The big and always-growing Church of the Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints has announced that it wants to build a new temple in Colorado Springs.
During a general conference held in Salt Lake City, Russell Nelson, president of the church, revealed that Colorado Springs has been selected as one of a handful of cities for a new temple.
While Nelson did not specifically mention exactly where in Colorado Springs the new temple would be built, news sources indicate that interest in constructing a new worship facility in what is popularly known as the Olympic City has been general for some time.
The Colorado Springs announcement is part of a substantially more ambitious effort that will see a total of 20 new temples built in the next several years.
“Spending more time in the temple builds faith,” remarked Nelson as he announced a list that will see the construction of temples in a dozen countries. Sites for new temples in the U.S. include Fairbanks, Alaska; Vancouver, Washington; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Roanoke, Virginia.
To date, LDS has three temples in Colorado: one built in Denver in the mid-1980s; a second in Fort Collins in 2016; and a third currently under construction in Grand Junction which is scheduled for completion sometime in 2025.
The church, founded in 1830, currently has just under 340 temples both in the U.S. and across the globe. The temples are architecturally splendid affairs, varying in size between a 6,900 square-feet facility in Ciudad Juarez and a more than 235,000 square-foot house of worship in Salt Lake, City.
By Garry Boulard