Monday, October 12, 2009
Three New Districts Created In India
I just wanted to confirm that the three new districts in India were indeed created on Sunday, October 11th. The new districts were created in Chennai, Coimbatore and Vishakhapatnam. The historic event was broadcast to 12 locations in southern India with nearly 2,000 members attending. For more information about the new districts, please refer to my earlier post.
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7 comments:
I love hearing info about China and India and church growth. Do you happen to know if any of the districts in India are even close to becoming stakes?
The districts which are the closest to becoming stakes and in Bangalore and Hyderabad. According to missionaries serving in India it will probably be a couple years until any of them become stakes. Many of these branches have sacrament attendances over 100 and sometimes over 150. These cities do not have enough congregations to become a stake however (Hyderabad has four branches, Bangalore has three). Once we see additional branches created in these cities a stake will become much more likely.
Are there outlying branches near these cities that could be a part of these prospective stakes? We need an up-to-date LDS atlas to know these things!
A missionary serving in the India Bangalore Mission provided the following information on what branches are in each district:
Bangalore India District (1st branch, 2nd branch, 3rd branch, Kolor Gold Fields branch, and Goa branch)
Coimbatore India District (Coimbatore, Erode, Semmedu, and Chalvadi)
Chennai India District (1st and 2nd branch)
Visakhapatnam India District (1st branch, 2nd branch, Gajuwaka, Rajamundry 1st and 2nd, and Kakinada)
Hyderabad India District (1st branch, 2nd branch, 3rd branch, and 4th branch)
So that comes to 21 branches in the south of India. Are there 9 branches in the New Delhi District? If so it probably won't be too long till that district will be divided.
The India New Delhi District is made up of six branches, three of which were created since the middle of 2008. Many of the branches are on the smaller side since they were all created from groups and haven't functioned for that long. The remaining three branches are the Kolkata, Mumbai, and India Bangalore Mission Branches. Missionaries report in New Delhi that additional areas are opening for missionary work and there are hopes of created a new branch in the city in the coming months once more membership growth is experienced.
There are a couple groups in India that I am aware of. There is a group in Pune and another very small group in Rajahstan of only a couple members. I became aware of these two groups from senior couples serving in the country. Lately missionaries in New Delhi report of several converts from Afghanistan (which is exciting) and in Bangalore there are many interested who are from Assam and eastern India where the Church does not have a presence.
I think that the next largest city to get a branch/group would be Vijayawada. The city used to have a group I believe and is located in one of the more Christian areas of southern India. Missionaries however report that the strongest growth in baptisms has been in Rajahmundry where the two branches have both grown greatly in size (they are both described as "huge"). This area of India has not had a Church presence as long as Hyderabad, Bangalore, or New Delhi but was the first area to get a Church built chapel and has the most returned missionaries. The branches function very well and missionaries serving in them do not have any restrictions on wearing name tags or proselyting.
The Church has the obstacle of persecution that many Christians face in the country by some extremist Hindu groups. Some missionaries have been the victims of staged violence and falsely accused of offering converts money and food for leaving Hinduism. Much of this is most severe around elections or Hindu holidays. Furthermore visas for missionaries can sometimes be difficult to obtain and results with missionaries temporarily assigned to United States' missions.
wow wow woow.. all abt the branches in INDIA ... its very nice to see this much of disscussions gng on... well iam MRUDULA from GAJUWAKA branch in visakhapatnam @INDIA .. n i do have a strong testimony of the saviour n the gospeln abt the church tht it is true...
my church is growin very rapid.. i see new investigators all the time n they r soo very excited abt the gospel.. growth is rapid after all its the lord work.. im very eager to see a stake... n i wanna knw how the patriarcal blessing feels.. i wanna go on my mission serve n the lead a life in his light.. :) thnkz all.. im so happy to see this discusion.. thank u soo much...
regards
Mrudula...
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