Below is a list of all of the countries and dependencies/territories of
the world with the percentage of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in each location as
of 2018. Countries with an asterisk indicate that membership figures
are estimated due to no official membership data released to the
public. I have made these estimates on my own without unauthorized data. Previous data are available for
2008,
2016, and
2017.
Population figures were obtained from the CIA World Factbook for all
locations except of overseas departments of France. Population data for
French overseas collectivities/departments was accessed via
http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/OA or the most recent government source.
Please click on the table to be able to read the data. Unfortunately I have to upload these tables as pictures with blogger.
ASIA
CARIBBEAN/ATLANTIC ISLANDS
EUROPE
MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA
NORTH AMERICA
OCEANIA
SOUTH AMERICA
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
FYI, there are 8 members here in Svalbard, 6 of us active. We will lose one active member this summer as they head off to college.
ReplyDeleteIs there a member group in Svalbard for Church services?
DeleteWhat's the meaning of the asterisk?
ReplyDelete"Countries with an asterisk indicate that membership figures are estimated due to no official membership data released to the public. I have made these estimates on my own without unauthorized data."
DeleteOne of the 5 members from San Marino is serving as a full time missionary in the Boston Massachusetts Mission.
ReplyDeleteIt was just announced on the Church's Twitter that the Auckland New Zealand will be built next to the MTC there.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/ChurchNewsroom/status/1130746110383874048
I forgot the word "temple."
ReplyDeleteSuriname is South America is missing.
ReplyDelete*in South Americ, I mean
ReplyDeleteI wondered if President Nelson might announce the location of the Auckland Temple, excited to hear that it happened! Here's a Newsroom article about it along with the rest of President Nelson's ministry to New Zealand:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/president-nelson-pacific-ministry-2019-auckland
I'm fascinating looking up countries with the most amount of members but without a temple. Besides Portugal, any other such countries?
ReplyDeleteMore temple news announced. The Asunción Paraguay Temple will be rededicated on November 3rd following a one week open house. Also, the open house and dedication dates for the Arequipa Peru Temple have been announced. The temple will be dedicated on December 15th.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/update-on-two-south-america-temples
Probably no definitive answer for this, but I wonder why the Asunción Paraguay Temple wasn't updated to a similar design as some of the other recently-renovated smaller Hinckley-era temples?
DeleteI had a little chuckle.
ReplyDeleteAs the Prophet presented the NZ Primeminister with a Book of Mormon. Considering she is/was a member of the church. Apparently quit church over gay rights. I suspect she may know about the book.
Member, former member, or never been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, if a living prophet of the Lord gifts you ancient scripture focused on the Living God, "you've been served". God bless her and us; may we always choose the right path for the best.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info about Svalbard/Spitzbergen. As a kid in the 1980s I tried creating a comic about a super espionage agent called "Johlwihr of Spitzbergen". Or maybe Johlwehr? I am not sure how I derived that name but sometimes I wonder if there are such names.
ReplyDeleteI believe the movie "Bear Island" captivated my imagination as far as regions like that.
In Bengaluru, Bishop Davies and his wife met with members in the Whitefield Chapel where he assured them that plans for the construction of the temple announced for that city last April are well underway. “We hope to share details of the design and location before the end of the year,” he said, urging members to prepare themselves and their families to attend when it is finally complete.
ReplyDelete(India Temple) ^^
ReplyDeleteHere's the recent Newsroom article where the mentioned update on the Bengaluru India Temple is from:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mormonnewsroom.in/article/apostle-m--russell-ballard-teaches-and-inspires-on-his-first-visit-to-india
In continued temple news, detailed plans for the renovation of the St. George Temple were announced today:
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-shares-renovation-plans-st-george-utah-temple
05/22/2019 Umuahia Nigeria South Stake (2138700) 4 wards + 3 branches
ReplyDeletehttps://classic.lds.org/maps/#ll=5.512524,7.511021&z=14&m=google.road&layers=stakecenter&q=Umuahia%20Nigeria%20South%20Stake&find=stake:2138700
India was 'stunning,' President Ballard says after his first visit to the country
ReplyDeleteMay 22nd, 2019
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-05-22/india-president-ballard-first-visit-country-49949
05/22/2019 Orem Utah 2nd Stake (Tongan) -
ReplyDeletehttps://classic.lds.org/maps/#ll=40.307616,-111.69155&z=18&m=google.road&layers=stakecenter&q=Orem%20Utah%202nd%20Stake%20(Tongan)&find=stake.tongan:2133067
Why on Earth wouldn't they make this one Samoan-speaking? More than half of the current "Tongan" stake is Samoan-speaking.
ReplyDeleteNew temple presidents and matrons called to serve in Peru, Nigeria, Alabama and California
ReplyDelete05/23/2019
"Ramiro Antelo Saenz, 60, Las Misiones Ward, Santa Cruz Bolivia Abundancia Stake, called as president of the Arequipa Peru Temple. President Antelo’s wife, Elvira Avalos Sumoya de Antelo, will serve as temple matron. He is a high councilor and a former Bolivia La Paz Mission president , stake president and bishop. An attorney, he was born in Santa Cruz, Andres Ibañez, Bolivia, to Franco Emilio Antelo and Solano Carmen Saenz. ..."
Also, just noticed, not sure when this happened, the "Provo Utah Wasatch Stake (Tongan) - 462810" at some point, has been renamed "Provo Utah 1st Stake (Tongan)" :
ReplyDeletehttps://classic.lds.org/maps/#ll=40.088361,-111.486716&z=10&m=google.road&layers=stakecenter&q=Provo%20Utah%201st%20Stake&find=stake.tongan:462810
The Church recently finished translating the Triple Combination into Bislama, one of the primary languages of Vanuatu:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lds.org/letters?clang=eng&id=16850&lang=eng&source=1&inline=true (Requires access to LCR).
