In a major development, the Church has organized two new branches—Bangui 2nd and Bangui 3rd—in the capital and most populous city of the Central African Republic (CAR), Bangui, where a single branch has operated since 1993. This marks the first time in over 30 years that more than one congregation has functioned in the country. During the 2000s and early 2010s, mission presidents visited the isolated branch approximately once every two to three years. In October 2012, Apostle Elder Jeffrey R. Holland dedicated the CAR for missionary work, just two months after the Church received provisional recognition from the government. Plans to assign full-time missionaries to Bangui were ultimately canceled after the mission president at the time felt spiritually impressed not to proceed with the assignment, despite approval from the Area Presidency. Weeks later, rebel forces captured the city.
The Church briefly operated a second branch in Bangui in the early 1990s; however, the two congregations were soon consolidated into a single unit. The CAR was initially under the jurisdiction of the Ivory Coast Abidjan Mission, but in 2005, administrative responsibility shifted to the newly created Ghana Cape Coast Mission. Oversight was transferred shortly thereafter to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa Mission. In 2014, the country was reassigned to the newly organized Republic of Congo Brazzaville Mission, and in 2020, it was transferred to the Cameroon Yaoundé Mission. The creation of the Africa Central Area in 2020, which included the CAR, signaled increased institutional focus on strengthening the Church in underreached regions of the continent.
The CAR government requires religious groups to have at least 1,000 members to formally register. As of year-end 2023, there were 278 Latter-day Saints in the country. Senior missionaries serving in the Cameroon Yaoundé Mission have reported imminent plans to assign full-time missionaries to Bangui which have either recently arrived or will soon arrive to begin more formalized missionary efforts.
The population of the CAR is approximately 5.3 million, with nearly 1.7 million residing in Bangui alone. Around 90% of the population identifies as Christian. The country has remained largely unreached for decades due to its remote location, limited accessibility from other African cities with significant Latter-day Saint populations, political instability, and historically few Church resources allocated to Central Africa. Few Church materials are currently available in Sango, the national language, which further limits member engagement and missionary outreach. In contrast to neighboring Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo—both of which have seen more consistent growth and missionary presence—the Church in the CAR remains in the early stages of development. Prospects for growth appear favorable; however, challenges such as low literacy rates, a lack of experienced local leadership, and ongoing political instability continue to pose major obstacles to long-term, sustainable Church development.
97 comments:
A wonderful development!
In the recent handbook changes, there is additional language regarding the contact for the creation of a language-specific stake in the US and Canada: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/37-specialized-stakes-wards-and-branches?lang=eng&id=title_number2-p14#title_number2
I wonder if there will be a push to create additional language-specific stakes in the near future? It seems like there has been enhanced outreach to non-English speakers in the US as of late (especially with the creation of the Spanish stakes in Utah), though unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to get the numbers on the number of non-English units in the US (as far as I know). Any thoughts as to where additional Spanish language stakes could be created?
Craig Shuler says,
Here is my list of temple predictions for April:
Delta Utah
Kanab Utah
Mapleton / Spanish Fork Utah
Evanston Wyoming
Flagstaff Arizona
Longview Texas
San Luis Obispo California
Moscow Idaho
Cuiaba Brazil
Santa Maria Brazil
Georgetown Guyana
Port-of-Spain Trinidad
Kingston Jamaica
David Panama
London England Hyde Park
Tirana Albania
Bo Sierra Leone
Ibadan Nigeria
Lome Togo or Cotonou Benin
Lusaka Zambia
Craig Shuler asks Matt M.:
When a blog chain gets too big it can't be added to, is there some way you could open a new one even if you don't have anything profound to say?
It was frustrating not being able to read or write posts from March 13 to March 21.
Curious if you are referring to the previous post? When you initially click on the post, it normally ends at about 200 comments, so the last comment by default (at least on mine) is Chris D's comment on March 13th about Zimbabwe's new temple president. Right below that should be something that says LOAD MORE, and you should be able to see more recent comments and even add to them.
Sango is the main language of CAR. I imagine that English and French are popular, perhaps more French for historic reasons? Is Sango related to Hausa or other socio-linguistic languages of Central Africa?
Of all the native African languages and dialects, (there must be a couple thousand), I feel like I know the most about Ibo. (Of the Igbo of Nigeria.)
