Click here to access the updated country profile for Singapore. The Church in Singapore experienced steady membership growth until the early 2010s and has since experienced stagnant membership growth rates for most years. Nevertheless, there is a strong core of active members in the country with as many as 1,000 active members. Materialism and secularism are major obstacles for growth. See below for the Future Prospects section of this article:
Slow, steady growth will likely occur for the Church in Singapore with fluctuations in growth rates depending most strongly on the ebb and flow of foreign members who temporarily work in the country. Secularism and materialism pose major obstacles for greater growth through Singaporean converts who join the Church and remain active. A second stake may be organized in Singapore if additional congregations are created, albeit recent ward consolidations suggest that a second stake may be many years or decades away from fruition. Additional language-specific congregations may be created, such as for Tamil and Indonesian speakers. Differentiated Chinese-speaking congregations (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkein, etc.) seem a likely possibility. However additional congregations will likely only be created as membership is strong enough to provide leadership and if functioning congregations are operating at capacity given high real estate prices. As hinted by President Hinckley and a former Singapore Stake President, Singapore is a likely location for a future small temple.
5 comments:
Is there anyway this can be done for individual U.S. States?
Secularism I understand, ranging from the non-affiliated nones to ernest agnostics and some ardent atheists. Materialism is an interesting factor to prevent growth in faith. Lack of time due to work, vacations, or fear of donating time and money to a faith that seems quite demanding...
Matt, Do you know which Stake may have been reported Discontinued this week? On my list including the Iba Philippines District upgraded to Stake Sept 1st, (which still hsasn't been made official on the Maps site), I count 3,420. But Rick's site was just reduced to 3,418 (not including Iba). I also don't see any reported discontinued on Kimball's Fullerconsideration.com site yet.
Sorry, Matt, Using the powers of elimination, I located the missing Stake from Ricks Temple Site.
It was the Ruashi Democratic Republic of the Congo Stake (2106566). The Stake is still active in Classic Church Maps.
Matt, thank you for this country profile. I recall reading about President Hinckley's proposal for a Singaporean temple not long after it was made, and I know that Presidents Monson and Nelson have both announced temples publicly proposed during the tenures of their immediate precedessors, so I think it likely a Singaporean temple could be announced within the next decade or less, if all goes well. It is wonderful through these profiles to catch a glimpse of what could occur in the future, if all goes well, and thank you for your tireless efforts to provide and regularly update such profiles.
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