Friday, November 13, 2015

New Stakes Created in Ghana, Guatemala, North Carolina, and the Philippines; New Districts Created in Kenya and Russia; Stake Discontinued in California; District Discontinued in Chile

Ghana
Two new stakes have been created in Ghana.

The Accra Ghana Lartebiokorshie Stake was organized on October 25th from a division of the Accra Ghana Kaneshie Stake. The new stake includes the following five wards: the Dansoman, Korle-Bu, Lartebiokorshie, Mamponse, and Mataheko Wards. The Accra Ghana Kaneshie Stake was also realigned with the Accra Ghana Kasoa Stake. Covering an area of less than 17 square miles, the new Accra Ghana Lartebiokorshie Stake covers the smallest geographical area of any stake in Ghana, indicating progress with greater saturation of the Church in urban areas.

The Accra Ghana Ofankor Stake was organized on November 8th from a division of the Accra Ghana Adenta and Accra Ghana Tesano Stakes. The new stake includes the following five wards and two branches: the Achimota, Amasaman, Chantan, Kwabenya, and Ofankor Wards, and the Adoagyiri and Nsawam Branches.

There are now 15 stakes and 11 districts in Ghana.

Guatemala
The Church organized its first stake in northern Guatemala on November 1st. The San Benito Guatemala Stake was organized from the San Benito Guatemala District. Mission leadership has spent many years preparing the district to become a stake one day. Information on which branches have advanced into wards is currently unavailable.

There are now 44 stakes and 16 districts in Guatemala.

North Carolina
The Church organized its 17th stake in North Carolina on November 8th. The Raleigh North Carolina South Stake was organized from a division of the Apex North Carolina and Raleigh North Carolina Stakes. The new stake includes the following seven wards: the Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Harris Lake, Holly Springs, Knightdale, Swift Creek, and Zebulon Wards.

Philippines
The Church organized a new stake on November 8th. The Mangaldan Philippines Stake was organized from the Mangaldan Philippines District. The Mangaldan Philippines District previously operated as a stake from 1991 until 2003 when the district returned to district status. The Church consolidated the Mapandan Philippines District with the Mangaldan Philippines District in 2014 to prepare for the reestablishment of a stake.

There are now 96 stakes and 77 districts in the Philippines.

Kenya
The Church organized a new district on October 25th. The Mombasa Kenya District was organized from three mission branches in the Mombasa area, namely the Bamburi, Changamwe, and Mombasa Branches. All areas of the country with clusters of three or more mission branches now have had districts organized.

There are now four districts and one stake in Kenya.

Russia
The Church reinstated a district on November 8th. The Volgograd Russia District was organized from mission branches in the Russia Rostov-na-Donu Mission. The following five branches are assigned to the district: the Astrakhan, Volgograd Krasniarmesky, Volgograd Russia District, Volgograd Tsentralny, and Volzhsky Branch. The reinstated district is the Church's fifth district created this year. This surge in new districts appears attributed to a new policy or vision by the area presidency to reestablish districts in locations where there are clusters of branches. Most of the Church's districts in Russia were discontinued during the early 2010s.

There are now two stakes and seven districts (eight districts if counting the newly organized district in Crimea) in Russia

California
The Church discontinued a Spanish-speaking stake in California. The Covina California Stake (Spanish) was discontinued. Wards and branches previously assigned to the Spanish-speaking stake were redistributed to English-speaking stakes in the area. The decision to discontinue the stake does not appear attributed to leadership problems or inactivity. Rather, this decision appears attributed to a focus in the United States to consolidate Spanish-speaking stakes into ordinary stakes. Similar administrative changes have recently occurred in other stakes in the Los Angeles area and in Houston, Texas.

There are now 156 stakes in California.

Chile
The Church recently discontinued the La Unión Chile District. None of the seven branches previously assigned to the district were discontinued. Five of these branches were reassigned to the Osorno Chile Stake, whereas two of these branches were assigned to the Chile Osorno Mission. The decision to discontinue the district was likely due to some of the branches likely meeting the criteria to become wards, but no realistic opportunities for the district to become a stake within the foreseeable future.