Does anyone know if all the Sango speakers have a uniform common lingua, or are there varying dialects of it that make it harder to understand among the same countrymen?
Charleston, WV does not have many members, but a temple would be geo-friendly there, right? Meaning, a good distance for those who travel.
I heard about a buddy who is having issues with temple ceremonies. Any advice? Probably not a great forum to discuss here, but I have a blog it ideas can be shared at: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4265395810296354251/373167946041734764?hl=en
The new Ebimpé Cote d'Ivoire Stake has been renamed from the Agboville Cote d'Ivoire District on the Meetinghouse site today. With the 10 Branches as of this comment. And added the Attiesso Ward from the Abobo Cote d'Ivoire West Stake.
Total today : 1 Ward and 10 Branches.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2074435
Maybe this is a hint that you should start your own blog! Treating the comments of someone else's blog as if it was your own seems a bit rude.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Birmingham England Temple took place as scheduled today:
https://news-uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/groundbreaking-ceremony-held-for-the-birmingham-england-temple
I will just add that I don't expect that to be the only major temple construction development we will see announced on Monday. I say that because we have four temples completed and awaiting the announcement of their opening arrangements, two or three others that could potentially have groundbreakings announced soon, and two or three others that could either have exterior renderings released or groundbreakings set. And since we've seen the Church announce a site location and release an exterior rendering at the same time in the recent past, it seems likely that we could see that happening again in the near term. My thanks once again to you all.
A little digging states that Sango closest relative is Ngbandi. That, in turn os part of the Ubangian family of languages. It does not appear there is any close connection to Hausa. Overall, the CAR seems to have a fair amount of linguistic overlap with DRC. This could mean that once the MTC in the DRC is up and running that is will be able to provide support to efforts in the CAR.
Craig H
With the completion of excavations for the expansion of the Green Line of the subway next to the temple site, I hope we finally have some news for the São Paulo East Temple.
The Kinshasa MTC appears to be up and running. Fir sure it has a president and companion assigned, and it has a manager of operations. The latter in from.Ghana.
Intital plans were to only teach in French or to teach people French.
I know right now in Tanzania The Xhurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operates in Swahili. In Madagascar the Church operates in Malagasy. In Ethiopia the Church operates in Amheric, bit I still think we need to expand to Oromo.
Most other countries on the African continent operates are done in Colonial languages. I do know that the Church has moved forward with translation of scriptures in Kirawanda, the language of Rwanda. I am not sure if congregations meet in that language though.
I think the earlier we can get materials in Aango the better, but I do bot know how widely used Sango is.
Here https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2025/03/23/amos-brown-fellowship-ghana-documentary-naacp/ is a link that you can use to go to a documentary about the fellowship The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Aaints and the NAACP did taking students to Ghana. Elder Ahmad Corbitt, Elder Matthew S. Holland and Sister Tracey Broening were all there for the whole event. Or at least a large part of it. They showed the participants the film of President Nelson's address to the NAAVP in Detroit in 2019 (I was there when he gave the address). They also showed them some or all of President Hinckley's general priesthood meeting ralk when getting condemned racism.
My branch had 3 baptisms today. 2 brother from Iraq and a woman whose family is originally from Mexico City. The later is sadly about to move to Chicago. She has already met the missionaries and maybe some members in Chicago. The relief society president gave her a picture of the Detroit Temple. I did show her some pictures of the Chicago Templr.
I just did a brief check on Rwanda for you. All congregations in the Kigali Rwanda District (except the Kiyovu Branch) show Kinyarwanda as its designated language. The Kiyovu Branch and the Kigali Rwanda District itself show to be designated as English-speaking.
Growth in the CAR is awesome. Can't wait for a few more branches and a district.
I’ll throw some food for thought out for all of you. I’m almost 69 years old and serve my mission to Cordoba Argentina in 1975 to 1977. At that time I was in awe because we had 19,600 full-time missionaries serving. We had a little over 1,000 stakes at that time. And the Washington DC Temple was the newest temple at the time. That was 50 years ago. The growth of the church kept steadily moving forward to where it has finally really began to snowball.
