Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints broke ground recently for a new building for the faith's Coomera stake. A stake is a group of congregations.
The new church building will be on the corner of Reserve Road and Jessica Drive in Upper Coomera, Gold Coast, Australia.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
The ground breaking was presided over by Latter-day Saint leader, Elder Keith P. Walker. Other leaders in attendance included Michael J. Stone, Tai J. Cecil and John D. Jeffrey.
Cr Donna Gates of the Gold Coast City Council, also attended the groundbreaking service.
"It will be a magnificent building of the highest quality," she said. "The construction will provide jobs for the local community.”
The Church currently has over 143,000 members in Australia and 303 congregations or wards. New meetinghouses are built as membership in a given area increases.
For Latter-day Saints, a church meetinghouse is a hub of religious and social life. The most important part of the week, though, is the hour-long sacrament meeting. This takes place on Sunday and is similar to other Christian worship services.
Men, women and younger members offer prayers and give sermons, hymns are sung, and the sacrament, similar to other traditions’ communion, is administered. Sermons, hymns, prayers and lessons focus on the principles taught by Jesus Christ.
Watch a short video about Latter-day Saints and what they believe.