 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tennessee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Area | NA Southeast |
| Members | 60,865 (2024)[1] |
| Stakes | 12 |
| Wards | 87 |
| Branches | 29 |
| Total Congregations | 116 |
| Missions | 2 |
| Temples | 2 Operating 1 Under Construction 3 Total |
| FamilySearch Centers | 35[2] |
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tennessee refers tothe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its members inTennessee. The first branch in Tennessee was organized in 1834. It has since grown to 57,422 members in 112 congregations.
Official church membership as a percentage of general population was 0.75% in 2014. According to the 2014Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey, roughly 1% of Tennesseans self-identified most closely with the LDS Church.[3] The LDS Church is the 10th largest denomination in Tennessee.[4]
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1834 | 31 |
| 1890 | 136 |
| 1906 | 841 |
| 1930 | 2,832 |
| 1980 | 15,839 |
| 1990 | 23,007 |
| 1999 | 31,104 |
| 2009 | 43,179 |
| 2019 | 52,920 |
| 2024 | 60,865 |
| Source:Windall J. Ashton; Jim M. Wall,Deseret News, various years, Church Almanac State Information: Tennessee[1] | |
David W. Patten andWarren Parish arrived inTennessee shortly before 11 October 1834 and soon baptized 31 people: organizing abranch by the end of the year. These efforts were inHenry,Benton, andHumphreys counties. In 1835, Parrish worked alone after Patten returned toKirtland, Ohio.[5]
On March 27, 1835,Wilford Woodruff, then apriest, came to assist Parrish. When Warren Parrish was called as aSeventy in July 1835, he ordained Woodruff as anelder and placed him in charge of the work in Tennessee. Woodruff was assisted byAbraham O. Smoot and Benjamin L. Clapp.
In 1836, there were about 100 members in seven branches. By 1839, 12 branches existed in the state and by 1846,missionaries had preached in 26 counties. Following the exodus to the West, little work was done in Tennessee. Hyrum H. Blackwell and Emmanuel M. Murphy visited the state in 1857 to call the saints to gather in the west.[6]
In 1870, Hayden Church resumed work in Tennessee. TheSouthern States Mission was formally organized in 1875 with headquarters inNashville, then moved toChattanooga in 1882 and remained there until 1919, whenAtlanta, Georgia became mission headquarters.
Henry G. Boyle established a branch at Shady Grove in 1875. Mob activity increased significantly in 1879. Some converts in the South left their homes and migrated to the west in 1883.
In 1884, members were fired upon in separate incidents. James Rosskelley was shot in eastern Tennessee on August 8, 1884. Rosskelley would survive and his attacker was captured and bound over for trial.[7] The largest attack on church members in the South was theCane Creek Massacre, which occurred on August 10, 1884. An armed mob shot and killed missionaries William S. Berry and John H. Gibbs and local members W. Martin Conder and John Riley Hutson during LDS Church services at the home of W. James Conder on Cane Creek inLewis County. Malinda Conder was injured as well in the attack but recovered enough to walk with a cane.[8][9]Brigham H. Roberts, then serving as themission president donned a disguise, traveled to the tense area and retrieved the bodies of the slain missionaries. Many of the church members at Cane Creek left in November 1884, emigrating toColorado. In 1888, another group of 177Latter-day Saints left Chattanooga forColorado andUtah.
By the 1890s, public opinion became more tolerant. The oldest existing meetinghouse in the Southeast was dedicated in Northcutts’ Cove on October 24, 1909, by Charles A. Callis.[10] Ten years later, branches were listed in Chattanooga andMemphis. On November 16, 1925, a chapel in Memphis was dedicated byGeorge F. Richards of theQuorum of the Twelve. By 1930, about 2832 members lived in the Middle and East Tennessee Districts.
On April 18, 1965, the Memphis Stake, Tennessee's first, was created byHoward W. Hunter of the Quorum of the Twelve. On March 15–16, 1997, more than 6500 people attended a meeting wherechurch presidentGordon B. Hinckley spoke in theKnoxvilleCivic Coliseum.
FollowingHurricane Katrina in 2005, several thousand Latter-day Saint volunteers, from a seven-state area (including Tennessee), went toLouisiana andMississippi. Many of them took time out of their jobs or came down on the weekends to help anyone needing assistance (Mormon and non-Mormon).[11][12]
Tennessee "Mormons" volunteered relief in their own area on several occasions including theApril 2, 2006 tornado outbreak,[13] and theApril 6–8, 2006 tornado outbreak.[14]
In 2007, 360 members of theMormon Tabernacle Choir and 65 members of theOrchestra at Temple Square performed at theGaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville (June 30), and at theFedEx Forum in Memphis (July 2).[15]
In September 2008, Latter-day Saints from both of the Memphis stakes went to theBaton Rouge area to aid cleanup efforts followingHurricane Gustav.