The electronic version is also now available in the Gospel Library app.
A couple of Church news items to report:
ReplyDeletePresident Nelson is going on another ministry tour to South America at the end of August. Local areas have reported that Bogotá, Quito, and Sao Paulo will be receiving President Nelson on 25 Aug, 27 Aug, and 01 Sep, respectively.
Albeit no information is given I THINK he will probably be stopping by Argentina as well as this would be the last country that he would not have visited in South America, except Venezuela and the three small Carribbean nations next to Venezuela.
Here locally in Puebla, another stake is going to be formed on the west side of town on the first weekend in June. Details are sketchy on exactly where this stake is going to be, if it will be in Ometoxtla, a small town north of Cholula with four wards in the immediate area and a couple more north of there, or if the two Nealtican stakes will be splitting to form a third stake. I do not see both things happening though it is possible. Further details are pending on this as well as the Elder that will be officiating at the stake conference where it will be divided. The weekend before that there will be a special womens' conference for the two Puebla Missions that is going to be packed with nearly 5000 women.
If the Elder coming is an Apostle, it would be a nearly sure bet that they will at a minimum declare a spot for the Puebla Temple, and at a maximum present a rendering of the temple or even proceed to groundbreaking. The members are saying a spot is already determined for the north side of town near Galerias Serdan Mall.
FWIW Elder Holland will be in Mexico immediately before, for a devotional to the YSA in Mexico. So it could be him.
Well technically at a maximum Elder Holland could at the meeting announce 4 more additional temples will be built in Mexico including 2 in Puebla tobetter serve members there, a second in Mexico City, one in Cancun and one in Culiacan specifically to provide the faithful refuge from the wars done by the drug cartel while saying that President Nelson will announce 2-3 pther additional temples for Mexico in October in what will be an announcement of 52 upcoming temples. I know that is unlikely but it is the maximum that could be done.
DeleteOmetoxtla has a very rich Church History, being virtually the cradle-ward for the entire Puebla-Tlaxcala region. Narciso Sandoval who was a rather flamboyant missionary, hailed from this town. He had substantial success in other nearby towns and even states, the two stakes in Nealtican are testament to that. I am kind of biased because he was my wife's great grandpa. The Church has been there for 80 plus years, and though the initial persecutions were strong, they have grown enough to reach this outcome, despite being a town of only about 4000 inhabitants, and the surrounding towns perhaps double that number.
ReplyDeleteNealtican is bigger, but has no more than about 12000 inhabitants itself. Home to two stakes, there is a chapel on every other street corner. If not for all the people speaking Spanish (with the older generations speaking Nahuatl), as well as the gigantic Popocatepetl volcano in the background, you would think you were in a small town in Utah or maybe Cardston AB.
These days many even small towns in Utah have enough Spanish and even Nahuatl speakers that the difference between them and Nealtican is probably even less than you suggest.
DeleteHispanic Outreach Initiative was introduced by an Area Seventy at a regional single adult committee meeting I attended last night. Areas of North America will be focusing on specific outreach goals to Hispanics. Afterwards I googled and found this video about it, worth a watch, anyone else heard about this?
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/7b4LDgrQoM0
Interesting. The current trends of church growth really make me believe that the day of the gentile is ending and the day of the gathering of Israel is just beginning. As white North America and Europe (gentiles) increasingly reject the gospel, as prophesied, then those of the literal house of Israel will be gathered. It's pretty remarkable how that BOM prophesy is being fulfilled before our very eyes.
DeleteMy grandparents have noted to mw that the Christian churches that once were filled with white America are now filled almost entirely with immigrant families. We already know that many of them, especially Hispanics, are the literal house of Israel. I think this is only the beginning.
David W. Eka was just called as president of the Aba Temple. Brother Eka was the first president of the Aba Nigeria Stake, thus the first stake president in Africa outside South Africa.
ReplyDeleteBrother Eka along with John Grinceri from Australia was one of two men called as an Area Seventy in October 1997. They were the first new area seventies called after the announcement of the calling in April 1997 when over 100 Area Seventies were called.
Brother Eka isoriginally from Etinan in Akwa Ibom State, which will have a temple of its own before next decade is out.
There was an Elder Eka from Nigeria or Ghana on my mission. Wonder if they're related?
DeleteWouldnt surprise me. However I have no clue how common Eka is as a last name.
DeleteWhere is the info anout this next ministering tour?
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see Nigeria surpass South American countries Paraguay, then Uruguay, then on and on, maybe. I gave away some Igbo Books of Mormon a few years ago; each native speaker was interested in the wording and the linguistic variation in that translation. Igbo has many sub-alternate dialects that make those cultures very diverse and complex.
ReplyDeleteYoruba comes in second, I guess, for Church membership. More Muslims there. Hausa has the most Muslims, more up north.
A fourth major language is "E" something, Ekpi? Eki? They are a smaller minority but I believe the church is moving forward with them.
Nigeria has already passed Paraguay and Uruguay both in members and in wards and stakes.
ReplyDeleteOn the level of stakes, it would be the fifth highest country in South America behind Brazil, Peru, Argentina, and Chile. On number of members, they are comparable to Colombia, Bolivia, and Venezuela.
Nigeria already has more congregations than Chile or Canada, and are only 100 congregations short of Argentina and Peru.
As far as the news about President Nelson visiting Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador, that information has been passed on by the Area leadership to those countries, then spread around on social media. Masfe.org and maisfe.org had the info on both cases (first site in Spanish, last site in Portuguese).
