Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Major Metropolitan Areas of the World and Status of LDS Outreach

On cumorah.com, I am in the process of creating maps that identify all metropolitan areas of the world with one million or more inhabitants and the status of LDS outreach.  These major metropolitan areas - which currently number over 500 - are important urban centers for the Church to target due to high population densities, easier accessibility than smaller cities and rural areas, and their cultural, economic, and societal prominence in their respective region or the world as a whole.  The establishment of the Church in these cities and its subsequent growth are vital towards the Church establishing additional centers of strength from which to base future outreach expansion efforts into surrounding areas and to bolster international self-sufficiency of the Church. 

These maps will include the most recent population estimate for each metropolitan area as well as current statistics on the Church (i.e., year LDS presence established, number of stakes, estimated percentage LDS, ect.) and a brief analysis of successes, opportunities, and challenges for growth.  I am hoping to receive quality feedback on this project from interested readers.  Click here to view the preliminary regional map of Sub-Saharan Africa where city profiles are complete for Freetown, Sierra Leone and Monrovia, Liberia.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

on a Side note, The church has seemingly announced that membership has reached 15 Million.
It is at the end of this YouTube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulfVPLpaggw&feature=player_detailpage#t=349

It might not actually be 15 million yet, but They probably wanted the video to be up to date when it does reach that number.

Michael Worley said...

I suspect we are weeks, not months away from a more formal announcement. Under normal growth trends it would probably have been November or December. With the Surge we should have an additional number of baptisms, pinning the announcement presumably between now and Conference.

Eduardo said...

Is this the same Brother Worley who used to play piano in San Bernardino?

True worldwide by active membership is sadly lower than the 15 million reported, but there is real growth as evidenced by the progress of more branches, wards and stakes.

And of course temples. Temple augmentation is not as sure a measure of LDS growth, but it certainly may be a sign of deeper growth, with more invested membership, pardon the pun.

Stakes are well over 3,000 now. When will there be 4,000?

MainTour said...

The church just released a series of YouTube videos "Introduction to Mormonisim" and it is getting a lot of buzz on Facebook and other blogs.

Ray said...

To James Crowther,

Just based on the monthly growth rates of the last two or three years, I believe the membership total is already 15 million, even without the additional growth that the surge in the missionary force will bring.

It is also gratifying to note that some of the metropolitan areas of sub-Sahara Africa have membership percentages around 0.50%, which is a big achievement considering how recently most of the countries were opened for missionary work.

Michael Worley said...

I've heard of another brother Worley, but he I am not.

Matthew Crandall said...

http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2013/08/30/mormons_go_keynesian.html

Deivisas said...

I also believe that church membership has already passed 15 million members :)