England MTC (Chorley, near Preston): where it is and what to expect

Address and contact

The Church’s official England Missionary Training Center page lists:

• Address: Temple Way, Chorley, Lancashire, PR6 7EQ, United Kingdom
• Phone: +44 125-722-6150 (the MTC’s arrival page writes it +44 1257 226150)
• Email: [email protected]
• Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM

Official England MTC page → · England MTC website · Open in Google Maps

Where it is

The MTC sits on the grounds of the Preston England Temple in Chorley, Lancashire, about six miles south of Preston (official page). That’s why you’ll also hear it called the Preston MTC: Church Newsroom lists it as Preston, England (Church Newsroom). It’s the same place.

Who trains here

Newsroom says the England MTC serves the Europe and Europe East areas, with training in English, English as a second language, French, German, Greek and Russian (Church Newsroom). The MTC’s own website says it trained over 700 missionaries in 2024 and regularly sends missionaries to the Bulgaria/Greece, Alpine Germany Speaking, Berlin Germany, Birmingham, Bristol, France Lyon, France Paris, Frankfurt, Leeds, London, Manchester and Scotland Ireland missions, as well as others (England MTC website).

If your call says Provo, see Provo MTC drop-off. The missions in Great Britain and Northern Ireland are on our United Kingdom page.

Arrival day

The MTC’s arrival page covers two cases (arrival information):

• Flying in from outside the UK: the Missionary Travel Department books your flight to Manchester Airport and tells the MTC when you land. A member of the MTC staff or presidency meets you at the airport and brings you to the MTC. If no one is there, call +44 1257 226150 and don’t leave the terminal building.
• Coming by car from within the UK: you make your own way and can arrive at either 10 a.m. or 12 p.m. Let the MTC’s support services supervisor know which time you’ve chosen. The FAQ adds that missionaries traveling from England must arrive before 12:00 p.m. on arrival day (on-site FAQs).

There’s no money exchange at the MTC, so change money into pounds at the airport if you need to. Keep three things within reach when you arrive: your passport if you aren’t from the UK, the Missionary Immunization/Preventive Medication Requirements form and, if you have one, an email address for your parents or guardians.

Meals, language help and devices

The FAQ lists meal times: breakfast 7:00 to 8:00 a.m., lunch 12:15 to 1:00 p.m. and dinner 5:00 to 5:45 p.m. For hygiene reasons, missionaries shouldn’t order food, and family and friends shouldn’t order it for them. Extra language training is available on request, booked online through a link from staff. For devices, the MTC points missionaries to the instructions in the Missionary Portal. Before they leave, missionaries get an email and a training on how they’ll travel to their mission, and the MTC and the travel department arrange all of it (on-site FAQs).

Visits and tours

The FAQ is direct: no visitors are allowed at the MTC (on-site FAQs). The one opening is group tours. Youth 16 and older and young single adults may visit when their stake president coordinates it through the Area Seventy as part of an annual FSY activity, and everyone dresses in Sunday clothes. A visit includes a welcome, a building tour, meeting the MTC president and his wife, a musical number and testimonies from two missionaries in training (tours page).

Letters, packages and P-day

Missionaries may read messages whenever they have time, but they reply on their weekly preparation day, which ends at 6:00 p.m., unless it’s a special occasion or an emergency (communication page). For packages, the MTC says ordering on Amazon UK and shipping straight to the MTC works best. Use this format:

Missionary’s Name
Missionary Training Centre
Temple Way
Chorley, United Kingdom
PR6 7EQ

Send through Royal Mail or a commercial carrier such as UPS, FedEx or Amazon. Delivery texts aren’t always accurate about when a parcel actually reaches the MTC. If an Amazon delivery has a password, share it with your missionary, or the MTC can’t accept the parcel. Don’t hand deliver anything, whether at the MTC, during temple visits or gym time, or over the fence.

A short history

• January 10, 1985: the first director, J. Talmage Jones, and his companion, Sister Vera Jean Jones, arrived for a one-year tenure.
• February 11, 1985: the MTC officially opened. Joseph B. Wirthlin, then Europe Area President, presided over the opening session, and 12 missionaries made up the first training group.
• May 1998: it moved to Chorley, onto the site of the Preston England Temple.
• June 1998: President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the MTC along with the temple.

All dates are from the official page.

Facilities

The building holds residence rooms, classrooms, a cafeteria, laundry, an exercise room, large meeting rooms and staff offices. Outside there’s a large playing field, an outdoor sports court and a walking path. It has room for up to 96 missionaries at a time (official page).

Who leads it

From January 2027, Glen D. and Elizabeth S. Mella will lead the England MTC, succeeding President Elmer L. Heap Jr. and Sister Amy Hobson Heap. The Mellas previously led the California San Jose Mission, and Sister Mella served her own mission in Japan Okayama (Church Newsroom, September 11, 2026).