Ghana is almost up there with both Paraguay and Uruguay in members, and already has them beat in stakes and districts. There are more congregations there than in Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, or Venezuela.
ReplyDeleteCote D'Ivoire still is about 40k short of Paraguay in members but has Paraguay beat on stakes and districts and is even with Uruguay. Number of congregations comparable to Venezuela, Colombia, and Bolivia.
DR Congo has Paraguay and Uruguay both beat on stakes, number of congregations slightly lower, comparable to Venezuela.
Efi. Ifi... Africa is so diverse.
ReplyDeleteTestimony of truth is an interesting thing. We claim that we know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that the Book of Mormon truly testifies of Him by the voice of ancient prophets that no other faith recognizes, that Joseph Smith divinely translated this scripture and restored the keys of the Kingdom of God, that the priesthoods of Melchizedek and Aaron are available to all today and their Orders are what God has to run His government.
ReplyDeleteAlong with those centeal core assertions are many prophecies considered true and eventual, like the vision of Daniel and the stone filling the Earth, and Smith predicting growth of the Faith from the Isaac Morley farm in Ohio, and perhaps hundreds of prophetic visions and clues received and shared before and since.
Tracking the growth of said faith is a way to verify and/or confirm parts of this grand movement, but it in itself is not necessarily crucial to know the core truthes or knowledge of the Kingdom of God as we understand it. But for some it helps.
Quantifying the harder to quantify, or not meant to quantify testimony of a grand truth, starting with Jesus as Saviour, God's plan and the course of us His children, and all the rest.
Observing real world data can correlate to in some respects substantiating much of the overall narrative. But it is not intrinsic, but peripheral and most of us members do not give it much thought. But it is nice to have a place where some seem to pay attention to such lesser but nonetheless quantifiable indicators.
Glad to have insight into such things.
Africa, South America like an oak tree, temples in Yuba City and Okinawa, the narratives continue to enfold and prophecies ignored by many become evident to some.
Thanks for sharing these things, truly. Happy Sabbath.
PS: When I say "no other faith" claims the veracity of the Book of Mormon, I realize there are splinter faiths that accept it and a few of them read and review these blogs, so I am not discounting you. I am choosing to emphasize the main vehicle of the Restoration as I know it.
ReplyDeleteI have taken up reading through old Ensign policy and procedures articles. Some of what I have found harkens back to a time the Church was much different. This even though the Ensign started in 1971 after correlation had largely been implemented, as the move of general authoroties from being implementors to being policy develipers was in place and related changes moving towards the present.
ReplyDeleteThe Church was still an American, English-speaking body at heart. This may still be more true today than we want to admit but with continued growth in Nigeria, Ghana anD Ivory Coast combined with apostasy in California may not remain so much longer.
1971 saw the end of church wide athletic competitions. These were replaced by stake, region zone and area competitions, 4 levels. From the wording it sounded like Europe was considered in these configurations woth its own Area, 9 areas in the US but Latin America and the Pacific were not covered at least based on my 1st reading.
Full time missionaries were specifically not allowed in such competition. By the time I was a youth in the 1990s at least in Michigan we had no competition above the stake level. We also only had basketball for boys and basketball and volleyball for girls ans as far as I have been able to tell men's basketball I have at least never been aware of adult women sports competition. At one point into the late 1989s the stake track meet was a regular event held annually but in the 1990s it happened only maybe every three years.
Also the stake scripture chase used to be a major competition. Then for 5 years straight my ward won. The way my seminary teacher explained it the other wards were tired of not winning so they moved ot away from being a ward to ward competition. She clearly didnt like this.
ReplyDeleteOther points I found was in early 1972 there was a direct request to not get general authority autographys. 1971 saw a request to use the temple sealers and not ask that general authorities do sealings. 1972 also saw a request that general authority talks not be recorded.
ReplyDeleteOne 1972 item I found odd was the very ling involved information on what exact items should be sent with a young women going off to college who was 18 to complete her last year of the young women program, whose name at the time I am blanking on. It is a very different set of rules now where we accept that 18 year olds and any who have graduated high school even if not 18 are out of the youth programs fully. Although the YSA programs of today do make it not quite a transition to the regular adult programs in all cases.
Other interesting things was the emphasis on religious training of servicemen as important as mission home training for missionaries and as a Sunday program while they were in basic training.
Sunday school classes were evidently broken out by age all the way to 22. I learned this from the detailed reports on Superintendant Russell M. Nelson of the newly renamed Sunday School of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (formerly the dropping his name Deseret Sunday School Union) having reorganized the general board to have an executive committee of 13 with the Superintendency (where there was also Joseph B. Wirthlin). And 9 committee chairs who oversaw committes of the larger board. I am not sure the modern board even has 9 members. One of the committees was responsible for aged classes from 12 to 22.
One of the more interesting poinrs was one that said to end the " bishop for a day" program. This evidently was a never actually aprroved program where one Sunday the sacrament meeting would be presided over by a youth designated bishop for the day.
The first French speaking stake was not organized until 1972. Was this in France? No. Was this in Quebec? No. This was in Tahiti and as such probably more members were marginally than fully fluent in French withTahitian not having been as displaced by French as it has been in the following decades.
ReplyDeleteOf course today at almost if not the majority of French speaking stakes are in the Congo. Probably not the majority because of the stakes in Ivory Coast but with only 2 stakes as of yet outside metro Abijan it is hard to so. The Yomossokro Mission has 2 stakes and maybe 8 districts with the Abijan missions having maybe 7 districts in their interior or in the case of the west mission maybe one on the coast as well.
Ivory Coast and DR Congo probably have two thirds of all French speaking stakes despite France being all stakes in the mainland (but none in overseas deaprtments) and Benin and the Republic of the Congo being present. I have ignored French Polynesia thoufh so I might be off.
