I mentioned earlier about new stakes in Florida and Nicaragua and I will take time now to elaborate on their creation.
The Jacksonville Florida South Stake was organized last Sunday and includes seven wards and one branch. The Jacksonville Florida East Stake now has seven wards and one branch and the Jacksonville Florida West Stake now has seven wards. A ward was also moved from the Kingsland Georgia Stake into the Jacksonville Florida East Stake, leaving the Kingsland Georgia Stake with just four wards and three branches. Missionary activity in the Florida Jacksonville Mission has been some of the strongest the South has seen in recent years. I imagine that this new stake of the Church could not have been organized without the many new converts which have joined the Church from this area of Florida. Perhaps a temple in Jacksonville is in the near future, or maybe in South Florida in Miami. Florida is the state with the second most members with only one temple. The state with the most members with only one temple is Colorado. I appreciate the input from readers which provided the above information on the stakes in the Jacksonville area.
The Chinandega Nicaragua West Stake was created two Sundays ago from a division of the already existing Chinandega Nicaragua Stake. The new stake has five wards and is the ninth stake in Nicaragua. The original stake in Chinandega was organized in 2000 with six wards and two branches was the second stake created in the entire country. The mission of the Church based in Managua has developed very strict standards for convert baptisms in order to fight inactivity and poor retention, yet continues have some of the highest numbers of baptisms in Central America. Some of the stakes in Managua have also grown large, which might result in an additional stake in the capital in the near future. Hopefully some of the districts in the country will mature into stakes, such as the districts in Granada and Matagalpa. Nicaragua has around 64,000 members of the Church and is the country with the most members of the Church without a temple.
7 comments:
The Waycross 1st and 2nd wards were realigned from Douglas to balance out Kingsland. Also look for changes in the Albany,GA Stake the week of July 12th.
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Valdosta 1st and 2nd, Nashville, and Tifton were realigned with Douglas; Americus branch went to Columbus stake; Bainbridge branch went to Dothan AL stake; Vidalia ward went to Savannah. Albany stake is left with 3 wards and a branch. Savannah now has 10 wards and 2 branches, and Douglas has 8 wards and a branch. Look like Albany will dissolved in the coming weeks. Hoping that Savannah will be the first city in Georgia with two stakes
(other than Atlanta Metro)
Interesting that a stake might be discontinued in Georgia even though there has not been a drop in the number of congregations in the state. I guess this would be comparable to a stake that was discontinued in Oklahoma in the early 1990s that was relocated to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Good to know it does not appear to be from members moving out of the area or inactivity problems. Thanks for the thorough information!
Can someone give me a summary of what happened with the Albany stake? I am probably taking a job in Albany, and I am curious about the changes. What initiated all of the realignments? Was it a matter of growth in other areas or a weakening in Albany? Thanks in advance for any info.
The church in Albany is interesting. The ward has split and dissolved twice in the last fifteen years. It was the biggest ward in the stake. On their ward website they have the goal of the ward splitting in 2012. The Albany ward covers many counties going westward towards the Alabama line. The stake was heavily weighted towards Tifton and Valdosta in the east and south. Moultrie was more or a geographic center. I could see the stake remaining viable. The Thomasville ward got an addition about three years ago, Cairo is close to becoming a ward, and Moultrie has been flirting with having a Spanish branch for a while.
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