Friday, November 22, 2013

New Stake in Colorado

Two Sundays ago, a new stake was created in Colorado.

The Brighton Colorado Stake was organized from a division of the Denver Colorado North Stake and includes the following six wards and one branch: The Brighton, Fort Lupton, Henderson, Monte Vista (Spanish), Reunion, and Riverdale Wards and the Northridge YSA Branch.  The new stake becomes the Church's 33rd stake in Colorado and the second new stake to be created in the state this year.

Several additional stakes appear likely to be organized in Colorado within the foreseeable future.  The Colorado Springs North Stake currently has 14 wards and may divide in the near future.  The Castle Rock Colorado and Highlands Ranch Colorado Stakes each have 11 wards at present and may divide to create a new stake headquartered in the Lone Tree area.  The Greeley Colorado and Loveland Colorado Stakes each have 11 wards and may divide to create a new stake. 

6 comments:

Ryan Searcy said...

I was wondering if there could be a post for potential YSA stakes in the US and Canada? There are several places where it looks like it could be pulled off

twinnumerouno said...

I live in the Meeker Colorado stake, and I keep wondering how long it will be before the stake is split- there are 10 or 11 wards and 2 or 3 branches, in an area covering at least 5 counties in Colorado and one branch in Wyoming. The Meeker building isn't really large enough to be a stake center, whereas Craig (to the North) has 3 wards and Rifle (to the south) has 2; those 2 locations would likely become the stake centers if the stake is split. One of the issues for a split would be figuring out which units go which way- the 2 wards in Rangely (where I attend, although I live in Dinosaur) is quite a way from either one and probably almost the same to either of those towns, though Meeker is closer.

Mike Johnson said...

The Agbor Nigeria District, Nigeria Benin City Mission, was created on 24 November. There are 1 branch in the district:

Agbor 1st Branch



The Ogwashi-Nsukwa Nigeria District was created on 24 November. There are 2 branches in the district:

Nsukwa Branch
Ogwashi-Uku 2nd Branch


My guess is that each district likely has at least one new branch (Agbor 2nd and Ogwashi-Uku 1st) that have yet to show up.

The Creekside and Terra Ranch wards, Queen Creek Arizona Stake, were created on 24 November. There are 11 wards in the stake:

Cloud Creek Ward
Creekside Ward
Desert Wells Ward
Founders Park Ward
Hawes Ward
Montelena Ward
Orchard Ranch Ward
Pegasus Ward
Queen Creek Ward (Spanish)
Stonecrest Ward
Terra Ranch Ward


The Lake Ontario Ward (Single Adult), Brampton Ontario Stake, was created on 24 November. There are now 10 wards in the stake:

Black Creek Ward (Spanish)
Brampton Ward
Chinguacousy Park Ward (Spanish)
Churchville YSA Ward
Creditview Ward
Etobicoke Ward
Heart Lake Ward
Lake Ontario Ward (Single Adult)
Mississauga Ward
Weston Ward

Mike Johnson said...

Looking at the Meeker Stake and using data from the Association of Religious Data Archives (ARDA) from the end of 2010 as reported by the Church:

Garfield County had 5 congregations with 2,085

Glenwood Springs Ward
Carbondale Branch (Spanish)
Rifle 1st Ward
Rifle 2nd Ward
Parachute Branch


Eagle County had 2 congregations with 818 members

Eagle Valley Ward
Vail Branch, Golden Colorado Stake


Pitkin County had 1 congregation with 268 members

Aspen Branch


The above possibly could form a Glenwood Springs Stake (chosen because Glenwood Springs would be near the center of said stake. 4 wards and 4 branches with a total of 3,171 members at the end of 2010. Unless there has been a significant change in numbers of members, these would probably be enough for a stake, assuming the number of full tithe paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders is enough (24 + 4 x 15 + 4 x 4-6) = 100-108.

