on when that will happen?
Even tough the Aba Temple has so many stakes assined, according to the temple tracker it is not busy at all (endowment wise). Normaly between 100 and 200 endowments are done in a week. Capacity with the sessions they run is 920. The temple wirh most endowments done per week on the african continent is the johannesberg temple with around 500. The data on the temple tracker also shows zhat around 80% off all endowments are done in North America and the temples in africa have a high rate for living endowments.
I think every city in africa is still far away from getting a second temple. More temples there will only be anounced for distance reasons.
A few thoughts on Africa:
On the one hand, I think that it is clear that we need more temples in Africa. I think the number of endowment rooms per active member is incredibly low. And I question the utilization metrics to the extent they are based on the online reservation system; technology use is different in parts of Africa than it is in, say, Utah.
On the other hand, statistics indicate that many members in parts of Africa need to have more basic needs met. I think it is very likely that church leaders will view the growth of BYU pathway explored important than the rapid construction of temples. And in many cases it takes many years to go from announcement of a temple to a dedication. There’s a backlog.
So while the reason for hoping for more Africa temples are so obvious I think the dynamics on the ground may keep the growth of temples in Africa slower than we would like or expect. As others said, distance may be a key factor. This may mean we see a Luputa temple announcement before a second Kinshasa temple announcement.
Considering how many members in the Aba Nigeria Temple district live beyomd an hours travel from the temple by the means of tranportation they have, includimg many even in Port Harcourt, I do not think endowments done is a good measure of potential. There I think a far more accurate measure is faithful tithe payers.That said, excatly how does temple tracker measure the numbers it counts? Anything other than the actually completed ordanace cards being recorded is not going to capture all attendees. The other number that I trust is unique people going through an endowment session each day, and unique people performing any ordinance each day. Although I know at Detroit Temple we do not have those numbers compiled. We keep a record of total people performing the rndowment but do not consider people doing multiple asessioms. We keep a record of total doing baptisms or confirmations. I try to male sure the paperwork accurately reflects everyone who did initiatories, but I am not sure we compile the numbers, and sealings I am not sure. We do not however compare across those and come up with the total unique daily individuals.
Kinshasa is a city of 10 million people where traffic is at a very high level. It may be worse traffic wise than Mexico City. I have a fellow temple worker who travrled back to Kinshasa his home city recently. He planned to go to the temple while there but the level of traffic prevented him from doing so.
This means that going from the airport to the temlle takes a very high amount of timr. Plus the city has 17 stakes but a 12,000 square foot temple.
The small isolated districts in the northernthird of DR Comgo and the outlyimg branches could be much better served with a temple cliser to the airport, plus it would significantly reduce travel time to the temple.
Kinshasa is also one of the largest by area cities in the world. It is something like 20,000 square miles. All the stakes and maybe even all the wards and branches are in the far north-west corner of the coty in probably under 1000 square miles. The other part includes a very large natire preserve.
At the level of stakes served, a 2nd temple in Kinshasa would serve more stakes than any other temple in Africa outside of Nigeria except maybe a second in Abijan positioned to serve all of Ivory Coast outside Abijan.
I am pretty sure a temple closer to the airport could reduce the round trip for those flying in from the northern and eastetn and maybe even the far western parts of DR Congo. I believe there are at two stskes and 4 districts outside Kinshasa that will be assigned to Kinshasa when allDR Comgo Temples are complete, with growth in these outlyimg areas starting to pick up.
Eventually there willbe a need for temples in thpse areas, but it will still make that far trip far easier, the one trip the temple pateon fund covers, wirh a temple that is much closer to the airport.
On Johannesburg, a secomd temple for the greater Johannesburg region, maybe Pretoria, would not surprise me.
Keep in mind though Elder Matswagobothata from Botswama was a temple worker at the Johannesburg Temple when called as a general authority. President and Sister Chadanbuka,who are from a city an hour's or more travel east of Harare in Zimbabwewere also temple workers in Johanneaburg Temple when called to be the first leaders of the Harare Temple. The same is true of a mission president in Kenya who comes from Zimbabwe.
Johannesburg may hold recirds in using temple workers the most who live over 6 hours from the temple.
Personally I wiuld nit be surprised if Luputa, Kolwezi and Kinshsa 2 were all announced the same weekend all by different members of the area presidency. It would also not surprise me to see any of those 3 announced.
BYU-Pathway is exploding in Africa. The Church has built global education centers for BYU-Pathway with computers and rooms people can use to complete their classes in at least Brazaville, Lagos and Accra. In 2011 the first class in Accra all the students crowded round 1 laptop. That was the first Pathway class in Africa. With maybe 12 students. Today Nigeria alome has 20,000 Pathway students.
The Church is also riollimg out aucceed in scholl to guide primary age children in their education.
Seminary and institute number is the Africa West Area are climbimg quite fast. One of the 5 central administrators of seminaries and institutea was promoted from heading the Africa West Area. I believe he is Ghanaian.
