Hello again, everyone! As I may have mentioned previously, I started the prior post with the intention of exploring how soon the Church might see 200 operating temples. I had before offered my opinion that that could occur by or before the 200th anniversary of the Church, which is what prompted my deviation from that subject in the post previous to this one. So, let's examine what the Church would have to do to make that possible, and how temple progress will be looking over the next 2-3 years.
As many of you are no doubt aware, there are 182 temples in various stages. This means that the Church would just have to announce 18 more, in addition to completing the other 25 currently in various stages. That's a total of 43 temples that would need to be dedicated in between now and April 6, 2030. With that in mind, the Church, as of today, has 12.41 years to complete those 43. That works out to just around 3.5 that would need to be completed in each one of those years. So, what needs to happen to make that possible? Let's look at that.
As you all know, the Church will have 2 more temples dedicated by the end of this year, bringing the number of those in operation to 159. By the end of 2018, the Church will have either 162 or 163 in operation, meaning 3 or 4 new temples will be added next year. 2019, as already noted, is anticipated to be a big year for temple-related events, without even considering how many announced temples might have a groundbreaking next year. If the data I have gathered proves correct, the number of operating temples by the end of will have risen to either 169 or 170. With that in mind, by the time the Church has 10 years left to dedicate the 200, there will be around 30 temples left to complete. So as long as 3 or 4 are dedicated each year, that could easily be done.
That said, as already noted, if many other temples have a groundbreaking next year and in 2019, the number of those that could subsequently be dedicated in 2020 and beyond, along with those new temples that may be announced within the next two years, could be anyone's guess. That said, it seems obvious to me that, whether or not an official goal is made to do so, the Church will have at least 200 temples in operation by April 6, 2030. In fact, for the span of the 17 years between January 2001 (the end of the temple-building boom that occurred between 1997 and 2000) and the end of this year, the Church will have seen an increase in operating temples from 102 to 159, which is 57 new temples. In those 17 years, that will have averaged out to 3.35 temples per year. And with the 41 that would need to be dedicated between January 1, 2018 and April 6, 2030 (a span of 12.26 years), that further works out to 3.34 per year.
Thanks for bearing with me as I have shared this information with you. Whatever might happen in terms of future temple-related developments, you can be sure to find all the latest news and developments here. That does it for this post. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Monday, November 6, 2017
Case Study: How soon could the Church have 200 operating temples?
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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With 182 current temples at various stages we would need 18 more announced. With an average of 3-4 years from announcement to groundbreaking. And another 3-4 years to build. We would need all 18 announced by 2022-2024, or about 3 a year. Now some temples may take less time or more, bit this is a rough estimate.
ReplyDeleteThanks for those thoughts, Chris! 3 or so would indeed need to be announced between 2022-2024 for the Church to have the 200 dedicated, but the thing that I have kept in mind is Elder Wilson's statement to the effect that 80 or so temple sites are under active consideration for a subsequent announcement within the 15 years between the end of April this year and the end of April 2032. Based on that statement, even if not all of those temple are announced, the Church could easily announce 2 or 3 per year between April 2018 and April 2032. If that happens, there could be anywhere from 28-41 new temples in that time, which is well above the 12 needed to make the 200. In terms of new temples, if the Church does have 169 in operation by the end of 2019 (and there is every indication that there will be), even without knowing how many temples could have a groundbreaking during that same time. that means that 31 would need to be dedicated between January 2020 and April 6, 2030. Since that is roughly 10.25 years, if the Church stays on track and dedicates a minimum of 3 or so per each of those years, then that is entirely possible. And if what I hear is true, the next few years will be full of temple announcements and groundbreakings. That is one of the many reasons that I have been so devoted on this blog to the subject of temple-related developments. It will be interesting to see what happens, and you can catch all of that here. As always, thanks for commenting, Chris!
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