Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Atlanta and throughout Georgia continues to grow. The most recent reports indicate that there are approximately 78,000 members of the Church in Georgia.
Georgia
| Membership | 77,948 |
| Missions | 3 |
| Temples | 1 |
| Congregations | 151 |
| Family History Centers | 43 |
History of the Church in Georgia
For more than 130 years, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Georgia have continued to worship Jesus Christ and contribute to their communities. Today, as at the beginning of the Church in Georgia, members practice their religion by rendering Christian service, building strong families and expressing their devotion to Jesus Christ, whom they embrace as the Savior of all human kind.
Beginnings
As early as 1843, Church missionary work began in Georgia to spread the good news of the then-recent organization of the Church, which believes itself a restoration of the primitive Church that existed at the time of Jesus Christ, complete with apostles. It was not until 1876, however, that the missionary effort in Georgia began in earnest, and the first congregation established.
Missionaries Rudger Clawson and Joseph Standing served in Georgia in 1879.
The Church in Georgia took roots principally in rural northwest Georgia (near Summerville and Rome), and then spread southward and eastward in the state. The first chapel of the Church was built near Buchanan, Georgia, in 1879, subsequent to a generous donation of land by a prominent convert, Judge Wyatt N. Williams. By 1908, Church membership in Georgia was approximately 6,800 and a chapel had been constructed in Atlanta, with subsequent churches being erected in Atlanta in 1915 and 1925.
Elder Charles A. Callis and Elder James E. Talmage at the dedication of a one room frame chapel built by local members in Empire, GA; circa 1919
Dedication of Atlanta Chapel, 29 November, 1925
Growth
The Church continued to grow in Georgia from convert baptisms, growth in member families, and Church members outside Georgia moving into Georgia. In 1983, Church members marked a milestone with the dedication of the temple in Atlanta. As only 20 temples existed worldwide before the Atlanta Temple was dedicated, Church members in Georgia viewed the event as an extraordinary blessing. The Governor of Georgia, United States senators and representatives, and other government, civic and religious leaders and friends joined Church members in celebrating the 1983 dedication of the Atlanta Temple.
The Vibrant Church Today
Today, Church members thrive in more than 140 congregations throughout Georgia as part of a worldwide Church membership of more than 14 million. True to their beginnings, Georgia members are found in rural areas, but moreso today in the metropolitan areas that constitute Georgia’s population centers. They still strive to build strong families, which they believe to be central to God’s plan for his children.
Georgia Mormon congregants serve to build strong communities as members of disaster relief crews, helping with schools and community volunteer organizations, serving in the military and as elected officials, and being good neighbors and friends.
To learn more about Mormons in your area, follow this link to www.mormon.org.
