While new temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as “the Mormons”) generally draw a media buzz, new chapels are more common – and usually less heralded. Still, open houses are often held in conjunction with completion of construction, and these are wonderful opportunities for the public to see the inside of a Mormon church building. One such open house happened recently, on January 12 of this year, in Twin Falls, Idaho. For more on what Latter-day Saint chapels are, and how they differ from temples, click here.
Chapels are meetinghouses where regular worship services are held. There may be one, or more than one, in your area. The new chapel in Twin Falls, Idaho is not unique, but because of that its story is worth looking at.
Church membership in the area has grown at an estimated 7 percent a year, according to the Twin Falls Times-News (“Mormons invite community to open house at new chapel,” January 5, 2008). In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when a ward (local congregation) reaches a certain size, it’s time to divide that ward into smaller wards. Often a new ward is created from realigning boundaries of two or more wards where membership has been growing, resulting in three (or more) smaller wards. Because the Church has a lay ministry, rather than paid clergy, a ward that is too large places a greater burden on those members trying to lead it. So, as Church membership grows in an area, rather than building a larger building a congregation will simply divide.
The Twin Falls Times-News explained it like this:
“What I’m most excited about is the wards will be of more manageable size and more people will have the opportunity to serve,” (Kent) Allen said. “People need to be needed, to know they have something to offer.” (Kent Allen is the stake president of the Twin Falls Idaho stake, presiding over a group of several wards.)
Members of the congregation are called to serve in various capacities, from leading Sunday school classes to serving as bishop or bishopric counselor. When congregations are large, there are fewer chances for each individual.
The bishop also likes to spend time with each family in the ward, Allen said, and the larger the ward the more difficult this is, as the bishops are not paid and conduct these visits on their own time. (“Mormons invite community to open house at new chapel,” January 5, 2008)
Of course, having more congregations in an area still results in the need to build. But rather than erecting larger buildings, the Latter-day Saints build more buildings of comparable size. And that’s what was recently completed in Twin Falls. The building was financed through the general Church leadership in Salt Lake City. Allen pointed out to the Times-News that the funds for chapels and temples come from tithing money from around the world. “In that sense, every member of the Church has claim to this building.” (“Mormons invite community to open house at new chapel,” January 5, 2008)