Elder I. Raymond Egbo who is from Nigeria is an assistant executive director of the temple department. I am n9t sure how much direct imput the assistant executive directors have, but I know that Elder Bangerter the wxecutive director sits on the temple sitea committee and I would imagine he has sought insights drom Elder Egbo. The Detroit Temple is amomg the temples that have Elder Egbo as the assigned general authority contact from the temple department. I am not sure how many assistant wxecutive directors there are and have no idea how first cobtacts are assigned.
On the other hand in Africa there are 8 temples under construction with 9 planned, including Beira Mozambique and Monrovia Liberia which are the 2 2021 announced temples that do not yet have a site announced. Temples in Africa are often amomg those that take the lomgest to build. Although if some of that delay is obstacles that can be moved past bwfore a public announcement, it couls mean The First Presidency may have even approved more unannounced plans that thry are waiting to announce when the project has passed some early steps in the approval process.
Sorry if I commented too much.
On another note evidently the Sunnyvale California Temple got city approval this week. Hopefully this means it will have a groumdbreakimg fairly soon.
Sorry about one more post. I just realized I made a major mistake in wjat I said above. The site for the Beira Mozambique Temple was announcwd back in January 2026. I am not sure how I missed that or forgot it had happened. It still leaves us with over 5 amd a half years since that temple was announced and no groundbreaking.
I don't see the methodology for data collection for fullerconsideration's Temple Tracker, and consequently do not know how it gets its data. For those with access to online reservations, a maximum of 8 slots are allocated for online reservations per session for the Aba Nigeria Temple and states it allocates 4 walk-ins per scheduled session. I'd imagine the capacity for the temple endowment session would be more than 12. A past stake I was in would occasionally reserve the local temple for a special endowment session for the stake outside of the posted temple schedule.
The church does not publicly release the data. I know for unit tracker, it typically publishes the date when the unit change is displayed online and not the date it was actually created. If it's only counting online member reservations, I would imagine the actual numbers would be far off. Again, I'm not sure where the fullerconsideration gets its data, but I would definitely use it with a large pinch of salt.
Roughly a quarter of the population in Nigeria own a motorized vehicle, let alone have the financial ability to get to Aba. Building additional temples reduces the financial burden of getting to the temple for those members.
1. Kinshasa is about 4,000 square miles, not 20k
2. Please fact check your stats
3. Stop posting random ramblings off the top of your head in such a short spurt.
I commend you for not talking about race, politics all the time like you used to.
At least you are not an arrogant James Stokes, who has BASED views of Charlie Kirk, is a registered democrat, doesnt work, lives with his in laws, and frequently and aggressively grammar and spell checked everyone on this blog like hes a paid moderator. Ever since i created this username James’ autism on this blog has been reduced by 90%. - I take a bow and your welcome everyone.
Lets continue on fruitful discussion of church growth on this blob
- James G Snokes: Quorum of the 12 Sith.
My thanks once again to your attention to this matter.
Miro, what tracker are you referencing? Do you have a link? Also, does the number include reservations or actual endowments performed?
JG Snokes, the 20k square miles wasn't correct but the general narrative of the paragraph was. Maluku, one of the 24 communes of Kinshasa covers 79% of the city (on the east side) and 4% of its population. It is home to Nsele Wildlife Reserve among other conservation areas. So yes, the stakes would be where the population is (the less than 1,000 sq km on the NW corner of the city).
While not on my top 60, a 2nd temple near the Airport is a possibility. I'm not sure what the ownership rate is within the city, but for the DRC as a whole, only 0.2 to 0.3 per 1,000 people own a motorized vehicle. A temple near the airport would double the accessibility to the temple within the city as many members live in that area.
Due to its proximity to the airport, I could see, if announced, the church building a complex around the temple (MTC, meetinghouse, church offices, etc.) and maybe an assembly room within the temple for area meetings.
The one on fullerconsideration. I won't post the link. I understand it to be actual endoments. But they do not explain how they exactly get the data.
Our online behavior is not different in consequence from off-line speech. Using name calling and sarcastic parody to contend in a comment section discussing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is ironic and misses the mark (by a full 180 degrees). It is a stain on the sainthood we espouse.
Please listen to conference and we can all apply the invitations for peaceable and kind online speech specifically issued by several apostles.
I didn’t call anyone names. Just stated facts
am sorry I was off on the size of Kinshasa. It is only 3848 square miles.
However is has 18 million people. I still stand by my observation about the overly crowded conditions and slow traffic. Which would be even more difficult to get to the temple if you are using buses.
I am guessing that in a place like Nigeria most who go to the temple do so without maling a reservation and most reservations are by phone. Online access is low in that country. Phone reservations just feel like more of a hassle, so if the realistic options are that or just walking in, people will do the later.
My other observation is when someone receives their own endowment friends, family members will often show up with no reservation. That is from behavior in Michigan where most active church members have at least some internet access. This would I guess be even more pronounced where people have to rely mainly on phones, which may also have access limits.
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