The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released the date of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Wichita Kansas Temple. It will take place on Saturday, September 7, 2024. Elder Steven R. Bangerter, First Counselor in the North America Central Area Presidency, will preside at the event. This will be the first house of the Lord in this Midwestern US state.
An exterior rendering has also been released.
| 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 |
Attendance at the site will be by invitation only. Additional details will be released as the date of the groundbreaking approaches.
The site location was released in June 2023. The Wichita Kansas Temple will be built on a 6.42-acre site located at Lot 1 Block 1 of The Moorings Plaza Fourth Addition in Wichita, which is located in Sedgwick County, Kansas.
Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 9,950 square feet. Currently, Latter-day Saints in Kansas travel to the neighboring states of Oklahoma or Missouri to worship in temples.
President Russell M. Nelson announced the construction of this temple in April 2022. “Positive spiritual momentum increases as we worship in the temple and grow in our understanding of the magnificent breadth and depth of blessings we receive there,” the prophet said at the April 2022 general conference.
Kansas was a historically significant location for early Latter-day Saint settlements but was later left behind when members of the Church moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, and eventually Utah.
For many Church members emigrating from Europe to the Salt Lake Valley in the mid-1800s, the Atchison, Kansas, area, located in the northeastern corner of the state, was an important layover site on the journey.
The Church maintains visitors’ centers and commemorative markers in Independence, Liberty, Far West and other historic locations along the Pioneer Trail.
The first congregation in the state was organized in 1882. Today, Kansas is home to nearly 40,000 Latter-day Saints in about 75 congregations.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider temples to be the “house of the Lord” and the most sacred places of worship on the earth. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses or chapels. All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples, however, is for faithful members of the Church to participate in sacred ceremonies, such as marriages, which unite families forever.