There are now 77 stakes and 18 districts in Chile.

26 comments:

Joseph said...

Just an inquire in to what information people find useful in these Unit update posts and if there is anything people would like to see.

Also, I'm considering a change in groupings, specifically Mexico, and the Caribbean out of the NA group and creating a Central America area group to the current list, and moving Idaho into the North America group so that things line up with the default totals listing.

Thoughts?

Unit Update
1 Nov
Tepexi Branch, Tehuacán México Stake (3 branches, 5 Wards)

8 Nov
Figueira Grande Ward, São Paulo Brazil Guarapiranga Stake (10 Wards)

YTD 559(12.70/week 44) +2 (net 4) since last post
Africa 161, 28.8% (Middle East/Africa North Area Added)
Asia 18, 3.2%
Europe 27, 4.8%
North America (w/ Caribbean) 149, 26.7%
Pacific 46, 8.2%
South and Central America 63, 11.3%
Utah & Idaho 95, 17.0%


Totals no-sensitive
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 148 418 3,159 545 22,514 7,365 34,174
Us/Can 10 81 131 1,594 10 12,554 2,067 16,447
US n/a 73 124 1,547 7 12,217 1,916 15,884
Utah n/a 15 10 579 1 4,689 326 5,620
Canada n/a 8 7 47 3 337 151 553
Out 15 67 287 1,565 535 9,960 5,298 17,727

With Sensitive
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 148 418 3,159 556 22,518 7,456 34,280

madmack said...

Is there a way to have a net YTD increase for the separate sections? I definitely would like a central america group!

John Pack Lambert said...

I would find it really awesome if we could report on not just the creation of wards and branches but also the creation of groups. However I suspect that would not be possible.

Michael Worley said...

Today is a happy day!

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/statistics/unit/bangalore-india-stake/

Grant Emery said...

I'll admit I haven't been following Indian Church growth. Is this a new stake? The first stake? An undercover group of spies à la Mission: Impossible?

John Pack Lambert said...

I think this is the 2nd stake in India.

Michael Worley said...

This is, indeed, India's second stake, following the first one in Hyperdad in 2012.

John Pack Lambert said...

Currently the largest temple district by number of stakes is the Mexico City Temple District with 89 stakes. The next two largest, Santiago Chile and Campinas Brazil, both have temples being built that will take away some of their stakes.

Mike Johnson said...

Lima also has one of the largest temple districts, 72 stakes and 12 districts, but is also the second smallest temple.

Alex said...

It's interesting to note the temple attendance in those large Temple districts. For example, last I checked, Temple attendance from the Mexico City stakes is very low. I'm told that Campinas at least used to have similar problems, which is part of why a Rio Temple took so long and Brasilia is still waiting. Lima I'm told was busy, hence the fact that it' the only Temple up there whose district was split in 3, with rumors of other temples promised for eventually in the country (Iquitos). Temple attendance is one of the most publicly announced metrics for deciding where to build new temples, so those areas will have to turn around their attendance and will probably get new temples as soon as they can show that they'll use 2 temples.

mrcuff said...

There was a tri-Stake Conference in Henderson, Nevada, today when a fourth Stake was created from a division of the Black Mountain Stake. The two other Stakes were marginally affected.

The new Stake is the McCullough Hills Stake and consists of the following seven Wards: Highland Hills (borrowed from the adjacent Eldorado Stake), Palm Canyon, Paradise Hills, Dutchman Pass, McCullough Hills, Eldorado Pass, and Laurel Hills (all from the Black Mountain Stake).

The Black Mountain Stake consists of the following seven Wards: Horizon Ridge (borrowed from the adjacent Anthem Stake), Black Mountain, Aspen Peak, South Valley Ranch, Acacia (my Ward), Desert Rose, and Palm Hills. The Horizon Ward was discontinued and assimilated into other Wards.

The Eldorado Stake lost the Highland Hills Ward to the new Stake. But a new Ward was created: the Pearl Creek Ward.

Mike Johnson said...

