The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has reached a new record of 88,500 full-time missionaries serving worldwide.
The new historic total surpasses the previous high of 88,000, set in 2014, and Church leaders attribute the surge to the first wave of 18-year-old sister missionaries entering the field. The missionary force is comprised of teaching and service missionaries and senior missionaries, according to a news release on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The milestone also comes as the Church opened 55 new missions on July 1.
Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who chairs the Missionary Executive Council, marked the milestone in a social media post on July 14. He wrote that the all-time high reflects the “faith and devotion of a rising generation of disciples of Jesus Christ.”
“What a marvelous time to be engaged in the Lord’s work. As the Lord’s missionaries give their heart, might, mind, and strength to their missionary service, the Lord will magnify their efforts,” Elder Rasband wrote. “He will bless them with strength beyond their own and fill their lives with joy as they participate in the great and marvelous hastening of the Lord’s work.”
On June 20, during the 2026 Seminar for New Mission Leaders, President Dallin H. Oaks spoke of the historic increase in full-time missionaries.
“In the coming weeks, we will have more missionaries than at any time in the history of the Church,” he said.
With the rise in full-time missionary applications and the creation of more missions worldwide, the Church produced a video offering prospective missionaries and their families an inside look at how missionaries are trained.
The Church also provided guidelines for prospective missionaries and their families.
In another video last month, Elder Rasband offered a rare view inside a missionary assignment room, where members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles meet with staff of the Church’s Missionary Department to assign thousands of prospective missionaries to serve around the world.
