Facts and Statistics

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Nebraska

25,935

Total Church Membership

1-in-

5

Stakes

57

Congregations

42 Wards
15 Branches

18

FamilySearch Centers

18

1

Temples

1

Missions

History

Beginning in 1846, thousands of early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made camps in Native American country along the banks of the Missouri River in what is now Nebraska. The first Winter Quarters camps provided critical winter respite for pioneers who had been driven from their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois, and were on their way to the Great Basin. Still, several hundred died there from exposure, poor nutrition, and poor sanitation. Later camps, like the one in the hamlet of Wyoming, Nebraska, served as outfitting posts for the continuing migration of Latter-day Saints to the Salt Lake Valley. As the railroad extended westward, most of these settlements were abandoned or absorbed into other communities.

Several monuments and historic markers honor early Latter-day Saints’ migration through Nebraska. In 1997, the Church dedicated the Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters to educate the public about the contribution to westward expansion made by Latter-day Saint pioneers who traveled through Nebraska. In April 2001, the Church dedicated the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple on ground adjacent to the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery.

The Church grew slowly in Nebraska with sporadic proselytizing and had only a few members there until 1896, when the first congregation was organized. In 1916, a Sunday School was established in Lincoln, but it was not until 1960 that a stake was created in Lincoln — the first in the Cornhusker State. There are currently stakes in Kearney and Lincoln and three in Omaha.

Church members regularly provide community aid and help in disaster cleanup efforts. Examples include cleaning up after a devastating storm in Blair, Nebraska, and helping refugee resettlement.