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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tennessee

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tennessee
The Memphis Tennessee Temple
AreaNA Southeast
Members57,422 (2022)[1]
Stakes12
Wards85
Branches29
Total Congregations114
Missions2
Temples2 Operating
1 Under Construction
3 Total
Family History Centers35[2]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tennessee refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its members in Tennessee. 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 2014 Pew 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]

History

[edit]
The Northcutts Cove Chapel is the oldest existing meetinghouse in the Southeastern United States.
Membership in Tennessee
YearMembers
183431
1890136
1906841
19302,832
198015,839
199023,007
199931,104
200943,179
201952,920
202257,422
Source: Windall J. Ashton; Jim M. Wall, Deseret News, various years, Church Almanac State Information: Tennessee[1]
Tennessee LDS membership history

David W. Patten and Warren Parish arrived in Tennessee shortly before 11 October 1834 and soon baptized 31 people: organizing a branch by the end of the year. These efforts were in Henry, Benton, and Humphreys counties. In 1835, Parrish worked alone after Patten returned to Kirtland, Ohio.[5]

On March 27, 1835, Wilford Woodruff, then a priest, came to assist Parrish. When Warren Parrish was called as a Seventy in July 1835, he ordained Woodruff as an elder and placed him in charge of the work in Tennessee. Woodruff was assisted by Abraham 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. The Southern States Mission was formally organized in 1875 with headquarters in Nashville, then moved to Chattanooga in 1882 and remained there until 1919, when Atlanta, 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 worst massacre of church members in the South, however, occurred on August 10, 1884, when a mob shot to death 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 in Lewis 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 the mission 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 to Colorado. In 1888, another group of 177 Latter-day Saints left Chattanooga for Colorado and Utah.

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. Collis.[10] Ten years later, branches were listed in Chattanooga and Memphis. On November 16, 1925, a chapel in Memphis was dedicated by George F. Richards of the Quorum 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 by Howard W. Hunter of the Quorum of the Twelve. On March 15–16, 1997, more than 6500 people attended a meeting where church president Gordon B. Hinckley spoke in the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, several thousand Latter-day Saint volunteers, from a seven-state area (including Tennessee), went to Louisiana and Mississippi. 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 the April 2, 2006 tornado outbreak,[13] and the April 6–8, 2006 tornado outbreak.[14]

In 2007, 360 members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and 65 members of the Orchestra at Temple Square performed at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville (June 30), and at the FedEx Forum in Memphis (July 2).[15]

In September 2008, Latter-day Saints from both of the Memphis stakes went to the Baton Rouge area to aid cleanup efforts following Hurricane Gustav.

Stakes

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The Knoxville Institute of Religion Building

As of January 2024, 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
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
  1. ^ a b Stake located outside Tennessee with congregation(s) meeting in Tennessee

Missions

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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

Temples

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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 in Memphis. The temple, in the suburb of Bartlett, was dedicated on April 23, 2000. The next month, on May 21, 2000, the Nashville Tennessee Temple, in the suburb of Franklin, was dedicated.

On April 3, 2022, church president Russell M. Nelson announced plans to build a temple in the Knoxville area. The exact location has not yet been announced.

class=notpageimage|
Temples in Tennessee

= Operating
= Under construction
= Announced

= Temporarily Closed
edit
Location:
Announced:
Groundbreaking:
Dedicated:
Rededicated:
Size:
Style: 		Bartlett, Tennessee, U.S.
September 17, 1998 by Gordon B. Hinckley
January 16, 1999 by Gordon T. Watts
April 23, 2000 by James E. Faust
May 5, 2019 by Jeffrey 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, U.S.
November 9, 1994 by Howard W. Hunter
March 13, 1999 by John K. Carmack
May 21, 2000 by James 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
Map
edit
Location:
Announced:
Groundbreaking:
Size: 		Farragut, Tennessee
3 April 2022 by Russell M. Nelson[21][22]
27 January 2024 by Shayne M. Bowen
30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) on a 4.99-acre (2.02 ha) site

Prominent members connected with Tennessee

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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]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Facts and Statistics: Statistics by State:Tennessee", Newsroom, LDS Church, retrieved 28 May 2023
  2. ^ Category:Tennessee Family History Centers, familysearch.org, retrieved April 11, 2022
  3. ^ "Adults in Tennessee: Religious composition of adults in Tennessee". Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
  4. ^ "The Association of Religion Data Archives | State Membership Report". Thearda.com. Retrieved May 16, 2021. Note:While it's the tenth largest denomination in Tennessee, it's the eleventh largest denomination when "nondenominational" is considered as a denomination.
  5. ^ "David Patten Journal (1800-1838)". Boap.org. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  6. ^ Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 867
  7. ^ "Amateur Mormon Historian: James Roskelley". Amateurmormonhistorian.blogspot.com. 25 March 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  8. ^ The Cane Creek Massacre Archived 2008-04-04 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "Amateur Mormon Historian: Cane Creek Massacre". Amateurmormonhistorian.blogspot.com. 3 July 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Northcutts Chapel". Southeasttennessee.com. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  11. ^ "Latter-day Saints to Mobilize Another 4,000 Volunteers in Chainsaw Brigade's Second Wave". Mormonnewsroom.org. 16 September 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  12. ^ "Joining Hands as Neighbors and Now Friends". Mormon Newsroom. 13 September 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  13. ^ Church members help with clean-up, roof repair (April 29, 2006) Church News
  14. ^ Aid rendered in wake of tornadoes (April 15, 2006) Church News
  15. ^ "Mormon Tabernacle Choir Announces 2007 Canada-Midwest U.S. Tour". Newsroom.lds.org. Archived from the original on 11 January 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  16. ^ "Nashville Tennessee Temple District", churchofjesuschristtemples.org, retrieved February 16, 2022
  17. ^ "Memphis Tennessee Temple District", churchofjesuschristtemples.org, retrieved February 16, 2022
  18. ^ "Columbia South Carolina Temple District", churchofjesuschristtemples.org, retrieved February 16, 2022
  19. ^ "Atlanta Georgia Temple District", churchofjesuschristtemples.org, retrieved February 16, 2022
  20. ^ New mission presidents (June 9, 2013) Church News
  21. ^ "7 new temple locations announced by President Nelson to close conference", Deseret News, Deseret News, April 3, 2022
  22. ^ "President Nelson Announces 17 New Temples", Newsroom, LDS Church, April 3, 2022
  23. ^ D. Todd Christofferson (April 19, 2008) Church News
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