Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Stakes Likely to Split Outside the United States and Canada - December 2017 Edition

Below is an updated list of stakes that may split within the near future. Previous lists are available for December 2012, January 2014, December 2014, November 2015, and November 2016.

AFRICA
  • Aba Nigeria North (11 wards, 2 branches)
  • Aba Nigeria Ogbor Hill (10 wards, 5 branches) 
  • Abeokuta Nigeria (10 wards, 5 branches) 
  • Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire Niangon South (10 wards)
  • Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire Yopougon Attie (10 wards)
  • Accra Ghana Adenta (11 wards, 5 branches)
  • Ashaiman Ghana (10 wards, 2 branches)
  • Assin Foso Ghana (9 wards, 8 branches)
  • Benin City Nigeria Ihogbe (10 wards, 4 branches) 
  • Benin City Nigeria Ugbowo (10 wards, 2 branches)
  • Cocody Cote d'Ivoire (11 wards, 2 branches)
  • Ibadan Nigeria (11 wards, 2 branches) 
  • Ikot Ekpene Nigeria (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Kimbanseke (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Masina (11 wards, 1 branch) 
  • Kinshasa Democratic Republic of Congo Mokali (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Kinshasa Democratic Republic of Congo Ngaliema (10 wards, 1 branch) 
  • Lagos Nigeria Agege (10 wards)
  • Lagos Nigeria Ikeja (10 wards, 1 branch) 
  • Port-Bouet Cote d'Ivoire (10 wards, 2 branches)
  • Port Harcourt Nigeria West (10 wards, 1 branch)
  • Warri Nigeria (11 wards, 2 branches)
  • Ukat Aran Nigeria  (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Winneba Ghana (8 wards, 7 branches)
  • Yamoransa Ghana (9 wards, 5 branches)
ASIA
  • Jakarta Indonesia (9 wards, 1 branch)
  • Butuan Philippines (10 wards, 1 branch)
  • Hsin Chu Taiwan (10 wards)
  • Iloilo Philippines North (10 wards, 1 branch)
  • Lipa Philippines (10 wards, 2 branches)
  • Mandaue Philippines (9 wards, 1 branch)
  • Singapore (10 wards)
  • Tao Yuan Taiwan (9 wards)
CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
  • Coatzacoalcos Mexico Puerto (13 wards, 1 branch)
  • Managua Nicaragua (9 wards, 1 branch)
  • Mazatenango Guatemala (11 wards, 1 branch) 
OCEANIA
  • Faaa Tahiti (10 wards)
  • Ha'apai Tonga (9 wards, 5 branches) 
  • Punaauia Tahiti (11 wards)
  • Upolu Samoa Saleilua (9 wards, 2 branches)
SOUTH AMERICA
  • Belém Brazil (9 wards)
  • Belém Brazil Icoaraci (9 wards)
  • Buenos Aires Argentina Castelar (10 wards)
  • Fortaleza Brazil (9 wards)
  • Fortaleza Brazil Bom Jardim (9 wards)
  • Joao Pessoa Brazil Rangel (10 wards, 1 branch)
  • Lima Peru Canto Grande (10 wards) 
  • Lima Perú Santa Isabel (9 wards)
  • Rio Branco Brazil (10 wards, 1 branch)
  • Santa Maria Brazil (10 wards, 1 branch)
  • São José Brazil (9 wards, 1 branch)
  • São José dos Campos Brazil (10 wards)
  • São Paulo Brazil Casa Grande (9 wards)
  • São Paulo Brazil Guarapiranga (10 wards)
  • São Paulo Brazil Penha (10 wards) 

26 comments:

Johnathan Reese Whiting said...

This isn't really related to this post, but I learned some interesting stats from a temple employee today.

Apparently, the Ogden Temple is the busiest in Utah. They do between 6,000 and 8,000 ordinances a day. The ordinances done by youth far outnumber those done by adults, as they have anywhere between 20-50 youth come by each weekday before school to do baptisms every week.

Luciano said...

Fortaleza Brazil Litoral (9 wards)

Unknown said...

In the case of Costa Rica, the stakes have 5-6 wards. There is a probability of splits two stake (La Paz and La Sabana) to organize another one.
San Jose, Costa Rica has 26 wards and 4 stakes.

Luciano said...

Curitiba Brazil Jardim do Sol (9 wards,1 branch)

James Anderson said...

Ogden doing 6k endowments a day is a stretch, as when they introduced new temple films everywhere after a three-day closure in April 1990, and President Hinckley had talked about temple recommends and temples the Saturday before in General Conference, Provo was so swamped with patrons the word finally got out that they had done doubnle what they normally do for endowments anyway with six ordinance rooms, and Ogden now has only four rooms with fewer seats each down from what they had before the rebuild which befire then mirrored Provo.

The running average for Provo is around wk endowments a day. During that matter in 1990 it was 4k a day for a week or so. They even had to write names down on paper as they didn't have enough in the printer system in use at the time.

David Todd said...

