I have received a report that 46 missions will be affected by mission consolidations and the creation of new missions this July.
At most recent report, the following missions will be discontinued this July:
- Australia Sydney (two missions to be consolidated into one)
- Bulgaria Sofia (to be combined with the Central Eurasian Mission)
- Mississippi Jackson (to be combined with Louisiana Baton Rouge and Texas Dallas)
- New York New York (two missions to be consolidated into one)
- Ohio Cleveland (to be combined with three surrounding missions)
- Russia Samara (to be combined with Russia Rostov-Na-Donu)
- Ukraine L'viv (to be combined with Ukraine Kyiv)
- Washington Federal Way (to be combined with surrounding missions)
The consolidation of these missions has appeared needed for many years due to historically low numbers of convert baptisms, and often few missionaries assigned to these missions and other nearby missions. For example, missions in Bulgaria and L'viv have had few missionaries assigned for many years and report extremely few convert baptisms. Also, it appears that many of the missions created to accommodate "the surge" of missionaries serving in the mid-2010s due to the lowering of the age of full-time missionary service may be consolidated - especially in the United States. These missions primarily created in 2013 represented a quick-fix to accommodate tens of thousands of more missionaries serving, most of which were from the United States, within a short period of time. As the Church in the United States has the greatest infrastructure to accommodate such a rapid and temporary increase in the number of full-time missionaries, it is unsurprising that these mission consolidations have occurred now that the double-cohort of missionaries has passed. Moreover, the decision to close these missions will likely indicate a shift in resource allocation from less productive areas of the world (e.g. North America, Europe, industrialized nations in Asia and Oceania) to more productive ones (e.g. Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, industrializing nations in Asia).
At most recent report, I have received reports of the following missions to be created this July:
- Philippines Cabanatuan
- Utah Layton
- Zimbabwe Harare
If you have any information about new mission creations or mission consolidations, please comment.
10 comments:
The New York mission consolidations does not surprise me. Even though New York City has a huge population, with the combined missions having upward of 9 million inhabitants, receptivity just does not justify more mission infastructure. Also back when the mission was split in the 1990s there were mainly districts there but today it is all stakes so a unified mission makes sense.
Of the mission consolidations listed so far only 3 are directly related to surge era creations. Federal Way does not surprise me. The number of missions in the Seattle metro area seemed a bit much.
Cleveland saddens me, but does not surprise me. This will but Ohio back to two missions. It will be interesting to learn how boundaries will be sorted out. I wonder if Toledo Stake will be assigned to the Detroit Mission.
The Texas Dallas Mission taking from the Mississippi Jackson Mission would seem to indicate a boundary shift between North America Southwest and North America Southeast. I often think it might make sense to transfer Nevada to the North America West Area. Arizona is not much smaller in Church membership than California and with Nevada, Texas plus New Mexico, Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas and Missouri as well as small parts of Colorado, Louisiana, Kansas and evensome of California the North America Southwest area would seem to be much bigger these days than the Hawaii and California based North America West Area.
I haven't heard anything about missions being eliminated in Mexico, at least not yet. I don't think they will add any either, considering the abysmal baptismal rate that they have been having there lately too (about a third of peak baptismal activity ten years ago).
A mission to be created in Zimbabwe is the Zimbabwe Bulawayo Mission not the Zimbabwe Harare Mission as you mentioned in your article. So what is happening is that the Zimbabwe Harare Mission will be split into two creating a new mission which is Zimbabwe Bulawayo Mission from Zimbabwe Harare Mission.
My nephew serving as AP in the Mexico Monterrey East mission reports his mission will be consolidated between Mexico Monterrey West and Reynosa. However, the mission president was called in July 2016, so perhaps he'll stay on, and replace one of the other presidents?
There have been two missions in Monterrey since at least 1994 when I served there.
If the Dallas mission is going to be taking in some of the Mississippi Jackson mission, this makes it seem more likely to me that eventually a third mission will be created in the DFW metropolitan area. Dallas is already one of the missions excluding the mountain west, with the most stakes in it, and has seen consistent stake creation for several years. I don't know how strong the missionary work has been there, though. I imagine it is a tough area to teach people.
I understand only the Shreveport Stake is going to Dallas.
Changes have been announced for two temple visitors' center as well. As of December 31, 2017, the London Temple Visitors' Centre (located in the Surrey countryside) has been repurposed as a nonpatron waiting area for the temple while the Hyde Park Chapel (located in London proper) will continue to function as a visitors' center.
And in July 2018, the New Zealand Temple Visitors' Centre will permanently close at the same time that the Hamilton New Zealand Temple closes for renovation. The visitors' center's functions will be subsumed by the new Church History Centre and Museum in Hamilton.
The New Zealand Temple Visitors' Centre looks like a renovation closure, not a permanent closure.
That would make sense
From what I understand the Washington DC Visitor Center will remain open while the temple is closed starting in March until 2020. The DC South Mission seems to be baptizing all right, it is an area of constant growth. A new chapel is imminent in Reston, where the metro reached the past couple years.
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