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.
DeleteThe Church has also released a statement in the wake of a shooting at a Jewish synagogue in Australia. My thanks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteThe Church News has also shared one additional report that speaks for itself. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteAnd the Church News has highlighted reactions from Church members in the Portland area to the announcement of this new temple. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteI wonder if President Oaks is trying to keep general conference focused on the messages rather than church announcements. I think things got a bit out of hand when President Nelson was first prophet because many members seems very excited about what changes would be announced. I found myself very excited about temple announcements and probably could have focused more on the messages.
ReplyDeleteScooter, first and foremost, thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts. I appreciate hearing from you. That is an interesting theory.We know that the Church's earlier announcement cutting the Saturday evening session of General Conference was for the purpose of emphasizing the four daytime sessions more fully, so it is possible that this change is to shift the focus more on the messages during General Conference weekend rather than on major announcements such as new temples. That being said, when one Church President dies and a flurry of changes are initiated by the next prophet, it's been difficult to know for sure which changes were under active consideration before the previous Church President's posssing.
DeleteWhen he was announced as the new prophet, in paying tribute to President Nelson, President Oaks said that the Church had much to do to fulfill the challenges President Nelson gave to theChurch. So it's possible that having apostlesand area presidency members announce new temples on behalf of the First Presidency may have been under consideration by President Nelson prior to his passing.
But it'salso possible that President Oaks is acting swiftly on his prophetic priorities. and that this shift is a new development he has felt inspired to change himself. Given the wording of the announcement discontinuing the Saturday Evening General Conference session and the wondering used by Elder Haynie in presenting this announcement, I could easily see President Oaks wanting to refocus conference on the messages.
In any case, I had theorized, based on what President Oaks said at the beginning of his concluding address SW at General Conference that I could see a scenario where apostles could be authorized to announce new temples while ministering worldwide, but I did not see the Church authorizing area presidency members to make such announcements on behalf of the apostles in general and the First Presidnecy in particular.
That being said, I could see more temples being announced in this way before the April 2026 General Conference, butI don't necessarily see the Church shying away from announcing new temples during General Conference altogether. That's just my personal opinion. The same goes for other adjustments. Either way, this shift is an interesting development, and I'm glad we got word of it today. Thanks again for taking time to comment, Scooter! I really appreciate hearing from you.
I’m excited to see this on-location announcement; I feel like it could be a lot more personal and meaningful than having it announced along with a bunch of others. Not that that wasn’t meaningful. Anyways, one of my friends served his mission in Portland for a large part of his mission and he is very excited about it, I am sure so many people are excited.
ReplyDeleteThomas, thank you for taking time to share your thoughts on this announcement. One of my sisters and her family used to live in Maine, and the stake center in which this announcement was made was their former stake center. I'm sure a lot of people have unique connections to the area in which the temple will be built. I agree that the on-location announcementismore personal and meaningful for the Saints whom this temple will serve. I've seen a lot of comments on social media to the effect that this will sunset temple announcements in Geenral Conference. I am not sold on that idea. I still see some temple announcements being reserved for General Conference. How many remains to be seen. But I think at least one or two others might be announced between now and the weekend of the April 2026 General Conference. My advice: stay tuned. Thanks again for taking time to comment. I appreciate hearing from you.
DeleteAs confirmed by the Church Temples site, the open house has concluded for the Fairview Texas Temple, with those plans moving ahead despite the threat of legal action from the aforementioned resident's group. My thnaks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteThe Church News has covered one new report thus far today. And the Newsroom's homepage for 2025 temple news has not yet been updated with the newly-announced temple, so I'm not sure whether or not that "counts" as this week's update, but I hope we get something more at 2:00 PM MST today. My thanks once again to you all.
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