I just wondered what all of you think the church will look like 50 years from now? My older brother served his mission in Buenos Aires Argentina in the south mission and he came home in 1975, right before I left on my mission. He told me how frustrated he was in the cities of Bariloche, Necochea, and Neuquen because they knocked on every door in those towns at least two times during the time he was there and people just didn’t wanna listen. He told me that sacrament meeting attendance was anywhere from 8 to 12 and in that group 4 of them were missionaries.
Now all of you predicting a temple for Neuquen, think back 50 years to those elders who were anywhere from a 1/2 to 1/3 of the congregational attendance at sacrament meeting.
I asked my brother what he thought the difference was over all of these years. His thoughts make sense to me—He feels that it takes the agnostic older generation dying off before the younger generations start to be open-minded towards the gospel, and generally, after three or four generations of a family first being introduced to the church, their children know who the elders are and know enough about the church to where minds are more open and receptive than were those of previous generations. Anyway, it’s exciting to think about where the church will be 50 years from now!
50 years from now. 2075. I do not expect to be living, but then again since 1976 I have wanted to live till the U.S. tricentennial. My older sister, too. That would make us very old and lucky. I think.
The Gospel needs to go more nations. The Lord and His message needs to go to more nations and kingdoms, languages and kindreds. This is happening, increasingly.
When will the second happening occur? Will there be 500 temples then? One thousand? A kilo for the Millenium? Sounds good.
Thanks for your service in Argentina. I have met so many good members of the faith, and non-members from there. How about the Pope, I forgot his given name.
What new nations and tongues will develop for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the next five years, the next 10? Israel, the current land of Benjamin and Judah, mostly, is morphing as we speak.
What of China and Russia? There are Persian Church units around the world.
India? Other lands. Indonesia, still growing in our faith.
All very amazing. Le Grand Richards wrote his epic tome. I think more of us should read it and be inspired to dream more, and live out the prophecies foretold.
We all can do our parts. I served in Chile. I have gone back twice to add up to nine more months. Can we do that? Do people need a visit from you in Argentina? Is your health good enough? Can you visit some former people on social media?
Can you serve a full-time mission? My mom did at age 60, and again at age 64. She died of cancer after that, otherwise, would have likely served a third full-time mission, hastening the work.
What can we do to make the Kingdom of God grow in the next 5 years, the next 50? Stay with it. Learn, grow, adapt, preach, act, love, serve. President Nelson learned Chinese in his 50s?
Good example, him. Let us all do our parts.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland just rededicated in one session yesterday, the Toronto Canada Temple.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2025/03/23/president-jeffrey-holland-rededicate-toronto-ontario-temple/
A number of branches have been organized in cities that previously had no official congregations recently, in various countries around the world. This probably isn't a comprehensive list, but here's some previously unreached cities that now have a branch.
Batumi, Republic of Georgia
Morogoro, Tanzania
Iringa, Tanzania
Kenge, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kabinda, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Lukalaba, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kaniki, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kanda-Kanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Los Llanos, Spain
Rusk, Texas, USA
Again, likely nor a comprehensive or perfect list, but as far as I can tell, all these branches are the first in their respective cities, and have been organized in the past few months.
I think this is a good comment. Another feature that would help the blog readers: have separate blog posts where the comments are dedicated toward temple-related growth news. Pretty big developments on the church growth front have come out in the last month, and they were completely ignored because everyone was inundated instead with temple predictions (which is fine, but it could use its own section).
Interesting. The Batumi Branch on the Meetinghouse Locator (no chapel marker) shows it is designated as Armenian-speaking. This means that Georgia's 3 branches are each in different languages. 1 English, 1 Georgian, 1 Armenian.
@JPL (in case you haven't seen this yet, thought you'd be interested):
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released a 40-minute documentary highlighting the experiences of 24 young Americans who spent 10 days in West Africa learning to become ambassadors of racial harmony as part of the Amos C. Brown Fellowship to Ghana, an initiative powered by the
@NAACP
in collaboration with the Church of Jesus Christ."
https://x.com/Ch_JesusChrist/status/1903820625300586594
Here is another link on the Church News site :
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2025/03/23/amos-brown-fellowship-ghana-documentary-naacp/
The Church just announced plans for the dedication of the Farmington New Mexico Temple (August 17, 2025) as well as groundbreakings for the Natal Brazil, Benin City Nigeria, Lagos Nigeria, and Budapest Hungary Temples.