James, Johnathan said that the Ogden temple is doing 6-8k ordinances a day, not endowments. He even specified that a large reason for that is because of youth baptisms.

James Anderson said...

That makes far more sense thsn just endowments, but it shows they may, like almost all other temples in the region, are at capacity now

Christopher said...

Kind of cool that the church announced that young men can now officiate in temple baptisms and young women w will also be able to assist (I hope that means more than just handing out towels.) Great news and obviously the youth are pretty awesome when it comes to baptisms for the dead. That means the temples in Utah may get a little busier. Maybe it is time to announce separate dedicated baptistries as temple building extensions?

Jim Coles said...

Over on ldschurchtemples website, it posted that the Bertioga branch became a Ward in the Guaruja Brasil stake. This was my first area on my mission in 1998. When I was serving there, there were 2 sets of missionaries. They even had a second sacrament meeting for a group on the further end of the branch boundaries. As a matter of fact at the time that group based in Boraceia had more members attending than the branch services. Also the São Paulo South mission boundaries ended just north of Boraceia at that time. I remember having to get permission from the mission president to teach people in the mission north of us. There really wasn't any missionaries nearby in the neighboring mission. Very exciting news for me

Cory said...

Christopher, funny you would mention that. My ward as a youth went monthly to the Idaho Falls Temple at 5am before school started. The wait was usually long and many youth attended early in the morning. One temple worker joked that the temple president wanted a second font in the temple. Perhaps that is not too far fetched of the future of temples in such places like Utah. The Provo Temple will probably be renovated in the next decade, that would be a good pilot location to try that out. I also had heard that people joked that the font in the Meridian Idaho temple was large enough to have two ordinances occurring simultaneously. The obvious problem would be noise interference, but perhaps they could come up with a solution.

Speaking of the Stakes. The Coatzacoalcos Mexico Puerto stake has had 13 wards since at least December 2012 when Matt first made the list. I don't know if many stakes have ever remained at 13 wards for that long. Could there be something preventing the split, or at least the reorganization of the stake with the neighboring stake that only has 5 wards? Could it be possible the wards aren't strong enough to create a new stake and they will be consolidated like what we've seen in other Mexican cities this year?

James Anderson said...

There was a thought about a second baptistry for Provo, this came out a year or two into the construction of Provo City Center.

The anecdotal story was that the temple presidency had observed the uptick and according to a letter found tacked to a bulletin board in a chapel i was in for a funeral, they had experienced a 400% increase in youth attending the baptistry. By late 2010 they had the plans ready for a second baptistry and they sent it up to the Presiding Bishopric but it was shot down, one Tuesday in December 2010, they got the word and part of that is said to have read to the effect that 'We don't do it that way'

Two days later, a rehearsal was held for a concert that was to be taped by BYUtv of a major Christmas work, and a lighting tech left a filmmaker's hotlight too close to some of the wood structure wjich caused the fire and the Tabernacle burned down, we got the Provo City Center Temple out of that.

So they got the second baptistry albeit in a new temple two miles away.

John Pack Lambert said...

The problem with a 2nd baptistry is that endownments is generally where there is a backlog of temple ordinances. With lower mission ages the number of baptisms done by YSAs is probably way down, but there seems to be growing pushes for new converts to participate. Changing guidelines on clothing in the confirmation process do allow for streamlining.

I am hoping high use of Ogden Temple means Layton will have one announced soon.

I am really hoping at least one new temple for Nigeria will be announced next year. Nigeria evidently has more wards than Canada, and Canada has 8 temples with a 9th on the way and some of these larger than the Aba Temple. While some parts of the US are assigned to Canadian Temples, at least 2 wards and a branch in Canada are assigned to US temples at least at a functional level. I predict both Benin City and Lagos will have temples announced next year.

Johnathan Reese Whiting said...

@David Todd: Thanks for clarifying for me. Here's some details on the age reduction for temple work for those interested.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865694033/Mormon-teens-to-have-greater-opportunities-for-temple-service-in-2018.html

Eduardo said...

I've been hoping for Chilean Stake growth now that the Elder Holland fusion movement took place in the early 2000s, and the second temple imminently here. It may take a while to get to 100 again.
Any thoughts on that potential?

Michael Worley said...

I think the growth in Nigeria has been so rapid that many normal church resources-- additional temples, full implementation of the BYU Pathways program, an MTC and/or its own area, etc. will be forthcoming over the next decade. This will start, I imagine, with a second temple announced next April.

The same is true for Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. I think there tends to be more resources available where either (a) there is a greater % of the population who are members and/or where the country has longer had members. These factors are one reason why Ghana (for now) has a greater institutional presence-- MTC, HQ of Africa West Area, more Pathways sites. Ghana has one of the highest % LDS on the continent, just behind Sierra Leone, even though Nigeria has almost double the number of wards + branches as Ghana, and 9x Sierra Leone.

Michael Worley said...

Ghana has 8x the number of pathways sites Nigeria does, but the 1 nigeria site is the site with the highest enrollment outside the USA.

