Women are a major force in the surging number of young members serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The church now has more than 90,000 missionaries for the first time in its history, breaking the record of 88,500 set in July.
Before 2026, the previous record was 88,000 missionaries in 2014.
The number of young women serving missions surpassed 30,000, the church said in its announcement on Friday, the largest group of sister missionaries in church history. The largest share of the women come from the United States, the church reported.
The increases come less than a year after leaders lowered the age requirement for women to serve missions from 19 to 18. The change was announced in November, but the swelling numbers were delayed until many could graduate from high school in the spring.
The church had 78,596 missionaries in 2025. That means this new surge is a 14.5% increase in the mission force.
The boom in missionary service comes during a record-setting moment for conversions, too.
The church has added more than 900,000 new converts in the past three years, including a record 385,490 convert baptisms in 2025.
The church opened 55 new missions around the world in July, and the surge of over 11,000 more missionaries has filled them. There are now 506 Latter-day Saint missions worldwide.
The new missions are in Africa (16), the United States (14), South America (seven), the Philippines (five), the Pacific (five), Europe (four), Canada (two), Asia (one) and Mexico (one).
Church President Dallin H. Oaks signaled new missionary records were imminent during a talk to new mission leaders in June.
“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.”
Other factors fueling the new record include 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.
Additionally, the record arrives after a year in which new highs were set in the church for seminary and institute attendance, with 1.09 million students.
The church’s seminary program for teenagers and institute program for college students are aimed at helping build discipleship among Latter-day Saint youth and young adults.
Church leaders have repeatedly said that Latter-day Saint young people are increasing their faith in an era marked by people leaving organized religions.
President Oaks has said the source of the growth is the message of Jesus Christ. “It’s a gospel of happiness and growth and information about the purpose of life,” he said.
“People who subscribe to its doctrine find that it makes their life more happy, more significant, more resistant to the difficulties we all experience in mortal life, and more able to serve their fellow men and to raise their children.”