Notably, other than the planned temples for Russia, which presumably won't be possible any time in the near future, Lagos Nigeria was *by far* the temple that had been announced the longest without a groundbreaking date. In fact, other than Russia, Shanghai, and Dubai, it was the only temple announced before April 2021 that still didn't have a groundbreaking date. Not sure what the delay there was, especially since it's had a site announced since September 2023, but they're now moving forward!
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2025/03/24/first-presidency-sets-groundbreaking-dates-4-temples-nigeria-hungary-brazil/
Besides the 3 you mentioned, this puts Sao Paulo East at the longest announced without a groundbreaking. I wouldn't be surprised to see a rendering released in the next few weeks, but the groundbreaking may not occur until the latter end of the year.
It has been a full weekend for temples. The Toronto Temple was redecorated by President Holland, whose ancestor George Cannon joined the Church as a result of his sister Leonora and brother-in-law John Taylor joining the church in Toronto.
The Birmingham England Temple had a ground breaking presided over by Elder Whiting.
Farmington New Mexico Temple will de dedicated in September or so with the open house starting in mid-July.
Lagos Nigeria, Benin City Nigeria Budapest Hungary and Natal Brazil all had ground breaking dates announced. If we could announced at this rate for ground breaking every week we could get the backlog down.
I think this puts Russia as the last Temple announced in 2018 to not have a ground breaking date yet.
I had thought I had posted on that video here. It has quite a few good comments by both Sister Browning and Elder Corbitt, as well as Amos Brown, some other NAACP representatives, and several of the Amos Brown fellows.
There are lots of other ideas to unpack. I will maybe posy some more after I get and read "Stay Thou Nearby:Reflections on the 1978 Revelation on the priesthood". To my knowledge this is the only book on the subject co-authored by 4 writers who are all international level church leaders and all of African descent. 2 are general authorities (Elder Corbitt and Elder Dube), 1 is in the primary General Presidency and 1 is a former member of the Young Women's General advisory council (serving from 2018-2023).
One question with "Stay Thou Nearby" is why stop at 4 writers? Why not have all black general Church leaders contribute?
All the answers are hard to know. The book itself might address this. There is a factor that more is not always better. A work is more impactful with a few pointed Reflections than a lot.
Actually the other question, why not just have Elder Corbitt write the whole book, is also valid. Lots of books have one author, many of the most quoted and impactful talks were giving by one speaker.
It does add to have multiple perspectives, and the 4 writers give them. Not close to all possible perspectives. All 4 writers are converts, who joined the Church between about age 15 and 22 . 3 of the 4 lived or worked part of their life in the New York metropolitan area. All 4 now live in Utah. 1 is Zimbabwean, 2 Jamaican, 1 American, although 1 of the Jamaican's was born in the US, and the other was born in Britain. Although I think Sister Lawrence-Costley has lived in the IS longer than Sister Browning. Thry both came to New Richelle in 1976, Sister Browning by birth, Sister Lawrence-Costley by movement from London. However at domestic point Sister Broening moved to Jamaica for a few years, but I believe Sister Kawrence-Costley has lived in the US continuously since 1976.
All 4 are married. Sister Lawrence-Costley was "by nearly 40" when she married, while Sister Browning was 22, Elder Corbitt at most 23, and Elder Dube maybe a little older but about that age. Elder Dube's wife is black, Elder Corbitt's wife and Sister Browning's husband are white. I am not sure about Sister Costley's husband.
All 4 also joined the Church in times and places where thry were joining congregations that were mainly white. In fact the congregation that Sister Lawrence-Costley joined in London in 1975 might have Bern the least white if the 4 congregations these 4 people joined at baptism. Although I do not actually know the ethnic composition of the congregation that Sister Briening joined in about 1994 in New Jersey, so it might be the least white. Elder Corbitt joined a congregation in Southern New Jersey (about 14 years before Sister Browning was baptized in the sane state, that besides his mom and some of his siblings had only 1 other black family.
Elder Dube when he began going to church in Zimbabwe was invited by the white family he was working as the servant for, and everyone else in the branch was white.
Just one more comment on "Stay Thou Nearby". Despite similarities each writer has unique experiences
This is true of us all, but clearly true here.
While Sister Broening and Sister Lawrence-Costley lived in New Richelle in the same time, in some ways their experiences are the most different.
