The New Providence Bahamas District was recently discontinued. There were four branches belonging to the former district, three of which were in the Bahamas. The fourth branch was just created a few months ago in the Turks and Caicos Islands in Providenciales. The district was created in 2002.
The Bahamas are currently part of the Jamaica Kingston Mission. I imagine that the decision to discontinue the district was related to decisions made to discontinue two of the districts on Jamaica recently. Leadership belonging to the former district in The Bahamas will better be able to serve in the branches they reside in and help build up the Church on a more local level. The branches were also dispersed over a large geographical area, with other branches on Grand Bahama and in Nassau.
I also wanted to add that young, full-time missionaries from the Jamaica Kingston Mission are now serving in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
8 comments:
I just wonder how districts function when they cover such a huge geographic area. My Great Grandfather was the first stake president in Texas and his Stake boundaries included half of texas, much of oklahoma, and part of Louisiana.
I have a suspicion that the Church may be moving away from creating districts as a matter of course. Districts still make sense in a small area with many branches, as a kind of nascent stake, but with communications technology and area authorities and such, there is probably not a need for every branch to be part of a district "just because."
Districts are very important as pertaining to the growth of the Church. When branches are not a part of stakes or districts, mission presidents have much more responsibility over them. Oftentimes districts are not only created because membership in an area is strong enough to provide leadership for one, but also to reduce the workload for the mission president. A recent example of this would include the recently created districts in Moldova and Romania.
The Church seems to be moving away from having very small districts because they drain leadership resources when they could be applied on the branch level. Districts today are created typically a in city with multiple branches whereas in the past many new districts consisted of scattered branches over a large geographic area.
Does anyone know the address of the church in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos?
I don't have the exact address, but the chapel is on Lower Bight Road, which is a few miles east of the airport. Lower Bight Road runs for a couple miles along the northern coast.
Thanks Matt! Any idea on the sacrament meeting time for the Providenciales branch?
The branch meets at 10 a.m. on Lower Bight Road across from the Ianthe Pratt school building. It's close to Beaches Resort.
Does anyone know where the New Providence branch meets now?
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