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


The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Pennsylvania reported 51,765 members in 12 stakes, one district, 109 congregations, two missions, and one temple, as of December 31, 2017.

History

Joseph Smith and the first members of the Church were baptized in the Susquehanna River in May 1829.
A total of 12 congregations were organized in Pennsylvania in the 1830s, before members gathered to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.
In 2016 Inga Saffron, architecture critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer, called the new Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple "the most radical work of architecture built in Philadelphia in a half-century... because it dares to be so out of step with today's design sensibilities and our bottom-line culture." Estimating its cost as more than $100 million, she wrote that the temple was "the real classical deal" and "a bold incursion into the hierarchical fabric of Philadelphia".
In 2020, the LDS Church canceled services and other public gatherings indefinitely in response to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Missions

The Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple was announced on October 4, 2008 by church president Thomas S. Monson.