Likewise the fact that thry got married very close to the same time means that in some ways thry have vastly different life experi3nces. Sister Lawrence-Costley was baptized as a 15-year-old before Sister Browning was born.
On the 4 writers only Sister Kawrence-Costley was baptized before 1978.
She has a very interesting story. Although she had been meeting with the missionaries for 3 years, no one told her about the priesthood and temple restrictions until the night before her baptism. On one hand this seems odd to me, on the other as a missionary I am not sure we ever discussed it. Of course I was a missionary in 2000-2002 when it was in the past, but I think maybe there is a way it needs yo be discussed. Some of the attempts to explain it are so off I can see we people avoid it.
I know some try to analogies it to the Levites holding the priesthood. Darius Gray thinks this is a down right horrible analogy, because the priesthood being restricted to one small group is very different than it being open to everyone except one specific group.
I have heard many people offer many different answers. I am just glad I was born in 1989 abd nit before, although I think it would have been good if more talks like Elder McConkie's August 1978 address had been given early on.
Back to Sister Lawrence-Costley, so on the eve of her baptism she was told of the priesthood and temple restrictions. Her sister's response was "I don't care, I am not going to be a priest". Sister Lawrence-Costley at 5 understood this would mean she could not marry in the temple. One of the 6 missionaries there than stood and promised her that by the time she was old enough to marry every worthy man in the church would be able to hold the priesthood. She graduated high school in June 1978 and began as a student at BYU that fall.
Other Matt here...
Pretty exciting to see the announced Benin City Nigeria Temple to be a 2 story 30,000 sq ft temple. Does that make it the largest temple in Africa?
Yes, and by a pretty significant margin. Next after Benin City is Durban, which is 19,860. Johannesburg is just barely smaller at 19,184, which actually makes it one of the larger overseas temples of that floor plan.
Looking at Temple Dimensions, it appears the Durban South Africa is currently the largest dedicated temple at 19,680 sq ft. Benin City: 30,700, Lagos: 19,800, Johannesburg: 19,184, Freetown: 18,000, Accra: 17,500, Harare: 17,250, Lubumbashi: 16,700, Kinshasa: 12,000, Aba: 11,500, Antananarivo: 10,000, and Praia: 8,759. Could not find square footage for Abidjan or Nairobi.
First Quarter we have 4 groundbreakings
2nd Quarter we will have at least 5 groundbreakings which is good improvement as additional announcements for this quarter are possible.
I'm really glad to see 2 Nigeria temples on the list. These mark the first groundbreakings in Nigeria since their first and only temple broke ground in Aba 23 years ago. Three others have been announced making a total of six in Nigeria with more to be announced due to its rapid growth.
However, to keep up with 35 announcements/year pace, we would need at least 9 groundbreakings per quarter.
Last year announcements dropped a little to 32 announcements, but still the lowest since 2020. I wonder if this is going to further decline until the temple department catches up.
Abidjan and Nairobi temple sizes were not announced when the church announced site locations, which is when the church now does. I would imagine we'll know by the time their dedicated (just a guess). However, they could also become the only operating temples without published floor area.
Interesting. Thank you for posting these new branches. I noticed 2 more new branches in Spain on the meetinghouse locator.
Olot and Figueres, Spain both in the Barcelona stake.
Olot must be very new. I finished my Europe congregation map a couple of weeks ago, and I have the Figueres Branch, but Olot was not listed.
The approval for the creation of the Palmira Stake in Valle del Cauca, Colombia, has been submitted. Palmira is a city located in the department of Valle del Cauca, approximately 30 minutes from Cali, where the Church is currently building a temple.
Additionally, another district in the northern city of Santa Marta is nearing readiness to become a stake. I was informed that the district must maintain certain parameters for six consecutive months to qualify, and they are very close to achieving this milestone.
Since Benin City has the most stakes of anuly city in Nigeria it having a large temple makes sense. Kinshasa has more stakes so it getting a 2nd temple would not surprise me.
Are Abijan Ivory Coast and Nairobi Kenya the only temples actually under construction that do not have announced square footages.
I believe the Layton Utah Temple's listed size when completed was more than the listed size in earlier announcements.
On the other hand Jakarta Indonesia is getting a temple of about 44,000 Square feet.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/610909 ????
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/610550 ????
