LDS Church picks Arizona site for planned temple

The temple complex will include an on-site meetinghouse and an accompanying ancillary building, according to a church news 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, which is in Maricopa County.

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.

Bagley said it's exciting to have a temple being built in Queen Creek, 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 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 of the Sun in Phoenix, Mesa and Gilbert and one in Tucson.