Stake History

First Members

Shortly after the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent missionaries to North Carolina. The first missionary to enter the state was Jedediah M. Grant, father of President Heber J. Grant. On May 18, 1838, Jedediah reported that he had preached for six months in Stokes, Surrey, and Rockingham Counties and baptized four people. Before he left North Carolina, on July 12, 1845, he had organized a conference of 200 Latter-day Saints in seven congregations.

The Durham Branch

The first known missionaries in Durham County arrived in November 1892, but they experienced little initial success. The first recorded baptism in Durham occurred in 1910, marking the beginning of a significant missionary effort and subsequent growth. A Sunday School was formed in the city of Durham in 1918, and the Durham North Carolina Branch was formally organized in June 1925 with 67 members.

The Durham Ward

Over the next 50 years, the Church experienced growth and expansion throughout North Carolina. On August 27, 1961, the first stake in North Carolina was created in Kinston. The Greensboro Stake followed in September 1961. On December 9, 1962, the Durham Ward was organized as part of the formation of the new Raleigh North Carolina Stake. 

The Durham North Carolina Stake

The Church continued to grow in Durham and Chapel Hill, in part due to educational and employment opportunities offered by Duke University and the University of North Carolina. The Durham North Carolina Stake was organized on May 3, 1987, with seven units. Since that time, the Durham Stake boundaries have been consolidated to a geographic area smaller than the original Durham Ward, and it currently consists of 9 units with over 3,300 members.

From those four baptisms in 1838, the Church has steadily grown. In 2025, North Carolina membership reached 97,653, comprising 21 stakes with 189 congregations and 2 missions.

The Raleigh North Carolina Temple, the first temple in the state, was dedicated on December 18, 1999. The temple closed in 2017 for extensive renovations and was rededicated on October 13, 2019. In the April 2023 General Conference, Pres. Russell M. Nelson announced that North Carolina’s second temple would be built in Charlotte. The site was announced on May 30, 2023. Ground-breaking and construction details have not yet been released.