In response to the rising number of young people choosing to serve as full-time missionaries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will create 55 new missions in 2026.
Effective July 1, the 55 new missions will be created by adjusting the boundaries of existing missions and will bring the number of church missions around the world to 506.
The church will create 16 missions in Africa, 14 missions in the United States, five in the Philippines, five in the Pacific, four each in Europe and in South America, three in Brazil, two in Canada, and one each in Asia and Mexico, according to ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
“It is inspiring to see the number of young church members who continue to answer the call to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world,” said President Dallin H. Oaks, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “These missionaries are helping to bless the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year who are choosing to be baptized into the Lord’s Church.”
The announcement follows a similar announcement two years ago, when the Church of Jesus Christ opened 36 new missions around the world on July 1, 2024.
The increase in Latter-day Saint missionary participation is bucking national trends for others in their generation. While Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — are more accepting than other Americans of many kinds of religious expression, they are less supportive of faith-based institutions, according to a survey released last year by Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
And nationwide, more than one-third (34%) of members of Gen Z identify as religiously unaffiliated, compared to 29% of millennials, 25% of Gen Xers and 18% of baby boomers, according to the Survey Center on American Life.
Latter-day Saint young people also rebut the narrative about young adults losing faith in other ways. For example, nearly 1 million students enrolled in Latter-day Saint colleges and universities and in religious instruction at the church’s seminaries and institutes in 2024.
In the Church of Jesus Christ, the number of young, service and senior missionaries has grown from just over 65,000 at the end of 2022 to nearly 72,000 at the end of 2023 and is currently at more than 84,000, according to the church’s statement.
The new missions will help to accommodate the number of missionaries already called and will allow missionaries to better support the increasing number of congregations throughout the world, according to a statement released on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
From July 1, 2024, through June 30, convert baptisms were the highest of any 12-month period in church history, said Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles this summer. He further noted that new members of the faith are attending weekly worship services at higher rates.
Missionaries serve in more than 150 countries and teach in more than 60 languages.
“It’s a blessing to see how each missionary contributes to the individuals they teach and serve as they share the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Elder Cook, who chairs the Church’s Missionary Executive Council. “These additional missions help to balance the number of missionaries in each mission, allowing mission leaders to better support and mentor the missionaries they lead.”
Following is a list of the new missions, grouped into church administrative areas in alphabetical order:
Africa Central
1. DR Congo Kinshasa North
2. DR Congo Mwene-Ditu
3. Kenya Kisumu
4. Uganda Kampala East
Africa South
5. Angola Luanda North
6. Malawi Lilongwe
7. Mozambique Nampula
8. South Africa East London
9. Zimbabwe Harare West
Africa West
10. Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan South
11. Cote d’Ivoire Daloa
12. Ghana Accra South
13. Ghana Sunyani
14. Liberia Monrovia West
15. Senegal Dakar
16. Togo Lomé
Asia North
17. Mongolia Ulaanbaatar West
Brazil
18. Brazil Guarulhos
19. Brazil São Bernardo
20. Brazil Sorocaba
Canada
21. Canada Halifax
22. Canada Toronto East
Europe Central
23. France Paris South
24. Greece Athens
25. Spain Madrid East
Europe North
26. Cape Verde Mindelo
México
27. México Tula
Pacific
28. Australia Brisbane South
29. Papua New Guinea Daru
30. Papua New Guinea Madang
31. Samoa Apia East
32. Solomon Islands Honiara
Philippines
33. Philippines Lingayen
34. Philippines Lipa
35. Philippines Ormoc
36. Philippines Ozamiz
37. Philippines Puerto Princesa
South America Northwest
38. Perú Lima Northwest
39. Perú Tacna
South America South
40. Paraguay Asunción South
41. Uruguay Salto
United States Central
42. Missouri Kansas City
43. Wyoming Cheyenne
United States Northeast
44. Indiana Fort Wayne
45. Virginia Norfolk
United States Southeast
46. Mississippi Jackson
United States Southwest
47. Arizona Phoenix East
48. Oklahoma Tulsa
49. Texas Dallas North
50. Texas Houston North
51. Texas San Antonio South
United States West
52. California Oceanside
53. California Ontario
54. California Victorville
55. Idaho Coeur d’Alene
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