Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Recent Church Growth News

City opens for missionary work in Mozambique

Missionaries serving in Mozambique report that for the first time ever, four full-time missionaries will be assigned to work in the city of Inhambane, located on the Indian Ocean coast halfway between Maputo and Beira. Missionaries will reside in the neighboring city of Maxixe and work in both cities, which have a combined population of 170,000. There is no branch in the area, but a group will be established for Sunday meetings, if one is not already functioning, under the Mozambique Maputo Mission Branch.

There has been a substantial increase in national outreach with full-time missionaries over the past two years in Mozambique. Earlier this year, missionaries were first assigned to Chimoio (the fifth most populous Mozambican city) where a group meets for Sunday meetings. In the past two years, full-time missionaries were assigned for the first time to the cities of Nampula (the third most populous ) and Tete (eighth most populous). Four of the 10 most populated cities remain without an official church presence, however (Nacala, Quelimane, Lichinga, and Pemba).

New Stake Created in Brazil

A new stake has been created in the northern Brazilian state of Pará. Santarém Brazil Pará Stake was created from the Santarém Brazil Pará District, with most if not all the six branches becoming wards. News of the creation of the new stake was reported by missionaries at the end of March. Additional stakes may be organized in the Belem area from existing stakes or districts. There are now four stakes and two districts in Pará State and 231 stakes and 50 districts in Brazil.

New branches in Africa

Missionaries report that new branches will soon be organized in Monrovia, Liberia; Nairobi, Kenya; and the Kilunga Hills, Kenya. More details will be provided when these units are officially organized.

Growth in Portugal

Missionary work
has recently taken off in the Portugal Lisbon Mission, and missionaries report that the mission is currently the highest baptizing mission in Europe, ranking number three for convert retention. Missionaries have been baptizing 50 new converts a month consistently over the past nine months. A large portion of the new converts are youth and immigrants, which often require special attention from local members to keep active. Youth offer significant strength for long-term growth if kept active, such as serving full-time missions and establishing full-member families. Whether or not this growth is sustained and meaningful will hinge on whether the number of congregations in Portugal increases - instead of decreases like in most years over the past decade - in the coming months and years. Portugal is the country with the second most members without a temple and has suffered from high member inactivity in many areas.

9 comments:

Holly Walton said...

I would love to see Portugal and France get temples in the near future. They have the members but they just need to have a higher activity rate which will produce more faithful and temple worthy members. Hopefully soon (maybe this confernce) we will hear an announcement in one of these two countries. I am guessing France is more likely considering the recent news on Rick's website about a possible Paris temple.

Matt said...

A new branch has been created in New Delhi India - the New Delhi 4th Branch. There are now seven congregations in the city and in the New Delhi India District.

Tom said...

Good news all round,

good that you've announced another branch in India matt. Remembering an earlier post it appears that India is now up by 4 congregations in total this year. I'm glad to know that the work is going forward in a country with such a huge population. I believe in the coming decades the church can set a massive legacy in India.

Also, throughout the year worldwide how many new congregations have there been in total? I'm interested in comparing the number (if any) with last years total. Do you have any estimates on total membership increase this year aswell?

Matt said...

New branches created in 2010 in India include:

A.S. Rao Nagar Branch (in Hyderabad)
Chennai 3rd Branch
Coimbatore 2nd Branch
New Delhi 4th Branch
New Delhi Mission Branch
Rajahmundry 3rd Branch

In 2010, worldwide congregations appear to have increased by around 140, 80 of which were in the United States. 2010 is projected to be a slow year for congregational growth unless the rate at which new congregations are being created increases (and fewer congregations are being consolidated).

I know the Africa Southeast Area is projected to have 12,000 convert baptisms this year, 2,000 more than 2009. Otherwise I don't really have any 2010 membership totals.

Matt said...

I think that Portugal is a more likely candidate for a temple announcement in the near future than France, but with the news article which surfaced this past summer about the Church seeking for land in France for a temple may make both countries likely possibilities.

If any temples are announced in General Conference this October (which has been the case for the last two Octobers) Puebla Mexico, Rio de Janeiro, Managua Nicaragua, and Kinshasa DR Congo are my predictions this time around.

Holly Walton said...

Yeah I have thought about all of those locations as well. I also have been thinking that Cedar City UT, Pocatello ID, Indianapolis IN, and long shots of Puerto Rico and somewhere in Wyoming.

Brandon Plewe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ryan Searcy said...

I guess Arequipa, Peru; Colorado Springs, CO; Ventura, CAl Quito, Ecuador; Cali, Columbia; Maracaibo, Venezuela; Auckland, New Zealand; Brasilia, Brazil; and Tijuana, Mexico.

Ryan Searcy said...

Bakersfield, CA or Lancaster, CA