The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints adds 36 new missions for 2024

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will add 36 new international missions starting July 2024, it announced Wednesday. Once July comes, there’ll be 450 missions total, which the Church said is the most in its history.

In a statement, Latter-day Saint leaders said the missions were added to keep up with the growing number of missionaries. As of Wednesday, the Church said it had over 72,000 missionaries across the world.

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles told KSL NewsRadio that the growth is thanks to President Russell M. Nelson. President Nelson put out a call for mission service in April 2022 and Elder Cook said there was a huge response.

“It’s gone up every month since then. And so suddenly, we’re at this marvelous number. We anticipated, we hoped, we prayed that we would get to 72,500. And as of this morning, it is 72,721,” Elder Cook said.

Listen to Elder Cook’s full thoughts on the news:

 

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles told KSL NewsRadio that the growth doesn’t stop here.

“We’re very confident that this increase in missions, and the number of missionaries wanting to serve will continue long into the future,” said Elder Rasband.

Listen to Elder Rasband’s  full thoughts on the additions:

 

The Church said it would use existing missions to create the 36 new ones.

Elder Cook said the new missions will be added to 18 of the Church’s 22 global areas.

A list provided by the Church showed that the missions would span from places like Ghana and Bolivia to local areas like Salt Lake City.

Along with this announcement, the Church said missionaries can now submit their applications 150 days before their missions. That means they can apply 30 days earlier than before. The church said this change would give missionaries more time to prepare.

Younger people serving more Church of Jesus Christ missions

Elder Rasband said President Nelson’s call particularly hit home with younger church members. He said the younger generation of Latter-day Saints responded to the call and started applying to serve missions in “record numbers.”

Elder Rasband said the response shows how faithful younger members are to their church and to helping their fellow man.

Elder Cook echoed that thought and said, “I think this is a generation that does want to serve, they want to bless people, they’re good young people.”

Bonneville International Corporation, the company that owns KSL NewsRadio, is a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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