What are Mormon buildings used for?
Personal Response by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) constructs about 300 to 400 meetinghouses each year throughout the world. However, an additional number of buildings are constructed every year as part of an intense building program that meets the needs of a growing membership spread across the world and serves a variety of purposes.
Some buildings are used for administrative needs, such as the Mormon Church offices built on every continent. Other buildings are used for the weekday education program of the Mormon Church, including Brigham Young University campuses at Provo, Utah; Rexburg, Idaho; and Laie, Hawaii and the seminary and institute programs that sometime are located near public schools, colleges and universities. Additionally, the Church’s welfare services department constructs a variety of buildings to store and distribute food and goods and to provide employment training as part of the Church’s worldwide humanitarian outreach. The Mormon Church also builds visitors’ centers and museums that preserve the history of the Church so members and nonmembers can learn about its history and beliefs. In seventeen countries, including the Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Dominican Republic, England, Ghana, Guatemala, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Philippians, South Africa, Spain, and United States the Mormon Church built Mission Training Centers (MTC) where Mormon missionaries begin their training, including language education, before dedicating themselves to preach the Gospel full time for eighteen, twenty-four, or thirty-six months.
Tags: buildings, BYU, humanitarian service, Mormon meetinghouses, visitors' centers
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