In the early 1970s a priest was designated as priests group keader to act under the bishop who was quorum president. When this changed to only designating priests as 1st and 2nd assistants to the bishop I do not know.
ReplyDeleteI ran across two things in just the last 20 minutes before the time of this post.
ReplyDeleteFirst: I saw a fundraiser on Facebook where someone was trying to raise money to make the move to Utah, did not catch where they were presently. I quoted the statement (paraphrasing it by inserting US states but did mention the original quotes mentioned countries) about each location being a place of gathering for its residents and citizens.
Second: Found this interesting article, spawned after a visit to the Memphis Tennessee Temple open house, which when the rededication was announced, originally was not supposed to happen, but they decided to run one, and this is the results, and some of it is very interesting in terms of Church growth in that region.
https://tri-statedefender.com/church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-positioned-to-provide-something-real/05/25/?fbclid=IwAR0qJj53AKUeqLGgHZHQt7JvXutzubl6mvp5rdaiZyr3xzJqJaVi6LVvLOo
I have to say the attack on those fundraising to move to Utah seems to underestimate just how horrible things are in a few places, such as Detroit.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned above I was reading the August 1972 Endign article on the formation of the first French-speaking stake. The last paragraph is very insightful.
ReplyDeleteIt begans by saying there were then 575 stakes. That is fewer than are in Utah at present. Next we learn "Presently the non-English stakes of the Church include 13 Spanish, 5 German, 5 Tongan, 4 Samoan, 4 Portuguese, 1 Dutch, 1 Japanese and 1 French . In addition over half a dozen other stakes use extensively both English and a non-English language. There are now 75 stakes outside the continental United States."
I am not sure if the contenintal US includes Alaska.It seems it should. If it does that means there aee now 81 temple in operation outside the continental US a number that will be 82 next weekend, 83 by general conference and at least 84 by the end of the year.
There are at least 10 non-English language stakes in the US. At least 3 other such stakes existed in the past and local leaders in the mid-1980s tried to form a Spanish-speaking stake in New York City.
I went over the 1972 numbers. 34 of the stakes outside the continental United States were not English speaking, I am assuming there were no non-English stakes then in the US and I think I am right. That leaves 41 English speaking stakes outside the continental United States. This probably included the Colonia Juarez stake in Mexico although even in 1972 that stake may have had a majority Spanish-speaking membership. It included all the stakes then in Canada, plus stakes inGreat Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii.
The Church has grown a lot since then. However I think these figures also show where we are coming from.
Lambert: What information do you have, other than rumor and innuendo, that substantiates "apostasy in California" as you say, other than your personal hatred of the state? I actually do live in California so I would really like to know. How is apostasy in California any more prevalent than in Utah or your beloved Michigan?
ReplyDeleteLate 1972 saw the inaguration of what was originally called the Melchizedek Priesthood MIA. This replaced the oldest level of the old MIA and is the precursor to the current YSA program. James E. Faust was director. It was for sinlgles ages 18-25. The move of the macimum age from 25 to 31 is an involved process. At the aamd time the special interest program for singles 26 and up was formed.
ReplyDeleteI found several things, all in some way related. President Harold B. Lee said in his first priesthood session of General Conference, this, and it had to do with end-time writings and rumors then extant in 1972, this could be going on today to some degree, without judging individual members, I have not seen things but this still could be happening.
ReplyDeleteOne more matter: There are among us many loose writings predicting the calamities which are about to overtake us. Some of these have been publicized as though they were necessary to wake up the world to the horrors about to overtake us. Many of these are from sources upon which there cannot be unquestioned reliance.
Are you priesthood bearers aware of the fact that we need no such publications to be forewarned, if we were only conversant with what the scriptures have already spoken to us in plainness?
Six months later, President Lee, in the very first address of the very next address of that next General Conference, quoted Elder McConkie and this is from a much longer quote in that talk:
“The place of gathering for the Mexican Saints is in Mexico; the place of gathering for the Guatemalan Saints is in Guatemala; the place of gathering for the Brazilian Saints is in Brazil; and so it goes throughout the length and breadth of the whole earth. Japan is for the Japanese; Korea is for the Koreans; Australia is for the Australians; every nation is the gathering place for its own people.”
I have yet to hear a statement like 'Gather back to...', instead Elder Andersen said in both DR Congo and Ivory Coast at the temple groundbreakings that now that temples were being built there that there would be covenant keeping members in that land to greet the Savior at his coming.
My opinion is that it involves not only nations, but even smaller subdivisions of that nation have a temple, and temples will yet be built in areas we don't have them or think there will ever be one in.
The fact of the matter is that decisions on moving are complex. The two most recently called members of the quorum of the 12 were resident in Utah when called as general authorities but neither is from Utah originally.
ReplyDeleteAt least in the US most of the top elite schools draw student bodies with little regard for geography, and I can make academic and spiritual arguments for attendance at BYU.
At the same time I understand that we are not under a special call to gather as were the early members of the Church and I look upon the founders of the Church in Ibory Coast as were the Assards and in Accra as were the Kissis as key to the building up of the gospel.
However where should Elder Johnson go as a New York raised person who received his testimony in Utah and was baptized in Hawaii. The reality of academia also means moves and having an African-American stake president I am sure advanced outreach and retention in the Bessemer Alabama stake.
Likewise I sometimes wonder if I would more quickly find employment if I moved and I have to wonder if I went to Utah I would have thrived at teaching instead of failing with my inability to be a harsh enough enforcer with 100% African-American classes.
While I can see it as hard for lical growth of the Church when new converts move out to Utah and Idaho from Michigan I am sometimes convinced the people who move away will grow more in the gospel where they move.
