Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as Mormons, have announced the location of its planned temple for the Huntsville area.

The Huntsville, Alabama Temple, which will serve Mormons who live in the region, will be built on a site of about 21 acres located at the southeast corner of Gillespie and Browns Ferry Road in Madison, church officials announced. Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 30,000 square feet.

LDS President Russell M. Nelson, considered a living prophet for the Salt Lake City-based denomination, announced plans for 17 new temples worldwide during the church’s general conference on Oct. 6, 2024.

When opened, it would be the second Mormon temple in Alabama. The Birmingham area temple opened in Gardendale in 2000.

Nelson has announced 185 new temples, more than half of all the previous temples, since 2018.

“Why are we building temples at such an unprecedented pace? Why? Because the Lord has instructed us to do so,” Nelson said. “The blessings of the temple help to gather Israel on both sides of the veil. These blessings also help to prepare a people who will help prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.”

Latter-day Saints worship weekly at church buildings called wards, which are local congregations. Stakes are groupings of congregations. Members of those congregations have to travel to a regional temple for certain rituals.

Two beliefs of the Latter-day Saints that are key to the temple rituals are baptism of the dead by proxy and the sealing of married couples and their families for eternity.

The church asserts that baptism of the dead restores an ancient practice cited in 1 Corinthians 15:29, in which the apostle Paul says, “Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?”

The theological emphasis on baptizing ancestors has resulted in the Latter-day Saints collecting probably the most extensive collection of genealogical information in the world, much of it available through its popular Web site, www.familysearch.org.

The Latter-day Saints teach that people in the afterlife still have a chance to make a decision for salvation.

The baptism and other rituals done on behalf of the dead are only good if the person in the spirit world accepts it, according to the faith.re

Helping those dead ancestors find salvation requires a lot of research on the family tree.

It’s considered the responsibility of members to trace their ancestry back as far as they can.

Baptism by proxy is done in a large baptismal pool in the temple; members over the age of 12 don white robes and are dunked once for each ancestor they represent. Baptisms by proxy are done by priests.

Those baptized by proxy then go on to the other rituals – receiving eternal rewards through endowments and being sealed to their spouses and children for all eternity. The sealings are done by a staff of about three to six ordinance workers authorized to perform the rituals.

Before the construction of the temple in Gardendale, Mormons in Alabama performed their rituals at other temples, such as the one in Atlanta. Having a second temple will rank as a monumental achievement signifying growth for Latter-day Saints in Alabama.

When the temple in Gardendale was dedicated, President and Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley visited and presided. Hinckley died in 2008. Alabama now has more than 40,000 LDS members in about 75 congregations.

Much of the growth is driven by missionaries who go door-to-door, sharing their faith.

Latter-day Saints believe that the angel Moroni directed founding prophet Joseph Smith to buried gold plates that contained the Book of Mormon in 1823. He published the Book of Mormon in 1830 and founded the church. Smith’s writings are the distinctive theological foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.