Soaring heavenward like a stone sentinel next to a major Salt Lake Valley freeway, the Taylorsville Temple on Sunday joined the expanding tally of Utah temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Apostle Gerrit Gong, whose wife, Susan Lindsay Gong, is a native of the west-side suburb, dedicated the single-spired, three-story, 70,000-square-foot edifice, which commands a prominent presence near Interstate 215.
“The Taylorsville Utah Temple is close to many faithful members. Many faithful members will be blessed by the opportunity to serve as temple patrons and as temple ordinance workers,” Gong said in a news release. “Serving as a temple ordinance worker is a special service and blessing. It blesses, refines, sanctifies. It allows others to give and others to receive something they choose and need but cannot do for themselves.”
The apostle recalled going to Taylorsville for the first time 45 years ago to meet his then-fiancee’s family.
This temple has “special meaning for our Lindsay family,” Gong explained in the release. “When he was a young bishop, our father, together with the members of the Taylorsville Second Ward, built the chapel on the same site which became the stake center and is today the site for the Taylorsville Utah Temple. This place is home, a place of roots and wings, for many faithful and wonderful families and individuals.”
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Apostle Gerrit W. Gong and his wife, Susan Gong, a Taylorsville native, walk around the Taylorsville Utah Temple on Saturday, June 1, 2024.
The Utah-based faith’s first and only Asian American apostle pointed to the many areas to be served by the temple.
“These are faithful, honored stakes and communities which have grown up, including in Bennion, Kearns, Magna, Midvale, Murray, Granger, Hunter and Taylorsville,” Gong said. “This heart of the valley represents being ‘one in the household of faith and fellowship of the Saints.’”
The Gongs teamed up on Halloween in 2020 for a ceremonial groundbreaking of the structure.
The Taylorsville Temple becomes one of 19 functioning Latter-day Saints temples in Utah, joining Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Draper, Jordan River (South Jordan), Logan, Manti (rededicated in April), Monticello, Mount Timpanogos (American Fork), Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain (South Jordan), Orem, Payson, Provo City Center (converted from the former Provo Tabernacle), Red Cliffs (St. George — dedicated in March); Saratoga Springs, St. George and Vernal.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Taylorsville Utah Temple is pictured on the day of its dedication, Sunday, June 2, 2024.
The Layton Temple is scheduled to be dedicated June 16 by apostle David Bednar.
The faith’s most-celebrated temple, the iconic six-spired Salt Lake Temple, in the heart of Utah’s capital, is undergoing extensive renovation and is expected to reopen in 2026.
The space-age Provo Temple, meanwhile, is being torn down and overhauled. It will be renamed the Provo Rock Canyon Temple.
Eight more temples — Deseret Peak (Tooele), Ephraim, Heber Valley, Lehi, Lindon, Smithfield, Syracuse and West Jordan — are either under construction or in planning stages.
When all are completed, Utah will be home to 30 temples of the state’s predominant faith.
Latter-day Saints view these buildings as Houses of the Lord and, unlike their more common meetinghouses, places where devout members participate in their highest religious rites such as eternal marriage.
