Auckland New Zealand Temple
The Church was first established in the city of Auckland, New Zealand, in the 1850s and has more than 114,000 members today. The members are spread throughout 225 congregations. There are thirteen stakes in the Auckland metropolitan area where Church membership has grown significantly in recent years.
On 7 October 2018, during the 188th semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson announced that a temple will be built in Auckland New Zealand. The temple was announced in the 60th anniversary year of the Hamilton New Zealand Temple, the same year it closed for a multi-year renovation.
The temple will be located on Redoubt Road in Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand. The temple will be built 14 miles (23 km) southeast of Auckland City, next to the New Zealand Missionary Training Center on the south and the Auckland New Zealand Redoubt Stake Center on the north. Once completed, the Auckland New Zealand Temple will be the second temple built in New Zealand, following the Hamilton New Zealand Temple (1958).
During a nine-day ministering tour of the Pacific islands, President Nelson spoke at a devotional held Tuesday, 21 May 2019, in Auckland's Spark Arena to a congregation of 12,000. In the course of his remarks, he told the people that the temple would be a "two-story building with a granite exterior. Its light and beauty will be highly visible."
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Auckland New Zealand Temple will take place on Saturday, 13 June 2020. Elder Ian S. Ardern, Pacific Area president, will preside at the event. Attendance at the site is by invitation only, with the general public invited to view the ceremony live from local meetinghouses in New Zealand. Additional details will be forthcoming.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Auckland New Zealand Temple was announced on the same day that the Church announced it was temporarily suspending all public gatherings of Church members worldwide, including sacrament meetings, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The open house and dedication dates will be announced after the temple is built.
