HELENA, Montana, April 20, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Tuesday announced the location and shared a rendering of the planned Helena Montana Temple, announced by Church President Russell M. Nelson earlier this month.
The site in Helena will be on 4.8 acres at 1260 Otter Road.
Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 10,000 square feet, with a center spire, the Church statement says. The temple will share the site with a new meetinghouse. Detailed design plans for the temple are still being developed.
Project leaders will work with city officials and file public documents soon on preliminary plans for the temple and meetinghouse, the LDS Church statement said. A groundbreaking date has not been set.
This will be the state’s second temple. The Billings Montana Temple was dedicated on Nov. 20, 1999. There are more than 50,000 Latter-day Saints in Montana, with approximately 125 congregations.
Latter-day Saints consider temples to be the “house of the Lord” and the most sacred places of worship on the earth. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses (chapels), the statement says.
All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples, however, is for faithful members of the Church to participate in sacred ceremonies, such as marriages intended to unite families forever and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized while living.
