Vancouver British Columbia Mormon Temple

The decision to build a temple in Langely, near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was anounced on 25 May 2006.  The groundbreaking took place on 4 August 2007.  The temple is expected to reach completion in the spring of 2010. 

The temple sits on nearly 12 acres, which will also accommodate an LDS meeting house.  The site is on a prominent hill, and the parcel of land was acquired by purchasing smaller parcels that were not originally for sale.  Then President Gordon B. Hinckley chose the site during a trip to the area.  The temple will be slightly over 19,000 square feet in size and will offer two sealing rooms and two endowment rooms.

The new edifice will be Canada’s seventh operating temple and British Columbia’s first. It will serve the many saints of British Columbia who currently attend temples in Alberta or cross the U.S.-Canada border to attend the Seattle Washington Temple.

A small branch of Latter-day Saints was organized in Langely in the 1950’s, with the approximately 20 members meeting in a private home.  Currently, there are approximately 172,000 members of the Mormon Church in Canada.  There are 4 wards and three branches in Vancouver.

On December 5, 2009, the schedule for the Temple open house and dedication was announced.  The public will be invited to visit the temple during an open house that will run from Friday, 9 April 2010, through Saturday, 24 April 2010 (except for Sundays). The temple will be formally dedicated on Sunday, 2 May 2010. A total of three dedicatory sessions will be held. Formal temple work will commence at the Vancouver British Columbia Temple on Monday, 3 May 2010.

It is customary for Latter-day Saints to open the doors of their temples to the public before they are dedicated. It is expected that tens of thousands of visitors will come to this temple open house to tour the temple and learn about the highest sacraments of the faith that take place there.

When the temple is formally dedicated, it will be open to members of the Church who are actively engaged in the faith — unlike the thousands of ordinary church buildings that are open to everyone for regular Sunday services, regardless of religious affiliation (see LDS Newsroom article explaining difference between chapels and temples).

The Vancouver British Columbia Temple will serve approximately 22,000 members of the Church living in British Columbia and northern Washington state.

More at LDS Church Temples.com