The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the open house and dedication dates for the Harare Zimbabwe Temple.
A media day will be held for the Harare Zimbabwe Temple on Monday, January 19, 2026. Invited guests will tour the temple Tuesday, January 20, and Wednesday, January 21, 2026, and a public open house will be held from Thursday, January 22, through Saturday, February 7, 2026, excluding Sundays.
Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the temple on Sunday, March 1, 2026. The dedicatory session will be broadcast to all congregations in the Harare Zimbabwe Temple district.
| 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 |
Then-Church President Thomas S. Monson announced this temple during the April 2016 general conference. Ground was broken for this house of the Lord on December 12, 2020.
Elder James E. Faust of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated Zimbabwe for the preaching of the gospel in 1991. The first stake in the southern African nation, the Harare Zimbabwe Stake, was organized in 1999, with Edward Dube, who currently serves on the Presidency of the Seventy, as stake president.
Since 1985, members of the Church in Zimbabwe have traveled to the Johannesburg South Africa Temple to participate in temple worship, a journey of about 24 hours by bus.
Once dedicated, the Harare Zimbabwe Temple will bring the blessings of the temple closer to more than 46,000 Latter-day Saints in over 100 congregations.
Latter-day Saints worship in temples for several reasons: to feel God’s love and peace, to learn more about God’s plan for His children and the gospel of Jesus Christ, to make promises with God and with one’s husband or wife, and to unite families in this life and the next through sacred ordinances.