A Church Newsroom article published yesterday noted that President Nelson informed news media that "more temples and other announcements will be made in the October general conference." It is unclear what these other announcements may be, but it appears that a reformation to the Church's missionary program is likely given the new missionary handbook's upcoming release and other matters I have discussed on this blog. Coincidentally, I will be publishing my predictions for temple announcements for this October General Conference over the weekend, which include some significant additions and changes given recent trends in temple announcements since President Nelson's tenure as President of the Church.
Also, the Church Newsroom article I mentioned at the beginning of this post provided some rare statistics published by the Church. More specifically, the article notes that there are currently 5,300 missionaries serving in Brazil at present - the second most of any country in the world after the United States. This indicates there is an average of 151 missionaries per mission in Brazil. The Church does not publish annual country-by-country figures for the number of full-time missionaries serving. There have only been a few other times in Church history that the Church has published information on the number of missionaries serving in a country, such as in the Philippines or Mexico.
8 comments:
Back when there were 6 missions in Chile in my time in the early 1990s I/we assumed that there were 1,200 missionaries there, with a two hundred per mission average. When I started Concepcion had 240, then we went down to 180 by the end of 1991.
Nothing was published about it, most likely.
They just said that in Brazil, there are currently more missionaries in Brazil, second only to the United States in numbers. In this article, wher also one line is going to really set off the rumor mill for Conference as he said there will be more temples announced, along with 'other announcemens'.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-nelson-brasilia-brazil-2019?fbclid=IwAR3W1TTJorpqSVukS4RlDSS3xCy-JZjwr3Dkqu719jYq8BlVPx41dNS3YtM
Seems I simply parroted back what the article states.
That aside, the matter of temples may also indicate that some will be announced that are 'drop-in' between other announced or completed temples. Utah, if any, will be where growth in membership is predicted, mainly in newer areas.
Outside Utah the gap between population centers that have a temple needs to be looked at to see where one might fit between any two. Outside US/Canadaa larger cities with a Church presence that do not have a temple merit a look, esspecially where there is travel difficulty, and where there are enough members to support the operation of one that also meet the guidelines of sacrament meeting attendance in the units to be served, tithe-payers, effect on the existing temples, and members using the existing temples from that area, and a few other factors we do not see as lay members
Matt, have you updated your "Potencial New Temples" map, yet?
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1W60CDwd4qDDMA3tW74z8g-2WxNw&ll=-3.81666561775622e-14%2C0&z=1
I am excited to see/hear your additions or changes to the list, as you mentioned in this post? And your Top 10 picks? In comparison to James Stokes' list.
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2019/07/revised-and-expanded-list-of-potential.html
P.S. Thank you for promptly answering my last question. Yes, it was corrected.
Chris, I appreciate your additional plug for my temple predictions here, and I too am anxious to see wwhat has changed with Matt's predictions. I know that in this post, Matt has referenced President Nelson's statement that "new temples and other announcements" will be made during General Conference. And I think he may have a point in terms of some kind of announcement affecting the missionary program. But I also was intrigued to notice that President Nelson's usage of the word "announcements" was plural, rather than singular.
That to me implies that a few more developments will be announced in October, and I have taken some time tonight to look at the most likely probabilities related thereunto. Any of you here who may be interested in reading my thoughts on that can find them at the following web address:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2019/08/some-thoughts-on-president-nelsons.html
In the meantime, my thanks again to Matt for his graciousness in continuing to allow me to share such updates here. And my thanks to all of you for the way in which your continued comments on this blog contribute to my understanding of topics discussed in these threads.
Slightly different number of missionaries in this article:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-08-30/president-nelson-book-of-mormon-missionaries-brazil-latam-158346
Speaking to 5,825 missionaries from 35 missions on Friday morning, President Nelson added: Once a person has committed to reading the sacred book of scripture, suggest they don’t start at the beginning. Instead, open to 3 Nephi 11 where they can read Jesus Christ’s “important words” spoken to the Nephites — words that promote baptism, prayer, the doctrine of Christ, the sacrament and seeking the kingdom of God.
Oslo Norway mission has gone down to 70 missionaries based on a missionary that just returned off his mission from there. This trend of fewer missionaries assigned to Europe, Canada, And United States is starting to happen. More will be assigned to Central and South America and Africa based on what I am hearing from leaders in my stake. It appears that the fulfillment of times of the Gentiles is beginning to be happen now. (DC 45:25-30, 3Ne 16:10)
I might add Asia and Oceania to the places of increased missionary numbers instead of wealthier nations where the demographic shift (less children per mother, non-replacement population trends) is in effect.
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