Wellington New Zealand Temple
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the groundbreaking ceremony for the Wellington New Zealand Temple.
The groundbreaking services for the Wellington New Zealand Temple will be held on Saturday, August 2, 2025. Elder Taniela B. Wakolo, First Counselor in the Pacific Area Presidency, will preside at the event.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
As previously announced, the temple will be built on a 3.35-acre site located near Okowai Road and Whitford Brown Avenue, Aotea, Porirua, New Zealand. Plans call for a two-story temple of approximately 14,900 square feet and an ancillary building with arrival facilities and patron housing.
Church President Russell M. Nelson announced this temple during the April 2022 general conference.
He said then: “I plead with you to counter worldly ways by focusing on the eternal blessings of the temple. Your time there brings blessings for eternity.”
The Wellington New Zealand Temple will be the third in the nation, joining the historic Hamilton New Zealand Temple, the first house of the Lord built in the Southern Hemisphere, and the Auckland New Zealand Temple, dedicated by Elder Patrick Kearon on April 13, 2025.
The first New Zealand converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were baptized in 1853. Shortly afterward, missionary work began, including among the native Māori people. The first congregation in New Zealand was organized in 1855.
Today, New Zealand is home to nearly 120,000 Latter-day Saints in about 220 congregations.
McKinney Texas Temple Will Be Known as the Fairview Texas Temple
The First Presidency announced on April 28, 2025, that the McKinney Texas Temple will be renamed the Fairview Texas Temple.
Texas is home to more than 390,000 Latter-day Saints in more than 750 congregations. Missionary work in Texas began in 1843 during the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Plans for the temple are on an 8.16-acre site located along Stacy Road adjacent to and east of an existing meetinghouse at 651 East Stacy Road, in Fairview, Texas.
The Fairview Texas Temple is the state’s 10th temple announced, under construction or in operation. Other temples in Texas include the Austin Texas Temple, Dallas Texas Temple, El Paso Texas Temple, Fort Worth Texas Temple, Houston Texas Temple, Houston Texas South Temple, Lubbock Texas Temple, McAllen Texas Temple, and San Antonio Texas Temple.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Latter-day Saints consider temples the house of the Lord and the most sacred places 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.