Groundbreaking festivities for the seventh building in the Temecula/Murrieta area for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be held this Saturday, October 15, 2005, at 10:00 a.m. at the site for the new Stake Center, near the corner of Pauba Lane and Meadows Parkway in Temecula. The sixth building, the Hot Springs Chapel, located at the corner of Sky Canyon Drive and Murrieta Hot Springs Road, which will house wards from both the Murrieta and
Temecula Stakes, will be completed in 2006.
A children’s choir will perform for area dignitaries, church leaders, and building neighbors, at the dirt-turning. Temecula City Council member, Mike Naggar, who was instrumental in facilitating neighborhood and church concerns for the building, will deliver an address.
“The membership of the church has kept pace at 5% of the population as Southwest County has grown,” said Shari Crall, Media Relations representative for the Temecula Stake. “Currently, the Temecula Stake has 3800 members, with 8 wards and one branch. The Murrieta Stake has similar numbers.”
Church units are formed geographically, and divided when congregations reach 500-600 members. The first organized unit in Southwest County was the Lake Elsinore Branch, established in 1938. Groupings of 5-12 units form Stakes, similar in composition to a parish. The Murrieta Stake was created from Corona Stake in 1988; Menifee Stake, covering Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake, Sun City and Menifee, was created from the Sun City and Murrieta Stakes, in 1995. In 2003, area growth warranted the creation of a third stake, the Temecula Stake.
According to the National Council of Churches, the Mormon Church, is the fastest growing Christian denomination in the United States. In the past 17 years, LDS church growth in Southwest County, has increased 380%. Since the Murrieta Stake was created in 1988, covering Southwest County from Temecula to Lake Elsinore with 5 wards (approx. 2500 members); membership has grown into 3 stakes and 30 wards (over 12,000 members). Units include single adult and Spanish language branches.
Stakes and wards have no paid ministry. The substantial volume of labor required to run a stake or ward effectively is carried out by the members, who are asked by their leaders to contribute in various specific capacities, such as in administrative, teaching, or service-oriented positions. Ample opportunity is given every willing member of the congregation to render service, share talents and gain new skills.
“As we celebrate Joseph Smith's 200th birthday this year we reflect on his unparallelled contribution to the restoration of Christ's church here on earth,” Temecula Stake Public Affairs director, Lanae Turley-Trejo, said. “May we, as latter-day-saints, reflect the knowledge that we have in the lives that we live."
The LDS church consists of 761,763 members in California, comprising 1386 congregations. Members have been in California since 1846, first arriving in San Francisco. They built communities in the area as they progressed toward the Great Basin. In January 1847, the Mormon Battalion, a group of Latter-day Saints reparing to fight in the Mexican-American War, arrived in San Diego. Six Battalion members were at Sutter's Mill in January 1848, when gold was discovered.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints colony of New Hope was founded in 1850. The first Church building was completed that same year. In 1851, Church leaders encouraged colonization in San Bernardino to augment a travel route from the coast for Utah-bound Saints. The land boom of the 1920s also attracted many members to California. Today, along with several temples, California has more missions than any other state. Additionally, members have cooperated to provide relief for communities after earthquakes, fires and floods.
Of additional interest, during this bicentennial year of church founder Joseph Smith’s birth, an academic examination of the prophet’s contribution to the history of religion will be held at Claremont Graduate University on October 20 and 21, 2006, entitled “Joseph and the Prophetic Tradition”. More information can be found at http://www.cgu.edu/pages/3561.asp.