Alex, I am curious where we can get reliable published data on temple attendance.

Michael said...

A new stake in Saratov, Russia, is either being, or has been, created.

Alex said...

Mike Johnson, if you ever find "reliable published data" about Temple attendance, I'd love to see it. The closest thing to reliable published data I have seen is comparing the number of endowment sessions to the theoretical capacity based on number if rooms. Everything else I have is based on local member reports, which I trust when the reports are consistent over time or given by people in the know. When I went looking online for attendance reports, the most consistent reports were that Provo and Mt Timp are super busy, Toronto and my home temple of Chicago are not, and Mexico City has had almost no success getting stakes inside the city to attend the temple for at least the last decade. No idea if Matt has more info from the surveys or TempleRick has data.

John Pack Lambert said...

Salt Lake and Ogden both have 63 stakes in their temple districts. Mount Timpanogos only has 56 stakes. So based on this figure, I would expect a temple in northern Davis County/south Weber County before one in Lehi/Eagle Mountain. However growth is more pronounced in north-west Utah county. Also stakes and temple attendance varry due to a large number of factors.

John Pack Lambert said...

I know from reports of someone I knew who went to the Mexico City Temple that on Saturday the Mexico City Temple is very heavily attended.

A tracked stat I would like to see is reports on the building of new chapels.

Mike Johnson said...

Thank you, Alex. I assumed that "Temple attendance is one of the most publicly announced metrics for deciding where to build new temples" meant you knew a source of publicly available attendance data. Perhaps I read too much in that--meaning the Church may talk about the demand signal they see, without publishing specific data. The Washington DC Temple is often claimed that it is underused, but my experience on Saturdays counters that idea with periods of demand above reasonable and planned capacity, causing patrons to have to wait and adding extra sessions has become routine. Anecdotal data may depend on the normal patron patterns at each temple.

John Pack Lambert said...

It appears a stake was organized in Henderson Nevada Today, the Henderson Nevada McCullogh Hills Stake. Of the 7 units in the stake, 5 of them were in one of my areas on my mission, when they were only parts of 2 wards. To be fair at least 2 of those wards cover areas where there were no houses when I was on my mission.

In Las Vegas the Church seems to be establishing more units in the parts of the city that are experiencing growth, but has also lost units in other parts of the city. We need to find ways to experience real growth. When I was on my mission there were lots of baptisms but retention was not what one would have liked to see.

Michael Worley said...

LDS Church Temples is confirming the Saratov stake. Between that and Bangalore, truly a historic day internationally. In addition, great news out of Nevada and (maybe?) Pleasant View Utah

Joseph said...

Post to update base line nothing has posted to CDOL for this week yet so its a good time to do it.

Old Categories
YTD 559(12.70/week 44)
Africa 161, 28.8% (Middle East/Africa North Area Added)
Asia 18, 3.2%
Europe 27, 4.8%
North America (w/ Caribbean) 149, 26.7%
Pacific 46, 8.2%
South and Central America 63, 11.3%
Utah & Idaho 95, 17.0%

New Format
YTD 559(12.70/week 44)
Africa 161, 28.8%
America North 121, 21.6%
America Central 40, 7.2%
America South 51, 9.1%
Asia 18, 3.2%
Europe 27, 4.8%
Pacific 46, 8.2%
Utah & Idaho 95(74), 17.0% (Utah only in parenthesis)

Total Units as of Today
Africa 1755
America North 9323
America Central 3919
America South 6341
Asia 927
Europe 1716
Pacific 2726
Utah & Idaho 6903
Total 33610 (+27 of Totals reported on the Default report)

Totals no-sensitive
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 148 418 3,159 545 22,514 7,365 34,174
Us/Can 10 81 131 1,594 10 12,554 2,067 16,447
US n/a 73 124 1,547 7 12,217 1,916 15,884
Utah n/a 15 10 579 1 4,689 326 5,620
Canada n/a 8 7 47 3 337 151 553
Out 15 67 287 1,565 535 9,960 5,298 17,727

With Sensitive
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 148 418 3,159 556 22,518 7,456 34,280

Joseph said...