On the other hand I have hope for the growth of the Church and many more temples. If the two hours drive is the new goal than it would seem both Pittsburgh and Cleveland as well as somewhere in Wisconsin, Des Moines and Lansing or Grand Rapids should all get temples well before 2030. Probably somewhere in Maine, Utica, New York, Charleston West Virginia, Roanoke or Buena Vista Virginia, Knoxville Tennessee, Charlotte North Carolina both Talahasee and Jacksonville Florida, NW Arkansas, Austin Texas, Waco, Texas, El Paso, Texas, McAllen, Texas, Fort Worth, Texas, the Summerlin section of Las Vegas, Nevada, Missoula, Montana, Pueblo, Colorado, Grand Junction, Colorado, Rapid City, South Dakota, Farmington, New Mexico. I also predict temples for West Valley City, Elko Nevada, Herriman, Utah, Lehi, Utah, Orem Utah, Price Utah, Heber City Utah, Delta Utah, Morgan, Utah, Tuba City, Arizona, Yuma, Arizona, Bakersfield, California, Ventura County, California and Wichita, Kansas.
Other temples I predict are Mbiji-Mbuyi or however you say that DRC, Lumbumbashi, DRC, Maputo, Mozambique, Cape Coast, Ghana, a second temple in Abijan, Ivory Coast, Daloa, Ivory Coast, Abuja, Nigeria, Benin City, Nigeria, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Etinan, Nigeria, Kumasi, Ghana, Freetown, Sierra Leone, Bo in the aame country, Monrovia, Liberia, Lome, Togo, Ibadan, Nigeria, Brazzaville, Congo, Kumpala, Uganda, Cape Town South Africa, Pusan, South Korea, Taoshiung, Taiwan, Beijing, China, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Cancun, Mexico, Durango, Mexico, a second temple in Mexico City, Culiacan, Mexico, Bordeaux, France, Leeds, England, Bristol, England, Birmingham, England, Edinburgh, Scotland, Dublin, Ireland, Oslo, Norway, Brussells, Belgium, Fairbanks, Alaska, Yap, Fedeeared States of Micronesia, Lae, Papua New Guinea, Calpairaiso/Vina del Mar Chile, Puenra Arnas Chile, Vahia Blamca, Argentina, a second temple in Sao Paulo, Cali, Colimbia, Cuzco, Peru, Iquitos, Peru, Eugene, Oregon, Tacoma, Washington, a second temple in Venezuela and a temple in Ulam Vatoor, Mongolia.
I forgot Tarawa, Kiribati. I also predict a temple in Enugu as well as one in Otavalo, Ecuador. Also somewhere in the north of Luzon. Yet I gaurantee come October at least some of the new temples will be ones not on this list. I still have a faint hope we will have 1000 temples by 2030 but as ccx an be seen I am no where near figuring where all the next 791 temples to b ed announced will be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dane. From what I'm aware and what Matt has written, the vast majority of the Church's shrinkage in California can be attributed to members moving out of the state and has very little to do with apostasy. That remark was uncalled for.
ReplyDeleteI was one of five church members in my high school growing up, and one of two who actually took our religion seriously. I don't say that to be judgmental, as I still considered the others among my friends, but it was a big deal in how isolated it made me feel. I did have a family connection at USU but my primary reason for moving to Utah as soon as I graduated was to escape that lonely situation. And now there's just almost zero chance of me getting married instead of actually zero. It's also nice to have a temple within a two-minute walk of my house instead of a two-and-a-half hour drive, which still isn't nearly as far as some people still have to go even within the US. As much as we sometimes like to pretend everyone can get the same church experience anywhere in the world, that simply isn't the case. I don't plan to stay here forever but I haven't the slightest idea where I want to end up. I feel very grateful that I was raised outside Utah and had to develop my testimony more or less completely on my own, but I'm also very grateful to be here now. Having said that, I would have no interest in donating to someone else's "move to Utah" fund either because I don't have that kind of money to throw around.
What I really would like to see is more racial minorities moving to Utah, because as many others have noted, it's very much in need of greater diversity. I've seen more than one black church member consider moving to Utah but hesitate because they're afraid of their children being the only black children in their school. Utah will be the center of the Church for the foreseeable future so it would also be cool, not necessary but cool, if its population someday reflected the entire church to some extent.
I can confirm that the stake to be formed in Puebla on 02 June will be in Ometoxtla.
ReplyDeleteWell Christopher Nelson you present a self reinforcing problem. People need to stop being afraid of being the only of something. My wife's not moving to Utah has nothing to do with race.
ReplyDeleteI tire of people who spew attacks on claimed resegregation of housing and education without facing up to the fact that as long as people have attitudes like "I dont want my child to be the only black child in their school" they are as much responsible for racial segregation as anyone else.
Also the racial nationalism advanced by many colleges especially elite colleges needs to be called out. Probably even more the false use of race as a proxy for class.
Elder Peter M. Johnson, the newly called African-American general authority spent mych of his asult life in Utah. He attended Dixie State, then after his mission transfered to SUU where he completed his bachelors and got a masters. Then he worked as an accountant in Salt Lake City. He was also a professor at BYU for 8 or so years.
Also I knew a missionary from Utah who looked white but was a quarter Tongan.
People need to stop believing the leftist rhetoric that portrayls whites as being as racist today as they were in 1956, rhetoric that also often ignores in many parts of the country attitudes were not the same in 1956 as in 1936.
Utah has elected a black woman to congress. Anyone who uses a claim ofracial isolation as an excuse to not move to Utah is ipeeating on a 1969 world view and needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
OK maybe I am a bit harsh, butnothing will ever change as long as peipke use not wanting to be different as an excuse.
