According to a returned missionary from the Kenya Nairobi Mission, the First Presidency has authorized the creation of the first stake in Uganda in the capital of Kampala. The new stake will be created from the Kampala Uganda District likely in January although no firm date has been announced. Currently Uganda is the country with the fifth most members without a stake. A total of 16 branches, two districts and at least two groups function in the country. It is unclear whether all the 10 branches will be included in the new stake or how many will become wards.
The Church established the first branch in Uganda in 1990 and at the time there were 32 members of the Church in the country. Membership increased to about 1,500 in 1997, 2,598 in 2000 and 4,701 in 2007. In 2008 unprecedented membership growth occurred, with membership increasing by about 2,200 to 6,919 or a rate of 47%. Despite the rapid growth in recent years in Uganda, membership activity has only slightly improved according to missionaries serving in the Uganda Kampala Mission, which was organized in 2005 from the Kenya Nairobi Mission. This is evident by a missionary in the Uganda Kampala Mission reporting that for the first time sacrament attendance for the countries in the mission (Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Southern Sudan) was over 1,500 in the middle of 2009. Activity rates for Uganda may be as low as 20%.
Despite challenges in membership activity and establishing the Church, significant progress has been made with the approval of the first stake in Uganda considering a stake requires a certain number of active members. Oftentimes districts must function as a stake would function for a year before the district can be made into a stake. As for the rest of the country, the Church has a presence in Jinja, Mbale, Gulu, and Lira.
I will post more information about the new stake in Uganda under comments once more information becomes available.
6 comments:
So I would assume that Uganda has the lowest activity rate of any nation in Africa.?.
I wonder if in 2009 the membership growth rate will go down drastically-hopefully the mission president has decided to focus on reactivizing
I have enjoyed reading your blog for some time, and I find it inspirational and really enjoyable, so I don't want my comment to sound overly critical because I think you do a great job. That being said, I'm wondering just how a return missionary from Uganda became privy to the First Presidency's plans to create a new stake in 2010? I remember during my mission, myself and the other missionaries often talked about what we sincerely believed were the imminent creations of various wards/stakes in the mission boundaries. We really didn't have any way of knowing, or any reliable means of predicting such events.
I should have explained more about how I got this information. An announcement was made in the Kololo Branch on the last Sunday in October according to a returned missionary. I guess he was visiting when the announcement was made. It was posted on the Kenya Nairobi Mission website.
Cool. Sorry to nitpick. I'm just a stickler for sources. Again, your blog is fantastic and I have enjoyed reading your posts for several months now. Keep up the good work.
I'm the returned missionary who was at the meeting. It was a meeting at the Kololo chapel in October where the District presidency formerly made the announcement and the mission presidency confirmed it. (My job sent me to East Africa). I have been out of the loop over the last couple of month. Last I heard, the stake creation may be on Sunday, January 17th. I'll get this confirmed in the next day or two.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Rich Winsor
rich.winsor@gmail.com
As a senior missionary in Uganda, I can confirm that the Kampala stake WAS created on 17 January 2010 under the direction of Elders Koelliker and Usi.
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