John Pack Lambert said...

If I read things right the one pathway sight in Nigeria is in Ikeja, close to Lagos. The most members are in the south-east of the country, and I would think there is potential there as well as in Benin City.

I would be surprised if Nigeria gets an MTC any time soon. At least to me Kinshasa would seem a better candidate for the next MTC on the African continent. There is no MTC in any Francophone country at present.

A big reason Nigerian membership is a low percentage of the population is that the northern third of the country has no LDS presence at all. I think Akwa Ibom state may have a higher percentage of church m embers than any other similar level sub national unit in Africa.

Mike Johnson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Johnson said...

Jim, very interesting.

LDS Maps shows Boraceia in Ramo São Sebastião (SP) (São Sebastião Branch) in Distrito São Sebastião Brasil (São Sebastião Brazil District) and not in Ramo Bertioga of Estaca Guarujá Brasil. It also has it Bertioga Ward, but still Ramo Bertioga.

James Anderson said...

U thought Bertioga was closer to Santos on BR-101 and was the last real place that might have a church unit if any before the mission district involving Microregion of Caraguatatuba, Maresias, and Ubatuba among others

Jim Coles said...

A portion of boraceia lies in ramo sao sebastiao. Heading south west down the coast there are 2 other portions which are considered Boraceia. We often got referrals from members to area in the sao sebastiao branch. my companion and I lived in a member's home on the bertioga side. That is where the group meeting was held right there on the border. Many things have changed since then (like the santos mission was created and the sao sebastiao district was included in that mission. The one thing that it looks like hasn't is the border dividing boraceia. There were many natives as well in the area. We never got the opportunity to teach any of them, but I always thought it would be interesting. My companion told me that we had to have permission to teach them from the mission president and a Brasilian missionary with us. I'm not sure if that was a law or mission policy at the time

Michael Worley said...

Nigeria is also 7x as populous as Ghana with a third of the concentration per member, so even looking at the southern 2/3 of Nigeria, I suspect the already-large membership in the southern 2/3 would need to double or triple in order to match the concentration that Ghana currently has .

I think Akwa Ibom state may be about as concentrated as Ghana as a whole, but I do suspect narrow areas of Ghana and the more sparsely populated Sierra Leonne are more heavily concentrated LDS.

Still, this is a minor point-- the growth in Nigeria is rapid and wonderful, as evidenced by the apx. +100 new units created this year (a ~20% increase!)

Michael Worley said...

Since Nigeria seems to be growing by 4-5% a year, I hope congregational growth stays at 100/year -- that would be more than 5% but it would quickly become 5% as the # congregations hit 1,000.

The Chatelain's said...

Nigeria was at 600 units for just a few hours before rising to 601.

Michael Worley said...

Yes! It now equals Chile (though Chile still has many more wards).

James G. Stokes said...

Sorry I am late in commenting on this discussion, but I did want to share a thought on this line of discussion. I don't find it hard to believe that the Ogden Utah Temple may very well be one of the busiest (if not the busiest) temples in the Church. During the six-year period in which I served at the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple, my fellow workers and I were repeatedly told that the Provo Utah Temple was the busiest one in the Church. During the two times per year when that temple closed for cleaning, patrons in that district were rerouted to the Mount Timpanogos Temple, and those were our very busiest weeks of the year. But even when the Provo Temple was open, we still stayed fairly busy. With the two shifts I had there per week, I once estimated that, on average, I was helping 100 patrons almost every week. And that was just me over two shifts. While we were short-staffed most of the time, we also had many couples with whom I worked that served between 2-5 shifts per week. And even though the Provo Temple was busier at the time (which was only one factor in the decision to rebuild the Tabernacle as a second temple in that city), the Mount Timpanogos Temple kept busy every week. During those six years, we set new all-time records for the substantial number of endowments performed. One such record showed that, in one of the busiest days at the temple, over 5,000 endowments were performed. And if, in one day, the Mount Timpanogos Temple saw 5,000 endowments performed, it is not a stretch by any means to believe that 6,000-8,000 ordinances (including baptisms, confirmations, initiatory, endowments, and sealings) could easily be performed in one day at the Ogden Temple. And yes, that 5,000 endowments in a single day at the Mount Timpanogos Temple was confirmed to me not only by my shift leader, but by the temple president at the time. So I have no reason to doubt that the Ogden Temple, which, after the dedication of the Provo City Center Temple, took the spot of the most busy temple in the Church, could easily have 6,000-8,00 ordinances performed in a single day on a regular basis. The Utah temples are always kept very busy, which is probably why so many new ones are announced for the state regularly. While I have not been able to confirm it personally, one of the men I worked with at the Mount Timpanogos Temple was transferred to the Provo Utah Temple when all stakes in Orem were shifted over, and I heard from him that, even with the second temple in Provo, the original is still one of the busiest in the Church, if not the very busiest one. Just wanted to add these thoughts, for what they may be worth to any of you.