Hello again, everyone! At a Christmas devotional for the Portland Maine Stake this evening, Elder Allen D. Haynie, United States Northeast Area President, read the following statement from the First Presidency:
"We are pleased to announce the construction of a temple in Portland, Maine. The specific location and timing of the construction will be announced later. This is a reason for all of us to rejoice and thank God for such a significant blessing — one that will allow more frequent access to the ordinances, covenants, and power that can only be found in the house of the Lord."
The First Presidency
This is the first temple to be announced under new Church President Dallin H. Oaks, and confirms what President Oaks said in his talk in October: "We will now move forward in providing the ordinances of the temple to members of the Church throughout the world, including when and where to announce the construction of new temples."
I had postulated that this would allow members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to announce new temples with the approval of the First Presidency in the course of their global ministry, so it makes sense that area presidencies would have similar authorizations to read official statements like this. The number of temples worldwide now sits at 383, with others to come in time, I'm sure.
Will any other temples be announced between now and the April 2026 General Conference? That's above my paygrade to know, but I conjecture that this could and likely will happen again. In view of this announcement, will anything else be announced tomorrow at 2:00 PM MST? I conjecture that will occur, since there is still a backlog of announced temples, and this just adds to it. But it also occurs to me to wonder how soon other updates will be announced for this first temple in Maine.
I had conjectured that, if temples were announcedoutside of General Conference, those announcements might come as temples are further along in the planning phase. So we could also potentially see a site location confirmed, rendering released, or groundbreaking set for this temple or any others in the near term. It's also worth noting that this is, to the best of my knowledge, the first temple since the Hinckley era to be announced in December.
Either way, this is wonderful news. I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines.
I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
The Church News also covered this evening's announcement, and I have updated this on my documents showing areas of the Church in which a temple has been announced during President Oaks' prophetic administration, and announced temples for which no official information has been confirmed yet. It appears that the Church Temples site and the Church Growth Blog have not yet included coverage of this announcement, but that is likely to change in the near term. My thanks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that I failed to share this part of the announcement: a comment by Elder Haynine in conjunction with theannouncement noted that “in a recent meeting of the First Presidency of the Church, a decision was made that, when directed by the First Presidency, the announcement of the construction of a new temple should be made on location by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or a member of an Area Presidency.” He added that, “such an announcement by a member of an Area Presidency has never occurred before. Tonight, will be the first.”
DeleteSo it appears from that additional context that new temples may still be announced at General Conference, but that, when the First Presidency authorizes it, any new temples will also be announced on location by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or area presidency members. I imagine that the same authorization could and/or will be given to members of the Presidency of the Seventy and Presiding BIshopric. My thanks once again to you all.
And an update on the Spanish Fork Utah Temple may indicate that the temple is getting closer to a groundbreaking. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteI think historically most temples were announced outside of general conference,at least before the President Monson and I think sometime during President Hinckley's we made the switch where most temples began to be announced as part of general conference.
ReplyDeleteL. Chris Jones
DeleteSo when President Oaks made his statement last general conference regarding future Temple announcements I suspected we might be hearing them as part of stake conferences or as letters sent out to the units throughout the world, much the same way they made the mission age change for sisters a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteThanks for these observations, Chris! You are correct. Based on Elder Haynie's statement, I expect to see a lot more of these single new temple announcements outside of General Conference, with only a few announced in each General Conference going forward. And although Elder Haynie stated that the authorization was being given to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and to area presidencies, I wouldn't be shocked to see the Presidency of the Seventy and Presiding Bishopric similarly authoritzed. Thanks for taking time to share these observations. I always appreciate hearing from you.
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