Elder Robert M. Daines dedicates the future site of this house of the Lord

WINCHESTER, Va., Aug. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Winchester Virginia Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, August 9, 2025. Elder Robert M. Daines, United States Northeast Area Presidency of the Church, presided at the event conducted by Aaron Blight, president of the Winchester area congregations.

Nearly 500 guests from the region gathered at the 11.27 acre site at 200 Merrimans Lane. Local government, civic, and interfaith leaders attended the groundbreaking, including Winchester Mayor Les Veach, Virginia State Delegate Bill Wiley, Shenandoah University President Tracy Fitzsimmons, Reverend Bjorn Lundberg of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, Pastor David Young of Bethel Lutheran Church, and J.J. Smith, previous owner of the temple site.

Special guests participated in the ceremonial turning of the soil, which included all the children in attendance. A children's choir from Gainesville, Virginia sang at the event.

In the dedicatory prayer, Elder Daines explained how Christ worshiped in the temple during His earthly ministry: "He went to the temple to pray, to worship, to heal and to teach. We are grateful for a temple here where we can follow Him in worship and seek His healing touch."

For Grant Allen of Front Royal, Virginia, temple worship has been an essential part of his life since he was three years old, when he was sealed to his family in the temple.

"As I return to the temple and continue learning of Him," Allen said, "I deepen my knowledge of Jesus Christ. As I continue going to the temple, I show my commitment to Him and His teachings."

"The temple is a place where we learn, reflect, improve and enter into sacred covenants or promises," added Wyatt Miles of Charles Town, West Virginia. "Keeping the temple at the forefront of my mind motivates me to keep my covenants and live as a diligent student of God."

"The ceremonies of the temple constitute an elevated form of worship," said Stephanie Ashcraft of Clarksburg, West Virginia. She said of her experience after a four-hour drive to the Washington D.C. Temple, "As soon as I entered the temple, the peace that I felt was so real and unmistakable."

"May this temple be not only a refuge or retreat from the world, but a beginning — a herald of Thy peace and a beachhead of Thy heaven on earth," Elder Daines prayed.

The Winchester Virginia Temple will be the second temple built in the state. The Richmond Virginia Temple was dedicated on May 7, 2023, by President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency. The Roanoke Virginia Temple was announced in October 2023, and the Norfolk Virginia Temple was announced in April 2025.

Virginia is currently home to more than 100,000 Latter-day Saints in over 210 congregations.

The first formal congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Winchester area was formed in 1962.  The Winchester Virginia Temple will serve 23,400 from 69 congregations in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. 

"People in the Washington D.C. Metro Area are familiar with the larger Washington D.C. Temple outside the beltway. The smaller Winchester Virginia Temple, nearly two hours west, will be a convenient location for church members surrounding the I-81 corridor. The new temple will further add to the vibrancy of the growing Winchester community," said Blight.

Latter-day Saints consider each temple a house of the Lord and the most sacred place of worship on earth. Temples differ from the Church's meetinghouses (chapels). All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples is for faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ to participate in sacred ceremonies, such as marriages, which unite families forever, and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized while living.

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SOURCE The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints