The Polynesian people have great faith. These numbers don’t include all those that have immigrated to other countries and have established centers of strength there as well. Did anyone else get to watch The Other Side of Heaven 2? Elder Groberg’s hand in the work in the pacific island countries has been almost immeasurable.
I watched it the day of conference. I had a health teacher at BYU who was Groberg's daughter. She talked about her dad's foot cancer based on the sun treatment for the rats. That was '93.
Vanuatu has very dynamic growth. I imagine the men, women, and children there take the priesthood very seriously. Part of their culture, I would presume. I wonder how the proselyting does with the significant numbers of Seventh Day Adventists. Question to the group: apart from Loma Linda, California, are there other strong bastions of SDAs? I was impressed by their numbers in Zambia. I wonder what successful techniques of proseltysm works best for them.
Being a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not an easy thing to do. The Lord expects a lot of his Saints. I think that one reason why we see such disparities in the "membership success" of other religions compared to the Church is that so much more is expected of us. I think that is a major factor in explaining some of the growth rates. There are probably other things as well, that I am not accounting for. Just my opinion.
Doctrinally, I agree, the Church of Jesus Christ LDS is a harder stretch for many. SDAs and Jehovah's Ws try to strictly adhere to the Bible, which most of Christianity has already accepted. The centralized authority within the Restored Gospel can be anathema for many Christians, especially the Protestants who are less enthused by the notion of a priesthood authority fixed in a hierarchy. That is what many of them have been protesting for a long time. Somewhat reminiscent of the Sunni and Shia divides within Islam.
It's quite interesting seeing the comparison of growth trends amongst the LDS, JW and SDA. In general, it does seem as though the LDS focused more on the Pacific and South America, which were the Church had its most robust growth in the past 40 years. In comparison to the SDA, they do seem to have focused more on Africa, which is why they have much more significant numbers in growth and membership. Having served in the Ghana mission in 2007-09, the church has grown exponentially over the past 10+ years and it will be interesting to see if the Church will eventually replicate the same type of growth as the SDA in African. It does seem the Church is tracking behind by about 30years in comparative growth if it were to achieve the same numbers the SDA have today.
As we read in the Book of Revelation, John the Revelator prophesied that the members of the Church would be relatively small compared to the general population of the world. Having said that, what we are seeing in Africa is truly inspirational. The growth rates are really encouraging and what is the most encouraging about it is that more people are making and keeping sacred covenants that will prepare them to return to Heavenly Father. We are really seeing the "Afria moment" right now. They are humble and receptive (as opposed to other areas of the world). I don't think that we will ever become the dominant religion in terms of numbers, but I think that our growth will be truly remarkable as we approach the Second Coming. Temples are ramping up around the world and this will lessen the power of Satan on the earth. The chasm between the world and the Lord's kingdom will continue to widen and this will help the Church to grow faster as time goes on.
DJarvis87, yes, I agree. Those are good observations regarding our emphasis in the Pacific and South America. The Adventists now have ten million members in Africa, which I believe is just over half their total membership. At the end of 2019 we have a total of 666,508 members in Africa, and increasing rapidly.
Our earliest foreign missionary work I believe was in Canada, then England, Scandinavia, and other European nations. French Polynesian proselyting began in 1843 as the first foreign-language mission and progressed well at first, but was forced to close in 1852 due to changing government policies. When it was resumed in the 1890s there were still faithful members who were organized into branches, and now there are 28,704 members there, comprising a little over 10% of the population.
I've been waiting for the Cook Islands to pass that threshold of 1900 members to finally become eligible to get a stake. They're so, so close. I wonder if they could combine with Niue, although they're a little out of the way of each other geographically.
I recently looked on https://maps.lds.org the chapels in Seoul, South Korea. With recent ward and stake consolidations in Seoul, about half of the chapels in Seoul are not being used at all with no ward or branch meeting in the building.
I wonder wouldn't it be better to at least utilize these buildings by having smaller branches instead? Just imagine how demoralizing members experience traveling an extra 20-30 minutes to attend church when a smaller branch can meet at the unused building. Wouldn't the local community seeing an unused church, have second thoughts about the Church in general, as opposed to seeing a church used?
I know some leaders tout this as a "cost saving measure". But does saving money in the short run, impede missionary work in the long run?
On the other hand there is a lit of strength gathered from a fully functioning ward with multiple strong families. It also avoids member burn out. It is not easy building the Church in a small unit.
Speaking of Africa, I will make a prediction. I think that in the next 10 years about 20% of all the temples that are dedicated or announced will be on that awesome continent (or the islands that are part of it, such as Madagascar). The growth is awe-inspiring and a joy to behold.
Matt, thanks for these updates. For the information of readers of this blog, I wanted to note that the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has released a new logo, and the First Presidency today announced the location of and preliminary information for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple, which makes it likely that temple will be among those to have a groundbreaking before the end of this year:
The Kingdom of Tonga. Wow!
ReplyDeleteThe Polynesian people have great faith. These numbers don’t include all those that have immigrated to other countries and have established centers of strength there as well. Did anyone else get to watch The Other Side of Heaven 2? Elder Groberg’s hand in the work in the pacific island countries has been almost immeasurable.
ReplyDeleteI watched it the day of conference. I had a health teacher at BYU who was Groberg's daughter. She talked about her dad's foot cancer based on the sun treatment for the rats. That was '93.
ReplyDeleteVanuatu has very dynamic growth. I imagine the men, women, and children there take the priesthood very seriously. Part of their culture, I would presume. I wonder how the proselyting does with the significant numbers of Seventh Day Adventists.
ReplyDeleteQuestion to the group: apart from Loma Linda, California, are there other strong bastions of SDAs?
I was impressed by their numbers in Zambia. I wonder what successful techniques of proseltysm works best for them.
Battle Creek. Michigan has a deep SDA history.
DeleteBeing a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not an easy thing to do. The Lord expects a lot of his Saints. I think that one reason why we see such disparities in the "membership success" of other religions compared to the Church is that so much more is expected of us. I think that is a major factor in explaining some of the growth rates. There are probably other things as well, that I am not accounting for. Just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe Jehovah's Witness religion is also very demanding. Its members are expected to proselyte every month and aren't allowed to celebrate any holidays.
ReplyDeleteDoctrinally, I agree, the Church of Jesus Christ LDS is a harder stretch for many. SDAs and Jehovah's Ws try to strictly adhere to the Bible, which most of Christianity has already accepted. The centralized authority within the Restored Gospel can be anathema for many Christians, especially the Protestants who are less enthused by the notion of a priesthood authority fixed in a hierarchy. That is what many of them have been protesting for a long time.
ReplyDeleteSomewhat reminiscent of the Sunni and Shia divides within Islam.
It's quite interesting seeing the comparison of growth trends amongst the LDS, JW and SDA. In general, it does seem as though the LDS focused more on the Pacific and South America, which were the Church had its most robust growth in the past 40 years. In comparison to the SDA, they do seem to have focused more on Africa, which is why they have much more significant numbers in growth and membership. Having served in the Ghana mission in 2007-09, the church has grown exponentially over the past 10+ years and it will be interesting to see if the Church will eventually replicate the same type of growth as the SDA in African. It does seem the Church is tracking behind by about 30years in comparative growth if it were to achieve the same numbers the SDA have today.
ReplyDeleteAs we read in the Book of Revelation, John the Revelator prophesied that the members of the Church would be relatively small compared to the general population of the world. Having said that, what we are seeing in Africa is truly inspirational. The growth rates are really encouraging and what is the most encouraging about it is that more people are making and keeping sacred covenants that will prepare them to return to Heavenly Father. We are really seeing the "Afria moment" right now. They are humble and receptive (as opposed to other areas of the world). I don't think that we will ever become the dominant religion in terms of numbers, but I think that our growth will be truly remarkable as we approach the Second Coming. Temples are ramping up around the world and this will lessen the power of Satan on the earth. The chasm between the world and the Lord's kingdom will continue to widen and this will help the Church to grow faster as time goes on.
ReplyDeleteDJarvis87, yes, I agree. Those are good observations regarding our emphasis in the Pacific and South America. The Adventists now have ten million members in Africa, which I believe is just over half their total membership. At the end of 2019 we have a total of 666,508 members in Africa, and increasing rapidly.
ReplyDeleteOur earliest foreign missionary work I believe was in Canada, then England, Scandinavia, and other European nations. French Polynesian proselyting began in 1843 as the first foreign-language mission and progressed well at first, but was forced to close in 1852 due to changing government policies. When it was resumed in the 1890s there were still faithful members who were organized into branches, and now there are 28,704 members there, comprising a little over 10% of the population.
I've been waiting for the Cook Islands to pass that threshold of 1900 members to finally become eligible to get a stake. They're so, so close. I wonder if they could combine with Niue, although they're a little out of the way of each other geographically.
ReplyDeleteI recently looked on https://maps.lds.org the chapels in Seoul, South Korea. With recent ward and stake consolidations in Seoul, about half of the chapels in Seoul are not being used at all with no ward or branch meeting in the building.
ReplyDeleteI wonder wouldn't it be better to at least utilize these buildings by having smaller branches instead? Just imagine how demoralizing members experience traveling an extra 20-30 minutes to attend church when a smaller branch can meet at the unused building. Wouldn't the local community seeing an unused church, have second thoughts about the Church in general, as opposed to seeing a church used?
I know some leaders tout this as a "cost saving measure". But does saving money in the short run, impede missionary work in the long run?
On the other hand there is a lit of strength gathered from a fully functioning ward with multiple strong families. It also avoids member burn out. It is not easy building the Church in a small unit.
DeleteSpeaking of Africa, I will make a prediction. I think that in the next 10 years about 20% of all the temples that are dedicated or announced will be on that awesome continent (or the islands that are part of it, such as Madagascar). The growth is awe-inspiring and a joy to behold.
ReplyDeleteMatt, thanks for these updates. For the information of readers of this blog, I wanted to note that the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has released a new logo, and the First Presidency today announced the location of and preliminary information for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple, which makes it likely that temple will be among those to have a groundbreaking before the end of this year:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/the-tabernacle-choir-at-temple-square-unveils-new-logo
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/bentonville-arkansas-temple-location-released
I have provided further analysis of these developments on my blog:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/
My thanks once again to you all.