The Piedmont Virginia Stake (2278219) was recently organized and added to the Meetinghouse Locator map.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2278219
Very curious to see how it turns out. The Palmira District only shows 4 branches, so I'm wondering if those 4 branches are somehow large enough to create 5 wards. I don't see them taking any congregations from Cali because the 3 stakes in Cali only have 5 wards each, unless a branch or two upgrade to wards. It can be possible with some rearranging, like if the Buenaventura Branch were assigned to the Cali Colombia Calima Stake (which is strange because half the city is in that stake, yet the Buenaventura Branch isn't assigned to any stake or district) and if the 2 branches in Buga were transferred from Tulua to Palmira (would still leave Tulua with 5 branches). Aside from that, I don't really see any other congregations being involved.
For Santa Marta, it has 6 branches (I think it used to be 7 a while ago). There are 2 unassigned branches in Riohacha (could be that 7th branch) and Maicao (though it's much closer to Valledupar). It certainly seems do-able for both districts to become stakes.
In other news, the Zambia Lusaka Mission recently organized the Kasungu Malawi District (2290146). Just north of the Capital, Lilongwe.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2290146
With Kusungu getting a district I am thinking Lilongwe might get a temple before Blantyre. They are about 6 hours apart, so both getting a temple seems reasonable at some point.
Above it is said there is now a branch in Kenge, DR Congo. It appears that it has not shown up on meetinghouse locator yet. Kenge appears it may be the first branch in Kwango Province, which had 2.6 million people in 2020. It would also be the closest branch to Kinshasa at least to the east.
It looks like both Bandundu and Kikwit have 3 branches each. They are too far apart to really work as 1 district. Kenge may be close enough to Kikwit though that it could be put in a district with Kikwit. I suspect we will see a few more districts formed in DR Congo this year. I am also hoping Kisangani may become a stake this year.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released its annual giving to the poor and the needy report. Giving was $1.45 billion, which was a $90 million increase from last year. In 2021 it was under $1 billion. On the other hand donated hours were 6.8 million in 2021 and only 6.4 million last year, but that was up from 6.2 million in 2023. I am not sure donated hours are recorded as well as some other things though. For example I think they had us sing in for the hours we helped with the clothing distribution but I am not sure everyone always did. I am sure money expended is well tracked, so I have to admit that I feel that is a more useful metric. Maybe I focus too much on metrics and not enough on just helping people.
Just some notes on this. (My family live in Buena Vista and my dad is the stake clerk) This stake creation involved 5 stakes, 4 missions and 2 areas to create. I know they have wanted a stake in this area for a long time and a new ward in Buena Vista and the recently created Sandy River Ward (It used to be two branches later one branch and now a Ward) plus I sure other things now made it possible. Some members in the outer wards and branches will be further from the new stake center than the stake they came from but I don't know what percentage of members of those units it will affect. They building in Lynchburg that will be the stake center is small so that will make some things difficult but with the recent emphasis on maximizing use of church buildings I don't expect a new stake center until they are ready to create a 4th ward in Lynchburg. Below are the units in the new stake and which stake they came from.
Bedford Branch (Roanoke Virginia Stake)
Danville Ward (Greensboro North Carolina Stake)
Gretna Branch (Buena Vista Virginia Stake)
Lynchburg 1st Ward (Buena Vista Virginia Stake)
Lynchburg 2nd Ward (Buena Vista Virginia Stake)
Lynchburg 3rd Ward (Buena Vista Virginia Stake)
Sandy River Ward (Richmond Virginia Midlothian Stake)
South Boston Branch (Durham North Carolina Stake)
Cool 2 stakes in Virginia in a year. I used to live in Maryland I wonder if they have any new wards or branches recently or are close to getting a new stake
My brother served in that area very recently, and apparently there has been a significant boom in missionary work in the Palmira district as of late. From his perspective this new stake will be primarily driven by growth due to new members. Certainly take this with a grain of salt as it is anecdotal, but that's the report from those in the area. I am looking forward to seeing what units are involved in the new stake.
From what I understand, they will unite the Tuluà and Palmira districts to create the new stake.
Matt, I was just reviewing your Potential Sites Map again for recent changes.
I came upon this slight change under the Evanston Wyoming site on the top of your Most Likely list.
The Lyman Wyoming Stake - 1976, was renamed the Bridger Valley Wyoming Stake (508608), on or around October 24th, 2021.
