The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will soon have more missionaries than ever before.
Over 87,000 church members are serving full-time missions, including young service missionaries and full-time senior teaching missionaries, President Dallin H. Oaks reported Saturday.
The previous record of 88,000 was set during 2014.
“In coming weeks, we will have the largest number of full-time missionaries in the church’s history,” President Oaks said during the annual seminar for new mission leaders at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.
In 2014, the church reached 85,147 full-time teaching missionaries alone when a surge of new young adults responded after leaders lowered the age of mission eligibility to 18 for men and 19 for women.
The church’s missionary success already has reached historic new heights after being upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. The church announced in April that it had 385,490 converts in 2025, shattering the previous record set in 1990.
This year is seeing a second surge in the number of missionaries. It is fueled by four factors.
- Another age change. The first wave of 18-year-old women are serving missions after the church lowered the age requirement late last year.
- The imminent opening of 55 new missions on July 1.
- A bump in the number of Latter-day Saints who are 18, which is expected to be followed by a national demographic cliff in that age group.
- Increased faith activity among Latter-day Saints youth.
The First Presidency lowered the minimum missionary age for women from 19 to 18 in November, with the impact on missionary numbers delayed until high school graduations this spring.
This year’s surge follows news of records set for seminary and institute attendance.
The church announced the creation of the 55 new missions in October, bringing the total number of missions to 506.
“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,” President Oaks said then.
“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 new missions opening next month are in Africa (16), the United States (14), South America (7), the Philippines (5), the Pacific (5), Europe (4), Canada (2), Asia (1) and Mexico (1).
The Church News first reported President Oaks’ announcement about the missionary record. Read what else he said here.