Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

google map of 19 Ferryland Street East

Group Location
2 Ferryland Street East
St. John's, NL

Contact Information Church: (709) 368-2601
Wayne Holloway (Custodian): (709) 364-2645
Bill Reid (Branch President): (709) 364-1055
Website is under construction.

History

Origins of the group: The St. John's local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was started in 1949 by two young missionaries, who proselytized the basics of the Church door to door. As people began to join the Church, a community was formed and after some time the first branch President, Wilbur Moses, received his calling. Eventually the group purchased land to build a physical Church.

Highlights of group's history: As the Church's mission is to expand, the highlight of their time in Newfoundland has been the spread of their faith outside of St. John's. Although not all missions have been successes, they have built communities in Bay Roberts, Gander, Marystown and Grand Falls. Another success for the Church has been the construction of their building on Ferryland Street East.

Present goals of the group: The perpetual goal of the group is growth. They are always looking for new people and have never turned anyone away.

Life in St. John's/in NL: Members of the local Church feel that Newfoundlanders tend to stick to the faith in which they were born. However, the some in the younger generations may not have gone to Church as children but are looking for a new Church to join now and might find a home with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Structure

Membership: The membership of the Church is quite family oriented. There are approximately 300 members and of these, approxiamtely 70 are continually active. The service is conducted in English although there is a translation service for those who are not native English speakers.

Leaders and Contacts: The Church consists of lay people. There are no paid clergy; the branch President attains his position by receiving a calling. To contact the Church one can phone or get in touch with the missionaries; there are currently four active in the city. The Church is also in the process of creating a website which will be available soon.

Facilities: The original St. John's branch met on the American military base of Fort Pepperell. Subsequently, they met at Victoria Hall on Church Hill until they could afford land for their own building. The building they have now consists of a chapel that can fit around 200 parishioners, a gymnasium, a visual arts room, a research centre and several classrooms, all of which are video-linked directly to Salt Lake City. The separate rooms are created by divided curtains and when they are all opened the space can hold over 1000 people. The facility is not available to rent or lease although it is available for use. The Church has never turned away a non-profit organization that wished to use the facilities, although the building is closed on Mondays for family time.

Activities

Information: To obtain more information, phone the Church at (709) 368-2601.

Schedule of Events: On Sundays, service and classes begin at 10:00 AM and run until 1:00 PM. On Monday nights, the families stay home to spend time together and on Tuesday nights, the Young Men and Young Women organization gets together for either recreation or to develop service programs. Twice a year, on the first weekend of April and the first weekend of October, there is a general conference broadcast live from Salt Lake City. The weekend consists of five two-hour sessions: Saturday at 1:30-3:30, 5:30-7:30 and 9:30-11:30 PM (men only), Sunday at 1:30-3:30 and 5:30-7:30pm. All of the Church's events are open to the general public.