Church and community leaders broke ground Saturday, 29 September 2012, for the Indianapolis Indiana Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The temple will be located in the city of Carmel on the southwest corner of the intersection of W116th and Spring Mill Road. The temple will serve 25,000 Latter-day Saints in Indiana and eastern Illinois.
| 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 |
The ceremony was conducted by Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy. Elder Gregory A. Schwitzer of the Seventy also assisted, as did local Church and community leaders.
The temple was announced by Church President Thomas S. Monson in October 2010. There are currently 139 temples in operation throughout the world.
“We are your friends,” said Elder Hallstrom. “The members of the Church are here to serve you.” He also explained that, “The holy temple helps us to know, in our lives, what to embrace and what to discard.” He challenged Church members to develop traditions of righteousness.
Paul H. Sinclair, president of the Indianapolis North Stake (similar to a diocese) told the gathering at the temple site and thousands of Mormons watching on television in meetinghouses throughout the temple district that “The temple is not a reward for a job well done, it is an invitation to worship and to work.”
Church membership in Indiana is approximately 42,000.
Latter-day Saint temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses or chapels where members meet for Sunday worship services. Temples are considered “houses of the Lord” where Christ's teachings are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other ordinances that unite families for eternity. In the temple, Church members learn more about the purpose of life and strengthen their commitment to serve Jesus Christ and those around them.