The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has selected a 15-acre site near Queen Creek and Ironwood roads for its planned 82,000-square-foot temple, giving members their clearest look yet at what
will become Arizona’s seventh temple.
The temple complex will include an on-site meetinghouse and an accompanying ancillary building, according to a church press release.
It will take about three to five years before the temple is up and running, said Jason Bagley, who oversees six of the 110 church congregations in Queen Creek.
The building is in early development stages, but the church intends to have construction plans drawn and will release renderings before announcing a groundbreaking date, Bagley said.
It's exciting to have a temple being built in Queen Creek, Bagley said, and it reflects the town's rapid growth over the past few years.
Bagley, who moved to Queen Creek in 2005, said the area had a little more than a dozen LDS congregations at the time.
Now, the town is home to 110 of more than 900 congregations in Arizona, Bagley said.
Church president Russell M. Nelson announced plans to build the Queen Creek temple at an October 2024 church conference as part of a plan to build 17 new temples in 11 different countries.
"Why are we building temples at such an unprecedented pace? Why? Because the Lord has instructed us to do so," Nelson said in his recorded remarks.
Regular temple worship will help members of the LDS Church gain greater access to the Lord's strength, while receiving protection from the buffetings of the world, he said.
The announcement to build the temple in Queen Creek came within months of the church's November announcement to build a temple in Yuma. In April 2025, the church announced plans to build a temple in Flagstaff.
The church currently operates six temples in Arizona, including three in the Valley in Phoenix, Mesa and Gilbert.
Temples versus meetinghouses
While church members in Queen Creek will have to wait a little longer for a temple closer to home, the rapidly growing town currently offers residents 17 meetinghouses to choose from.
Meetinghouses offer weekly church services, youth groups, and social events and are open to the general public regardless of church membership, according to a page on the church's website.
Temples, by contrast, are only open to church members and house sacred services called ordinances meant to help church members get closer to God, according to the church's website.
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Reporter Harrison Mantas, who covers Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek and San Tan Valley, can be reached at harrison.mantas@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @HarrisonMantas or Instagram@harrisonmantas
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: LDS Church picks site for proposed Queen Creek temple
