As in the Old World, so in the New World the temple was the focal point of worship among the Lord’s people. It was the natural and accepted place to which they gathered to be instructed by their spiritual leaders.
It was at the temple site in Bountiful that Christ manifested himself and taught the Nephites following his resurrection in Jerusalem (3 Nephi 11:1, 10). The pattern of the Nephite temples, at least until after the time of Christ’s visit, was that of Solomon’s temple, the outer court being a place of instruction (see 2 Nephi 5:16; Jacob 1:17).