Ground Broken for Yorba Linda California Temple

Ground has been broken in Yorba Linda, California, for the Yorba Linda California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Elder Mark A. Bragg, a General Authority Seventy, presided at the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, June 18, 2022. 

“It is an honor to be here on this beautiful California summer day to dedicate this site for the construction of a sacred temple — a house of, and unto, the Lord,” said Elder Bragg. 

Elder Bragg also spoke of the blessings a temple will bring to the area. Invoking the motto for the City of Yorba Linda (“Land of gracious living”), he promised “that this house of the Lord will represent the highest in gracious living and those who enter will leave with a higher commitment to gracious living. … We commit to being neighbors of gracious living.” 

The Yorba Linda California Temple was announced in April 2021 by Church President Russell M. Nelson. 

Plans call for a single-story structure of about 30,000 square feet. It will be built on a 5.4-acre site located at the intersection of Bastanchury Road and Osmond Street.  

“Outside of Utah, [Arizona] and Idaho, there is not another county in North America that will have two temples within its borders,” Elder Bragg noted. “It is unique and a manifestation of the growth of the Church in this part of the Lord’s vineyard.”  

The other temple in Orange County is the Newport Beach California Temple.  

“May this day connect us in a very personal way with eternity and with our departed ancestors,” Elder Bragg said in the dedicatory prayer. “We pray for Thy spirit to pour down on this area that we might dedicate our efforts to stay on the covenant path and to help others enter and stay on that path.” 

Attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony was by invitation only. Others who reside in the temple district watched a broadcast. Newsroom will add the full broadcast in the coming days.  

California is home to more than 730,000 Latter-day Saints in nearly 1,200 congregations. The Yorba Linda Temple will join eight more temples in operation, under construction or announced in the state of California: Feather River, Fresno, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Oakland, Redlands, Sacramento and San Diego.  

Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints differ from meetinghouses or chapels, where members meet for Sunday worship services. Each temple is considered a house of the Lord where Jesus Christ’s teachings are reaffirmed through baptism and other ordinances that unite families for eternity. In the temple, Church members learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants to follow Jesus Christ and serve their fellow man.