As of May 2025, the following stakes were located in Tennessee:[16][17][18][19]
| Stake | Organized | Mission | Temple district |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chattanooga Tennessee | May 21, 1978 | Tennessee Knoxville | Atlanta Georgia |
| Cookeville Tennessee | May 1, 2016 | Tennessee Knoxville | Nashville Tennessee |
| Franklin Tennessee | December 2, 1979 | Tennessee Nashville | Nashville Tennessee |
| Hopkinsville Kentucky[a] | May 21, 1978 | Tennessee Nashville | Nashville Tennessee |
| Johnson City Tennessee | March 9, 2025 | Tennessee Knoxville | Columbia South Carolina |
| Kingsport Tennessee | January 13, 1980 | Tennessee Knoxville | Columbia South Carolina |
| Knoxville Tennessee | June 25, 1972 | Tennessee Knoxville | Nashville Tennessee |
| Knoxville Tennessee Cumberland | November 17, 1996 | Tennessee Knoxville | Nashville Tennessee |
| Madison Tennessee | June 9, 2007 | Tennessee Nashville | Nashville Tennessee |
| McMinnville Tennessee | August 18, 1991 | Tennessee Nashville | Nashville Tennessee |
| Memphis Tennessee | April 18, 1965 | Arkansas Little Rock | Memphis Tennessee |
| Memphis Tennessee North | September 14, 1980 | Arkansas Little Rock | Memphis Tennessee |
| Murfreesboro Tennessee | November 3, 2012 | Tennessee Nashville | Nashville Tennessee |
| Nashville Tennessee | December 6, 1970 | Tennessee Nashville | Nashville Tennessee |
| Paducah Kentucky[a] | October 20, 1996 | Tennessee Nashville | Nashville Tennessee |
The Southern States Mission was formally organized in 1875 with its headquarters in Nashville. In 1882, the headquarters moved to Chattanooga, until it moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1919. Tennessee remained in the Southern States Mission until the creation of the East Central States Mission in 1928. In 1975, the Tennessee Nashville Mission was organized. In 1993, the Tennessee Knoxville Mission was organized from the Tennessee Nashville Mission.
| Mission | Current mission president |
|---|---|
| Tennessee Nashville Mission | Kyle R. Anderson[20] |
| Tennessee Knoxville Mission | W. Brett Graham |
On November 12, 1994, a letter sent to priesthood leaders announced plans to build a temple in Nashville. However, after three unsuccessful years of trying to gain approvals, church leaders announced on April 25, 1998, they would move ahead with plans to build a temple somewhere else in the Nashville area and said the temple would be substantially smaller in size. That fall, on September 17, 1998, the First Presidency announced it would build a second temple in Tennessee, this one inMemphis. The temple, in the suburb ofBartlett, was dedicated on April 23, 2000. The next month, on May 21, 2000, theNashville Tennessee Temple, in the suburb ofFranklin, was dedicated.
On April 3, 2022, church presidentRussell M. Nelson announced plans to build a temple in the Knoxville area. The exact location has not yet been announced.
= Operating
= Under construction
= Announced
= Temporarily Closed
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| Location: Announced: Groundbreaking: Dedicated: Rededicated: Size: Style: | Bartlett, Tennessee, United States September 17, 1998 byGordon B. Hinckley January 16, 1999 by Gordon T. Watts April 23, 2000 byJames E. Faust May 5, 2019 byJeffrey R. Holland 10,890 sq ft (1,012 m2) on a 6.35-acre (2.57 ha) site Classic modern, single-spire design - designed by Dusty Driver; Church A&E Services | |||||
| edit | |||||
| Location: Announced: Groundbreaking: Dedicated: Size: Style: | Franklin, Tennessee, United States November 9, 1994 byHoward W. Hunter March 13, 1999 by John K. Carmack May 21, 2000 byJames E. Faust 10,700 sq ft (990 m2) on a 6.86-acre (2.78 ha) site Classic modern, single-spire design - designed by Robert Waldrip and Church A&E Services | |||||
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| edit | ||||
| Location: Announced: Groundbreaking: Size: | Farragut,Tennessee 3 April 2022 byRussell M. Nelson[21][22] 27 January 2024 byShayne M. Bowen 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) on a 4.99-acre (2.02 ha) site | |||||
D. Todd Christofferson, called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 5, 2008, was senior vice president and general counsel for Commerce Union Bank of Tennessee in Nashville. He was also active in community affairs and interfaith organizations. He was the chair of the Middle Tennessee Literacy Coalition and the chair of Affordable Housing of Nashville.[23]
