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Experts have suggested that the move could keep women in the faith for longer and even counterbalance the effects of declining US birth rates
Owen ScottTuesday 25 November 2025 16:20 GMTComments
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced plans to lower the age at which women can go on religious missions, as part of the church’s bid to modernize.
Dallin Oaks, who assumed the role of president and prophet of the church in October, announced the move on Friday in one of his first major decisions since taking office.
Before the ruling, men could go on missions from 18 years of age, while women had to wait another year.
Now, the church’s upper echelons hope the rule change will reinvigorate its 17.5 million members.
open image in galleryWomen will soon be able to become missionaries at the age of 18, in a new plan unveiled by the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)“We will see a huge increase in the number of young women who go out on missions,” said Patrick Mason, the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University.
Mason told The Washington Post that lowering the age at which women can serve as missionaries increases the likelihood that they will remain with the church later in life.
“If you can socialize them in the faith at the edge of adulthood, there’s a lot of research showing you can hold on to them for the rest of their lives,” he said.
In recent years, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sought to overhaul its missionary system, lowering the minimum age for men heading on missions from 19 to 18 in 2012. In the same move, the missionary age for women was reduced from 21 to 19.
open image in galleryThe Church’s president Dallin Oaks unveiled the plans as part of a bid to modernize the organization (© Deseret News 2025)Female missionaries have also been allowed to wear dress pants and can use social media as part of their missions.
Figures released by the organization also suggest that the number of young people registering to become missionaries is rising, from 52,500 full-time missionaries in 2010 to 74,127.
Meanwhile, Nancy Ross, an assistant professor at Utah Tech University, says that the increase in women serving as missionaries will counterbalance the decline in U.S. birth rates.
open image in galleryThe Mormon faith is headquartered in Salt Lake City, where a report found that 60 percent of the city’s residents are members of the faith (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)“Encouraging more women into this missionary pipeline would keep the system afloat and prevent the number from dropping too quickly,” she told The Post.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded in 1830 in New York but is headquartered today in Salt Lake City, Utah. Members believe that the church’s president is a prophet, seer, and revelator, guided by Jesus Christ in revealing God’s will.
Nearly 7 million of its 17.5 million members live in the United States, with a high concentration in Utah. According to a survey conducted by The Salt Lake Tribune, over 60 percent of Utahns identified as being members of the Mormon church.
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