BILLINGS — Growing membership has led to the creation of a third Billings stake for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
With bigger congregations came the need for a new church building, which has been constructed on 54th Street West south of Rimrock Road on the west side of Billings.
The new church meeting house will be celebrated on Friday at an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Anyone is welcome, not just LDS members.
A new stake has not been created in Billings for some time, said Tamara Zacardi, a church spokeswoman.
“For us a new stake is kind of big news,” she said. “We’re so happy to see growth, more people to know and love.”
A stake is made up of several wards, or congregations, which meet in the same building, although at different times on a Sunday, she said.
When the church announced plans to build a new meeting house, the idea generated some controversy, Zacardi said. People asked why the group didn’t just use the temple, nearby on Rimrock Road, but she said a church meeting house and a temple have widely different uses. Meeting houses are used for Sunday services and during the week for meetings and other activities, she said. A temple is reserved for certain solemn church occasions.
When they heard that the current meeting houses held services for as many as 900 people on a Sunday, Zacardi said, they better read more
