While other denominations are recording declines in attendance and affiliation, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is growing.

The recent dedication of a new meetinghouse on the far West Side brought the number of its churches and facilities in the city to 26, though there are more in surrounding areas.

That number won’t stand long, as another LDS church will be dedicated Saturday and yet another by the end of July.

“We’re experiencing so much growth in the area,” LDS spokeswoman Leisa Parsons said.

The new church at 10819 W. Military Drive just outside Loop 1604 sits on a site of almost 8 acres and is one of the denomination’s “heritage-styled” meetinghouses. There are replicas all over the world.

It was opened to the public and the media for its June 11 dedication, but photo access in LDS sanctuaries is considered rare.

The meetinghouse has almost 19,500 square feet of space and the capacity to seat as many as 990 people and connect them with closed-circuit television. The denomination’s headquarters in Salt Lake City holds special programming events via CCTV.

The facility will serve the Heritage and Wiseman wards, which have about 200 members each, but is designed to accommodate a third and even a fourth ward.

Altogether, the meetinghouse has 22 classrooms. An adjacent cultural hall, which has banquet facilities and indoor sports areas, will be used for a variety of activities, including genealogy research, a mainstay of Mormon interest. It also will serve for wedding receptions and quinceañeras, Parsons said.

“One of the comments I’ve heard is that it’s open and has a warm feeling,” said Michael A. Allsop, facility manager for the church in San Antonio.

He said that because of misconceptions about the LDS church, newcomers are surprised with the familiar look and feel of its churches.

“There are pews just like other churches,” he said. “It looks like a church and is a place to be uplifted and hear the good message.”

The denomination has 23,000 to 25,000 members in San Antonio’s seven stakes, or regional areas, Parsons said. Wards within those stakes further breakdown worshipers into more manageable sizes, she said.

The denomination’s most salient structure in San Antonio is its temple at Stone Oak, one of only 150 worldwide and the fourth in Texas, Parsons said.

LDS demographics closely resemble the city’s population breakdown, she said.

The church is the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the country, and its expansive missionary presence makes it one of the world’s fastest-growing. “There are a lot in South America and Africa,” Parsons said.

Though the church was established in the United States in 1830 by Joseph Smith, its prophet and founder, there are now more Mormons outside the country than in it. Central to the faith is Smith’s “The Book of Mormon,” published the same year.

Parsons said the biggest misconception about the LDS church is, “that we aren’t Christians.” She said that may stem from the fact that Mormons don’t believe in the trinity.

The LDS church believes that it is the restoration of Jesus Christ’s original church, a tenet that other Christian denominations have criticized, as they have Smith, his visions and his adherence to plural marriage, which the church rejected in 1890. Mormons didn’t admit African-Americans into the church’s priesthood until 1978, another major criticism of the church.

Mormons believe in Christ’s salvation, as do other Christian denominations, and that its member families can be forever “sealed” to one another. The church is strictly anti-abortion and against same-sex marriage, and it teaches that all premarital sex is wrong.

Its churches are run by an all-volunteer lay leadership, and its weekly lessons and ministry are uniform the world over. “I can go to Chile, and the same lesson is being taught at the same time,” Parsons said.

The LDS church in San Antonio has done interfaith outreach, Parsons said, and works with the Archdiocese of San Antonio’s Catholic Charities on refugee services, a major LDS mission.

Parsons said it’s unusual for the LDS church to build three structures in such a short period of time, and she pinned growth primarily to new arrivals.

But some have converted. Samantha Robinson, 51, did so in 1997 in response to a missionary’s appeal. Originally a Catholic, Robinson was baptized in the LDS church five months after that knock on the door. She belongs to the Balcones Heights ward.

Robinson’s three daughters were converted, too, and one will study at Brigham Young University-Idaho this fall, she said.

“That’s how the church grows,” she said. “In our church, we have a baptism at least every week.”

The next LDS church to open in San Antonio will be the Indian Springs Chapel on Bulverde Road. It’s a heritage-styled meetinghouse, too, with 16,558 square feet of space.

In late July, the Cibolo Valley Stake Center will be completed. With a design similar to that of the meetinghouse on Military Drive, it will contain stake offices and be slightly larger, at 21,043 square feet. An open house will be held in August.

Like all LDS facilities, they’re paid off by the time of completion. No debts are allowed to be mounted, Parsons said. The church would not reveal the costs of its facilities.

Mormons gather for three hours every Sunday for an hourlong sacrament meeting followed by Sunday school. Parsons said the average worshiper spends 427 hours a year in church-based activities, 242 of them in worship.

That may be why Parsons said the LDS church builds with longevity in mind. “We build them to last,” she said.