Church of Jesus Christ reports a record 90K missionaries; 30K are women

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Friday that it has 90,000 full-time missionaries serving throughout the world.

Of those, more than one-third are sister missionaries, the most sister missionaries in the church's history. The cohort of 30,000 sister missionaries comes almost a year after an announcement in November from the First Presidency allowing women to choose to begin serving missions at 18 rather than 19.

"This change has contributed to a significant increase in the number of young women choosing missionary service, the largest share of whom are from the United States," the church's statement said.

In an address to new mission leaders in June, President Dallin H. Oaks said, "Missionary work is soaring to new heights," noting the 18-year-old sister missionaries who were beginning their service.

This announcement comes just two months after the church announced it had broken its previous record with 88,500 full-time missionaries.

Friday's statement said the increase in church members serving missions indicates growing church participation among youth and young adults. It said more than 1.09 million are enrolled in seminary and institute, the highest ever.

"Together with the growing number of young missionaries, these trends reflect a rising generation of Latter-day Saints choosing to participate more fully in the church and deepen their commitment to Jesus Christ," the statement said.

In the last three years, over 90,000 people have joined the church, and convert baptisms are increasing in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Latin America and North America when considering the first six months of 2025 compared to previous years, according to the statement.

The statement said these trends represent people of many ages and backgrounds choosing to make Jesus Christ a central part of their lives.

In a November interview with the new First Presidency, President Oaks attributed the Church's growth to the message of Christ.

"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," he said.

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