Unit Update
15 Nov
Bartram Trails Branch, Jacksonville Florida South Stake (2 Branches, 9 Wards)
Braselton Branch, Athens Georgia Stake (5 Branches, 7 Wards)
Forest Ridge Ward, Tulsa Oklahoma East Stake (2 Branches, 9 Wards)
Grove 10th Ward, Pleasant Grove Utah West Stake (8 Wards)
Perry 10th Ward, Perry Utah Stake (10 Wards)
Pizzaty Branch, La Ceiba Honduras Stake (1 Branch, 10 Wards)
Planalto Branch, Mamanguape Brazil District (5 Branches)
Quail Creek Ward, Queen Creek Arizona West Stake (1 Branch, 9 Wards)

YTD 567(12.32/week 46) +8
Africa 161, 28.8% (0) - Total 1755 (0)
America North 125, 21.6% (+4) - Total 9325 (+2)
America Central 41, 7.2% (+1) - Total 3920 (+1)
America South 52, 9.1% (+1) - Total 6342 (+1)
Asia 18, 3.2% (0) - Total 927 (0)
Europe 27, 4.8% (0) - Total 1716 (0)
Pacific 46, 8.2% (0) - Total 2727 (+1)
Utah & Idaho 97(76), 17.0% (+2) - Total 6904(5689) (+1) (Utah only in parenthesis)

Totals haven't updated yet
Totals no-sensitive
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 148 418 3,159 545 22,514 7,365 34,174
Us/Can 10 81 131 1,594 10 12,554 2,067 16,447
US n/a 73 124 1,547 7 12,217 1,916 15,884
Utah n/a 15 10 579 1 4,689 326 5,620
Canada n/a 8 7 47 3 337 151 553
Out 15 67 287 1,565 535 9,960 5,298 17,727

With Sensitive
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 148 418 3,159 556 22,518 7,456 34,280

Reed said...

Joseph, thank you so much for all the work you put in to giving us a week by week report on the growth of wards and stakes worldwide. As you get to the final year-end totals next month, would it be possible, at least for Europe and Asia, to break down the figures by (1) wards or branches, and (2) by country? If that's too difficult, I'll understand. But it would be fascinating to know, particularly in Europe, where so many refugees are flooding in. The Church announced a few weeks ago that for the past five years in a row, over half of all convert baptisms in Europe were from Africa! I'd love to know which countries are represented in the 27 (so far) new wards or branches in Europe. Thanks for everything. Reed

Mike Johnson said...

These are the units of the Russia Samara Mission (from LDS Maps):

Russia Samara Mission
Russia Samara Mission Branch
Orenburg Branch
Izhevsk Branch

Saratov Russia District
Saratov Russia District Branch
Balakovo Branch
Volzhski Branch
Dachny Branch
Zavodskoy Branch
Marks Branch
Penza Branch
Solnichny Branch
Engels Branch

Samara Russia District
Samara Russia District Branch
Avrory Branch
Bezymyansky Branch
Kazan' Branch
Novokuybishevsk Branch
Toliatti Branch
Ulianovsk Branch

The Saratov District has 8 regular and 1 administrative branch. That is great news about it becoming a stake.

The mission had 2 districts, 16 regular branches and 3 administrative branches.

John Pack Lambert said...

A significant percentage of converts baptized in European nations who are nationals of nations in Africa end up returning to their nation of origin. Actually before I comment more on the "over half the converts in Europe are Africans" claim, I want to know if Alex Boye would be in the African half. He was born in England to a Nigerian mother. If I understand what I have read on him correclty his father never came to England.

Alex said...

In retrospect, that was poorly phrased. By publicly announced, I meant criterion most publicly discussed as part of choosing where temples go.

James Anderson said...

In the Salt Lake area I'm also seeing more African nationals here to attend school. Have given out a number of pass-along cards to them as I have come across them, not all that I've seen but regularly enough.

Alex Boye had to fly back to England, apparently his father did die there. He went back for at least the funeral.