For the other possible stake:

Moffat County had 3 congregations with 1,339 members

Craig 1st Ward
Craig 2nd Ward
Craig 3rd Ward


Rio Blanco County had 3 congregations with 1,055 members

Meeker Ward
Rangely 1st Ward
Rangely 2nd Ward


Rouett County had 1 congregation with 356 members

Steamboat Springs Ward


for a total of 2750 members.


The Baggs Branch is one of 5 congregations in Carbon County, Wyoming which also includes two wards and a correctional branch in Rawlins and another ward in Hanna Wyoming to the northeast of Rawlins. Carbon County at the end of 2010 had 5 congregations with 1,538. It is not clear how many of these would be in the Baggs Branch, but it would be unlikely to much more than 200 and could be a lot less.

7 wards with 2750 members 3 years ago, plus a branch in a fertile valley along the Wyoming-Colorado border, might be close to the 3000 requirement for a new stake. I don't know if they have enough full tithe paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders (24 + 7 x 15 + 4-6) = 133-135 for a stake from the northern part of the stake.

Given that the northern part of the stake has fewer members in 7 wards than the southern part (plus Vail) has in 4 ward and 4 branches, I would guess there is a higher activity rate in the northern part than the southern part and this could have an impact on whether either part can meet the Melchizedek Priesthood requirement.

It does look like it could be close to splitting. But, that would probably move your stake center to Craig, which is quite a bit further for you to travel to stake functions than Meeker.

Mike Johnson said...

Each of the following states, provinces, or countries have the following YSA units:

Utah: 54 stakes, 532 wards, 8 branches
Idaho: 13 stakes, 136 wards, 19 branches
California: 76 wards, 26 branches
Arizona: 5 stakes, 47 wards, 7 branches
Hawaii: 2 stakes, 17 wards, 5 branches
Texas: 17 wards, 21 branches
Washington: 21 wards, 9 branches
Alberta: 18 wards, 3 branches
Virginia: 1 stake, 14 wards, 3 branches
Colorado: 14 wards, 3 branches
Nevada: 13 wards, 3 branches
Oregon: 10 wards, 7 branches
Florida: 4 wards, 7 branches
Wyoming: 5 wards, 2 branches
New York: 3 wards, 5 branches
Missouri: 1 ward, 10 branches
North Carolina: 3 wards, 3 branches
Illinois: 2 wards, 5 branches
Alaska: 3 wards, 2 branches
Ontario: 2 wards, 4 branches
Maryland: 3 wards, 1 branch
Massachusetts: 3 wards, 1 branch
Georgia: 2 wards, 3 branches
Ohio: 2 wards, 3 branches
New Mexico: 1 ward, 5 branches
Nebraska: 2 wards, 2 branches
Oklahoma: 2 wards, 2 branches
Pennsylvania: 2 wards, 2 branches
Kansas: 2 wards, 1 branch
England: 2 wards
Tennessee: 5 branches
Arkansas: 1 ward, 1 branch
Connecticut: 1 ward, 1 branch
Iowa: 1 ward, 1 branch
Michigan: 1 ward, 1 branch
Minnesota: 1 ward, 1 branch
Montana: 1 ward, 1 branch
South Carolina: 1 ward, 1 branch
Wisconsin: 1 ward, 1 branch
Botswana: 1 ward
Louisiana: 1 ward
Manila: 1 ward
Manitoba: 1 ward
New South Wales: 1 ward
Queensland: 1 ward
Tongatapu: 1 ward
British Columbia: 3 branches
Indiana: 3 branches
Kentucky: 2 branches
New Jersey: 2 branches
Quebec: 2 branches
Alabama: 1 branch
Delaware: 1 branch
North Dakota: 1 branch
Nova Scotia: 1 branch
Paraguay: 1 branch
Rhode Island: 1 branch
Taiwan: 1 branch

John said...

One of Idaho's "YSA" stakes (Moscow) includes married student wards. It's a relic of the Moscow/Pullman area student stake.