When President Russell M. Nelson announced 13 new temples at conference last weekend, he surpassed Gordon B. Hinckley to become the Church president who has announced more new temples than any other, according to Deseret News’ Tad Walch, first reported in the ChurchBeat Newsletter. The recent temple-building boom could also result in the highest temple-to-Church-member ratio since the 19th century.
Back in 1893, when the Church dedicated the Salt Lake Temple, there were about 53,500 Church members for each of its four temples, says Brandon Plewe, editor-in-chief of the 2012 book Mapping Mormonism: An Atlas of Latter-day Saint History. “That’s amazing to think, four temples covered us well then,” he told Deseret News.
But now, Plewe estimates that if all currently announced temples are completed within three and a half years, there would be about 66,000 Church members per temple across the globe—the highest number of temples per capita since 1898. By comparison, today there are 98,601 members per temple.
Read the full article from Deseret News for more stats on temple announcements by President Nelson and previous Church Presidents.
