{"id":15569,"date":"2025-11-21T17:52:57","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T00:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mormon-church-lowers-minimum-age-for-women-missionaries-to-18\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:34:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:34:24","slug":"mormon-church-lowers-minimum-age-for-women-missionaries-to-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mormon-church-lowers-minimum-age-for-women-missionaries-to-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Mormon church lowers minimum age for women missionaries to 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sister
Sister Palmer 19, right, and Sister Raymundo pose for a portrait with The Book of Mormon while walking around Temple Square in Salt Lake City on Nov. 15, 2020. (Wong Maye-E\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Wong Maye-E<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The church announced Friday that women can now serve missions starting at age 18, lowering the minimum age by one year and matching the age requirement for men.<\/p>\n

The change \u2013 one of the first major moves by new church President Dallin H. Oaks \u2013 aims to equalize opportunities and respond to growing interest among young women in global missions. These opportunities are seen as rites of passage for young members, who recruit new followers and share the beliefs of the Utah-based faith, which has 17.5 million members worldwide. Missions are designed to strengthen faith, broaden perspectives and prepare many for future leadership roles.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first age change since 2012. At that time, the minimum age dropped from 21 to 19 for women and from 19 to 18 for men. That change \u2013 seen as a watershed moment for women \u2013 led to applications doubling within days.<\/p>\n

The 2012 change significantly boosted female participation. Currently, about 25,000 of the 85,000 missionaries are women, said Sam Penrod, a church spokesperson. That\u2019s 29% \u2013 a figure that has held steady for a decade and more than double the 12% before the 2012 change.<\/p>\n

The new policy will likely increase those numbers, said Matt Martinich, a church growth researcher for The Cumorah Project, a privately funded research group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows more equality in terms of missionary opportunity,\u201d Martinich said, adding that mission presidents report women often excel as teachers and proselytizers.<\/p>\n

Church spokesperson Doug Andersen said the change reflects Oaks\u2019 desire to provide \u201cadditional options and flexibility for young women\u201d who want to serve. The 55 new worldwide missions announced for next year will help meet demand, he said.<\/p>\n

Yet some disparities remain. Missions last two years for men and 18 months for women. And in its statement, the church noted that every \u201cworthy, able young man\u201d should prepare to serve \u2013 while missions remain optional for women.<\/p>\n

The faith reserves top leadership roles for men.<\/p>\n

Last month, the church began offering sleeveless versions of sacred undergarments worn by women. Social media buzzed with photos of long lines of mostly women waiting to buy the items \u2013 which many said made sense for comfort and fashion.<\/p>\n

LeAnne Tolley, a Utah resident and Latter-day Saint, said she is excited for her 14-year-old granddaughter who wants to serve. Her son served at 19, but her daughter did not, noting different expectations for men and women.<\/p>\n

Tolley said she now sees youth in her congregation and others eager to share their beliefs \u2013 and, more importantly, hope in an increasingly hopeless world.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost religions \u2013 not just ours \u2013 seem to be experiencing this revival especially with young people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through AP\u2019s collaboration with The Conversation US, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

continue serving 18 months, compared with two years for men<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15569"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19727,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15569\/revisions\/19727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15569"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}