Ground Broken for Winchester Virginia Temple

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Winchester Virginia Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, August 9, 2025. Elder Robert M. Daines, Second Counselor in the United States Northeast Area Presidency, presided at the event.

Numerous government and interfaith leaders attended the groundbreaking, including Winchester Mayor Les Veach, Virginia State Delegate Bill Wiley, Shenandoah University President Tracy Fitzsimmons, Reverend Bjorn Lundberg of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and Pastor David Young of Bethel Lutheran Church.

In the dedicatory prayer, Elder Daines explained how Christ worshipped in the temple during His earthly ministry: “He went to the temple to pray, to worship, to heal and to teach. We are grateful for a temple here where we can follow Him in worship and seek His healing touch.”

For Grant Allen of the Winchester Virginia Stake, temple worship has been an essential part of his life since he was three years old, when he was sealed to his family in the temple.

“As I return to the temple and continue learning of Him,” Allen said, “I deepen my knowledge of Jesus Christ. As I continue going to the temple, I show my commitment to Him and His teachings.”

“The temple is a place where we learn, reflect, improve and enter into sacred covenants or promises,” added Wyatt Miles of the Martinsburg West Virginia Stake. “Keeping the temple at the forefront of my mind motivates me to keep my covenants and live as a diligent student of God.”

“The ceremonies of the temple constitute an elevated form of worship,” said Stephanie Ashcraft of the Clarksburg West Virginia Stake, who was called to serve as a temple ordinance worker after the renovation of the Washington D.C. Temple.

She said of her call: “I was very nervous, and especially during that first four-hour drive, but as soon as I entered the temple, the peace that I felt was so real and unmistakable.”

“May this temple be not only a refuge or retreat from the world, but a beginning — a herald of Thy peace and a beachhead of Thy heaven on earth,” Elder Daines prayed.

The Winchester Virginia Temple will be the fourth temple in the state. The Richmond Virginia Temple was dedicated on May 7, 2023, by President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency. The Roanoke Virginia Temple was announced in October 2023, and the Norfolk Virginia Temple was announced in April 2025.

In 1957, the Church established its first stake in Richmond, Virginia. The Church grew rapidly in the state during the 1970s and 1980s, establishing 10 new stakes during those decades.

Virginia is currently home to more than 100,000 Latter-day Saints in over 210 congregations.

Latter-day Saints consider each temple a house of the Lord and the most sacred place of worship on earth. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses (chapels). All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples is for faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ to participate in sacred ceremonies, such as marriages, which unite families forever, and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized while living.