And I "tire" of Lambert's incessant hot air of opinions on this blog that he states as facts. He still has not addressed the supposed apostasy in California. Why? Because it's the product of his own imagination and he knows it.
ReplyDeleteHello Ohhappydane33! Yes, I've been waiting for some kind of explanation for that claim, because I agree with you--there's no basis for it. I'm thinking that he looks at the dropoff in the number of stakes, wards, and branches, as well as the drop in membership as a percent of the state's population and then reads too much into it. I see the issue as younger people leaving for places like Texas, Utah, and Idaho where taxes & housing costs are lower and jobs more plentiful. Then the older, retired members are ok to stay but become less active for health and other reasons. Without this leadership pool to staff wards and with declining numbers, wards and branches get consolidated to accommodate the members. As a Californian, what do you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree Ray, these things happen and continue to happen. But California never reached even 3% member population even at past membership peaks. Lack of good jobs isn't the problem. There are, I would argue, too many good jobs or cost of living would be less of an issue. But conflating member move outs to some sort of a larger California apostasy is a stretch at best, and total BS at worst. I could easily say the same thing about Utah if we want to talk about apostasy. Lambert just hates California.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThere is a basis of my claim. I know of people in California whose wards moved away from teaching the actual gospel to delving into things with an academic mind. Such moves undermine people feeling the spirit and growing the Church.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of reasons for the decline of the Church in California. I have every right to speak the truth about California. Some of us are sick of its trying to use economic regulations to force the reast of us to conform to it, sick of California based companies trying to force those of us outside to kowtow to their views and even more sick of attempts to use sports boycotts to force the rest of us to give up on religious freedom.
The heavy ganded methods of California have truly tired many of us.
The fs ailures in California can not all be placed at the hands of the post-1985 reversal of the forces that in the 1920s lead to a huge influx of members to California.
Unlike some commentators though I will be the first to admit in Michigan we have had far too much apostasy. It is apostasy as shown by those in places such as Troy Ward who sneer at messages encouraging missionary work that has lead to that ward having to have its boundaries expand.
Michigan may have avoided loosing a stake but we have not seen a new stake since 1979. We have seen multiple units elimanated in the last decade. Much of this has been fueled by exodus to Utah and surrounding regions.
Those leaving at times have deep roots here, but it has been a hard sell to keep melenials in Michigan. The Detroit area faces this problem but Flint and Saginaw even more so.
At least in my branch we seem to be stack with an African-American population who has not in general reached a state of stable family units and a white population who are mainly transient medical students.
With my wife thrwatening to divorce me I have no idea where I fit anyway. I guess this will now give Dane another chance to join in his hateful vindictive mocking of me.
It is ok. I have been hated all my life, cut down and mocked, not understood social cues and failed.
I have no idea how to save my marriage. I have no idea how to do anything right.
I am sorry for your struggles. I hope and pray things improve.
DeleteDetroit has had the inner city branches, Pontiac Ward became Rochester Ward, a branch split off that in Pontiac, I hear that is gone again, Rochester meets at a chapel built on Brewster Road now.
ReplyDeleteAfter the inner city branches were gone the wards from Westland took those areas and eventually realigned so some of them went north of 8 Mile, this is documented in a series of videos that appeared through the (to be renamed) Mormon Channel.
In the 1970s, there was one member family in the Rochester school district, today there are perhaps more but am not sure how much more, but Brewster Road is in Rochester Hills. Students took jobs at the companies in Troy and on the Big Beaver corridor, plus there are others going to UM now. Those meet in Ann Arbor and the Westland Stake wards in Western Wayne. Some will no doubt stay, others will move on, still others will come into UM and other schools as time progresses.
I hate my inadequacies. I wish I had found a way to make a successful career.
ReplyDeleteI tried to be a teacher. However I had rhe misfortune of teaching in schools with students from cultures that did not value education paired with unworkable demands that I simultaneously maintain order without being overly harsh. Each time this eventually lead to a nervous breakdown.
Then Dane is allowed to spew his personalized hate at me, denigrating me and saying I am no better than to be a janitor.
I have stood by the Church through thick and thin. I have stood up for the truth of the gospel in place after place.
I have sought a way forward and tried to be calm and understanding.
It never does any good though.
Everything is always my fault. It is my fault that my classes disrespect me. It is my fault that my grandson hits me and speaks back to me. It is my fault I am mocked on every hand. It is my fault that people spew hateful disrespect at me.
I am starting to crack. Crack from being shunted to manipulative jobs that pay less than $15 an hour. Crack from my wife telling me that I should be more and better but no ever showing me a ccx way. Crack from the factcthat even when I was a fully time teacher I was only making $40,000 a year, which is just not enough to live on with the highway robbery auto insurance rares we have in Michigan.
I need a way to find a career that will pay me. Instead I end up taking a job as an independent employee of a call crnter that contracts with Arise to contract with Airbnb. They charge me $75 in forced debt and platform fees every 2 months as well as then limiting me to 25 hours a week while paying me $14 an hour. It certainly feels like an exploited worker set up.
I think maybe I should complete my masters in history but as my wife points out I never got a job that built on my bachelors.
Nothing is worse than being in the Belle Isle branch. Any other unit in my stake there are married women who work. Not in the super ritzy Grosse Pointes.
I really do not want to get divorced. However my wife says she is unhappy with life, with the marriage and on abd on, and then I keep messing things up in every way possible.
I rarely comment though I love this site. But after reading the last few comments from Unknown from Michigan I feel really really bad. No one should participate in a church related blog and feel like they have been trashed. I hope you know that God is aware of your efforts and hope that we all could be a little kinder. There is already enough hurt in this world. Let’s get back to commenting on the wonderful news of the church and lift others. Don’t mean to get preachy , but the last little while there has been too much negativity ��
ReplyDeleteI agree with Free W-- disagreements about the state of the Church in California should not become personal attacks. We should discuss ideas, not people. I see a lot of truth in what Dane says (and what Dianne says as well)-- but not in his attacks on Lambert specifically.
