The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is lowering the minimum age of missionary service for women from 19 to 18, the First Presidency announced Friday.
“The First Presidency is pleased to announce that effective immediately, young women who choose to serve a full-time mission may begin their service at age 18 following graduation from high school or its equivalent,” wrote President Dallin H. Oaks and his counselors in the First Presidency, President Henry B. Eyring and President D. Todd Christofferson.
“While the Lord asks every worthy, able young man as part of his priesthood responsibility to prepare for and serve a mission, we reiterate that missionary service remains an optional opportunity for young women. We recognize that for those young women who desire to serve a full-time mission, the choice of age to begin service will not be the same for everyone.
“We extend our love to the youth of the Church and commend them for their faithfulness.”
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 a church statement released in October.
Missionaries serve in more than 150 countries and teach in more than 60 languages.
55 new missions recently announced
One month ago on Oct. 24, the church announced the creation of 55 new missions in 2026. Effective July 1, 2026, 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.
According to ChurchofJesusChrist.org, 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.
“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 Oaks at the time of the announcement. “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 followed a similar announcement two years ago, when the Church of Jesus Christ opened 36 new missions around the world on July 1, 2024.
Age for missionary service changed in 2012
The change comes 13 years after another historic missionary adjustment, announced by President Thomas S. Monson during October 2012 general conference. That change lowered the minimum-age requirements for young men to 18 and young women to 19.
At a press conference in the Church Office Building lobby following the 2012 announcement, then-Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and chairman of the Church’s Missionary Executive Council, said the matter had been prayerfully studied.
Noting the Savior’s mandate to his followers was to go into the world and preach the gospel, he said “this is an option that will allow more young men and women to enjoy the blessings of missionary service.”
Less than three weeks after the historic 2012 general conference, the number of individuals beginning the mission application process had increased significantly, said a church spokesman. “Typically, approximately 700 new applications are started each week,” said Scott Trotter on Oct. 23, 2012. “The last two weeks, that number has increased to approximately 4,000 per week.” Slightly more than half of the applicants were women, he added.
Responding to the surge of missionary applications the church announced in January 2013, that Benemérito de las Americas, the Church-sponsored school in Mexico City, Mexico, would close at the end of that school year and reopen as the new location of an expanded Mexico Missionary Training Center.
President Monson detailed the massive response in the April 2013 general conference.
As of April 4, 2013, “we have 65,634 full-time missionaries serving, with over 20,000 more who have received their calls but who have not yet entered a missionary training center, and over 6,000 more in the interview process with their bishops and stake presidents,” he said.
“It has been made necessary for us to create 58 new missions to accommodate the increased number of missionaries,” he said.
National trends for Gen Z religiosity
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.
Convert baptisms up
From July 1, 2024, through June 30, convert baptisms in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 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.
“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.”