ReplyDeleteAnd why does it take my sharing my inner most strugles for people to actually start calling out Dane's consistent hate speech?
ReplyDeleteWell, according to Lambert's twitter account, *I* am the most evil person in the world and a true servant of Satan. Don't believe me? Go to John Pack Lambert's twitter account if you want to see some real hate speech. Not only directed personally at me, but to any other broad groups of people that don't agree with him. What I think is Lambert can dish it out, but cannot take it in return. Anytime anybody questions him on anything, they are automatically evil. It couldn't possibly be because he doesn't know everything. Oh well. I feel bad enough now that I know his personal plight, even though us followers of Satan should not feel any empathy...
ReplyDeleteTo John Pack Lambert (AKA "Unknown"): I know your phone automatically defaults to "Unknown" when you post, but let me take a few moments and say how sorry I am that you're experiencing such trials and hardships just now.
ReplyDeleteTo earn a better income you don't need more education. Your Bachelor's degree will be enough to find a job that's more rewarding. You need one that lets you work more hours and pays better, and with the current job market and the lowest unemployment rate since 1969, now is the perfect time for you to go out and get that job.
Polish up your resume. List your work history, your training and education, your skills, strengths, and any special achievements you've had in the past. Look for professionals to help you in your job search and to steer you to a better paying position. Your branch President will be a good resource for finding this help.
If you do this consistently, and don't let up until you find the right work at the right pay, your wife will be happy and have her confidence in you restored. But you can't sit back and hope the job comes to you. You've got to be proactive and work hard every day to meet this goal. We all think highly of you and wish you the best in your endeavors.
Ray thankyou for your help. This is the most encouraging thing I have been told in a while.
ReplyDeleteUnkown (Lambert). What is your degree in? Pay is not always better here. But full time work is more available and the cost of living is better than much of the country. Education is usually valued you here maybecan teach again?
ReplyDeleteI know you would like to stay in Michigan and I hope you find something there. But if not look elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteMy degree is in history.
ReplyDeleteOne of the members of the committee creating the primary children's song book is a sister of African descent. I believe she is a native of Ugamda or Kenya. I wish the Church news had published full biographies on the committee members.
One thing that might help in Utah would be moving from one genesis group that meets in I believe Draper to mult iui ple such groups in various parts of yhe state. The history of the genesis group only includes 4 heads since its start in 1971. I am not sure the current president has been in office a year.
Currently only one of the full time members of BYU's religion faculty is black. He is a native of Haiti who received much of his higher education in France and taght in France unril recruited to BYU last fall. I know one of the history faculty is black.
I can not say too much else on diversity in the BYU faculty.
For things to change people are going to need to pioneer. I have known several African-American church members from Michigan who moved to Utah.
Also most African-American missionaries I knew who served in Detroit went to BYU. Ok this is only 4 out of 5 and one I knew more from meeting him at BYU than while on his mission. Actually it is only 4 of 6 as I think about it more, and on deeper thought 4 of 7. 5 of the 7 were either immigrants or children of immigrants. Actually 4 of 8 and 6 of 8 for immigrants or children of immigrants. The represented countries are Ghana, Liberia and Zimbabwe.
I have to admit that I wish we could make more progress in outreach to African Americans.
That Kenyan member on the Children's Songbook committee will bring some things to the table. There are many African tunes perfectly suitable, with adaptation for a piano accompaniment, that will fit nicely if respectfully and reverently done. Classical musicians have done this for years with the music of many cultures so this could turn out to be very interesting.
ReplyDeleteAn example of how this happens is this from a contemporary jazz album from 1990, the last track (10) has a sung African portion, they added a second theme insumentally, that sung tune, with minor adaptation, would fit nicely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD4EDkxoKKs&list=PLL48CpyKSMxGF1pszUDLiwXiuL1uUT7bG&index=11&t=0s
James Anderson, where did you find out who is on the hymnal and songbook revision committee(s)? I can't find that article.
ReplyDeleteIt was in a post above mine where I referenced the audio recording that incorporated the African chant, I think either the one above it or within a few posts of it, saw it here just this morning.
ReplyDeleteOops, I guess it was Unknown who originally referenced the article, not you.
ReplyDelete"Demolition of 5 Provo MTC buildings to make way for more open spaces"
ReplyDeleteBy Scott Taylor
Published
28 MAY 2019
4:06 PM
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2019-05-28/provo-missionary-training-center-demolition-buildings-50009
I remember reading the list. I remember the Klopfers as being on the list. They were involved with the 1985 hymnal as well. There is still a month left to submit new work.
ReplyDeleteMy search for the Church News article on this issue came up blank. I might be able to find it with a computer search.
I couldn't find the Church News article either, but here's the list in a Times and Seasons article.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.timesandseasons.org/index.php/2019/05/updates-on-the-new-hymnbook/
To Unknown: I am happy to help in any way I can. I wish you the best in all you do--you have many talents, as displayed by your thoughtful posts. Maybe you can channel this energy and knowledge into a profitable career.
ReplyDeletePresident and Sister Nelson's Latin America ministry visits officially announced. They will be visiting Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil in late August and early September. They will be accompanied by Elder and Sister Cook.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/president-nelson-ministry-latin-america-announced
I would hope that Detroit with the rest of the country is enjoying steady job growth and better job offers. Perhaps the marriage is not in God's plans. Painful but not the end of the world. Stick with hard work, job searches, and prayer. The Lord will fight your battles.
ReplyDeleteReported 05/29/2019, the "Guaranda Ecuador District" N° 2074583, has been discontinued (merged with Riobamba Ecuador District ??). It was organized 08/07/2016.
ReplyDeleteIt seems new Spanish branches were formed in Idaho and Colorado.
ReplyDeleteAlso Bo in Sierra Leone has had 2 more branches upgraded to wards. New units have been formed in Nigeria as well but their exact locations elude me.
Wards Opened
ReplyDelete167 May 29, 2019 Afaha Uqua Ward
168 May 29, 2019 Cite Coprim Ward Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Wards Closed
67 May 29, 2019 Anacostia Ward Suitland, Maryland
Wards Reorganized from Branches
78 May 29, 2019 Simbaru Ward Bo, Sierra Leone
79 May 29, 2019 Mesa Ward (Spanish) Idaho Falls, Idaho
80 May 29, 2019 Gurupi Ward Gurupi, Brazil
81 May 29, 2019 J Quarter Ward Bo, Sierra Leone
Branches Opened
125 May 29, 2019 Terminal Branch
126 May 29, 2019 Iko Ikwa Branch
127 May 29, 2019 Second West Branch Nigeria
128 May 29, 2019 Beluluane Branch Maputo, Mozambique
129 May 29, 2019 Bear River Branch (Spanish) Grace, Idaho
130 May 29, 2019 Arvada Branch (Spanish) Arvada, Colorado
Branches Closed
56 May 29, 2019 Guaranda 2nd Branch Guaranda, Ecuador
Too bad about the Anacostia Ward. I used to attend the Lexington Park Ward, Suitland Maryland Stake over a decade ago. After I moved to Baltimore it split and the Patuxent Ward was created. The stake had about 9 or 10 wards back in the day. I thought it would split a few years ago. Probably made a new stake in Waldorf, Maryland.
DeleteProbably would have.
DeleteIt would also cover Charles, Calvert (southern part, since the northern part of Calvert County is Annapolis Maryland Stake territory) and St. Mary's Counties and maybe southern Prince George's County.
Deletewhy do people always call something "hate speech" when someone stands up to the person being rude?
ReplyDeleteAnyone know where the Terminal branch, the Afaha Uqua Ward and the Iko Ikwa branch are? The last one I am guessing is in Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteAlso anyone know where in Nigeria the Second West Branch is?
The first three that you mentioned are in the a Eket Nigeria stake. The last one you mentioned is in the Benin City Nigeria new Benin stake.
ReplyDeleteIn Church News article recently about Elder Renlund's 10 day ministry tour of Philippines from May 17th to May 26th : "After meeting with members, youth and missionaries from Bacolod, Iloilo and Manila in the Philippines, Elder Dale G. Renlund said two things stood out to him."
ReplyDeleteAnacostia Ward closed? Well that's going to make it quite a challenge for the members there since that's an economically depressed part of DC and the nearest units are either in Capitol Hill (on the other side of the Anacostia River) or way down in Suitland, which doesn't have good transit connections (well I mean its next to a Metro station, but if your low SES, Buses in DC are $2 and Metro can go from $3 to $7 so yeah) I'm honestly curious to see how they realign the members to go where.
ReplyDeleteDC members are going to Capitol Hill and Maryland members are going to two wards in Maryland.
ReplyDeletehttps://classic.lds.org/maps/#ll=38.95647,-76.721993&z=11&m=google.road&layers=stakecenter&q=Suitland%20Maryland&find=stake:512184
ReplyDeletelogin lds account and can see ward, stake, mission and area boundaries. selecting each option from list on left side of map. You can see the Wards/Branches assigned to the Stake.
Any comments about Elder Renlund´s recent Ministry to Manila, Bacolod and Iloilo Philippines? Possible future Temple Sites?
ReplyDeleteAlso, as mentioned in previous comments, President Nelson´s upcoming Latin America tour in Aug - Sep 2019, more precisely Guatemala City, Bogota, Quito, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, with Elder Cook? In his recent Pacific tour, he announced the site of the Auckland New Zealand Temple. Maybe another announcement similar? Although not much time between stops to scout out sites.
Any thoughts, also, about Pres. Ballard´s Ministry tour to New Delhi, India, earlier this month? Possible 2nd Temple in India? or just wishful thinking?
ReplyDeleteI think another temple in India is possible. The stakes are spread out and far from each other. Maybe one in New Delhi. It is the farthest most isolated stake in that country. I am hopeful for Paupa New Guinea, Singapore, and Indonesia. I also pray for the 1st temples in Kiribati, Vanauatu, Norway, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Mozambique, Uganda, and Austria among other places.
ReplyDeleteDoes Austria seem likely? The others seem to have enough growth ahead to create temples. Kiribas and Vanuatuan are isolated to justify the building.
ReplyDeleteEket is in Akwa Ibom state right? I am still putting that state high on my list of top ranked sub-national units that will have a temple announced before the end of the decade (also known as this year), even though the distance from much of Akwa Ibom state to the temple in Aba is not far. Although the time and relative monetary cost for a member family in Etinan to go to the temple in Aba is much more than a similar time and distance journey for a member family in say Michigan.
ReplyDeleteI picked Etinan because it is the home place of President and Sister Eka who will soon be presiding over the Aba Nigeria Temple.
On another note, any word yet on the size and design of the Lagos Nigeria Temple?
Anacostia Ward if I understood correctly was already not meeting in the District of Columbia. Having lived in both suburban wards and a largely inner-city branch, I think the long run gospel connections and growth chances of especially rising children are much better in the suburban wards. My step daughters often have had virtually no one of their age to associate with at church. The power and strength of large congregations cannot be underestimated.
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