And I would add, under the Bo Sierra Leone potential site, the new Bo Sierra Leone Durba Stake - 2024.
Overall very exciting developments!
It was asked earlier about where we see the Church in 50 years. I hope to be old but still around then but we'll see. There are a lot of degrees of freedom to this prediction but I believe here are some things I feel quite strongly about:
- Texas will surpass Utah as the state with the most members in the US
- We will see the emergence of a second area of high membership percentages (5-10% of the population likely) in the region from southern Illinois via Missouri, eastern Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma to northern Texas.
- We will surpass the Southern Baptist Convention and become the second largest religious body in the US (actually this will likely happen in the next 10 years already).
Internationally, I expect the Church to have many millions of members in Nigeria and the DRC. These two countries will have the largest membership in the world, with the US in third. I expect us to be the largest religious body in Liberia and Sierra Leone and to be a very noticeable minority in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Philippines are likely to be covered entirely (perhaps minus the Muslim califate areas) by stakes by 2040. Latin American growth will be driven especially by Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador, which all could reach over one million members within 50 years. Chile, Peru and Argentina will get there too, but I expect growth rates to be lower.
In Europe, I expect Spain to surpass the UK in total membership. France and Germany will see some substantial membership growth, largely but not exclusively driven by immigrants. I would look to the Balkans for increasingly dynamic growth, with the northern Balkans likely to follow patterns of Albania eventually.
Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands could become majority or at least plurality LDS countries in the Pacific, depending largely on availability of Mission resources.
Also, I would add the Azikoro Nigeria District - 2024 from the Nigeria Port Harcourt North Mission to the potential Port Harcourt units.
Under the possible Rigby Idaho list, the Rigby Idaho South Stake - 2009, was renamed Rigby Idaho Garfield, in or around November 2024.
The Lilongwe Malawi potential site would include this weeks added Kasungu Malawi District - 2025.
I sure hope all these things happen. The only one I personally cannot see happening is Texas surpassing Utah as the state with the most members in the US. That would either require many hundreds of thousands of LDS moving to Texas, hundreds of thousands of convert baptisms in Texas, or hundreds of thousands of people leaving the Church in Utah (plus a complete collapse of the birthrate in Utah, which is, unfortunately, somewhat happening). None of those seem particularly likely.
It would not surprise me at all if the DRC someday becomes the country with the most members in the world. Both LDS and population growth rates there are immense. We shall see though.
Under the Caldwell / Nampa Idaho site, I would also include a 16th Stake, the Nampa Idaho North - 2004.
Other Noah here.
Exciting news! I hope the saints in Valle del Cauca increase in numbers and faith a lot thanks to the temple being closer
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a new rendering of a smaller McKinney Texas Temple to be built in Fairview, Texas. The church and Fairview Town officials agreed to a compromise for a smaller temple."
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2025/03/25/church-submits-application-for-smaller-mckinney-texas-temple-fairview/
In the late 1970s and 1980s some thought that Church membership in California would soon exceed that in Utah. That did not happen.
Predicting the future 50 years out is hard yo do. So I do not even pretend to be able to guess what thongs MA y be like in 2075. That year I will turn 95.
I do see membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sainrs in Texas exceeding that in California as possible.
There is much growth in outreach that has to occur in Texas.
It is looking like plans for the McKinney Texas Temple are moving forward again. However this is a smaller temple than originally planned. I think this means we will see another 1-2 temples announced for Northeast Texas soon.
that shows we are weak and now everyone can just reject us building
it easy for texas to get higher numbers then utah alot of lds are leaving utah and relocate in the midwest
I don't really see it as weakness and more so as a willingness to compromise. I do believe the Church was justified in McKinney and the town officials were being hypocritical with approving the bell tower (doesn't matter if it wasn't built) but rejecting the temple certainly feels like favoritism, especially since I read the church the bell tower was for was run by the son of the mayor.
I remember reading about a ton of complaints when the Church wanted to build a temple in Phoenix, but when the temple was finally built, they discovered that nearly all of their "concerns" didn't happen. People in Lone Mountain complaining the temple violates a local ordinance on industrial buildings, which the temple clearly isn't. People are going to complain no matter what the Church does. People are going to complain the Church exists period.
With places like Heber Valley, the people are complaining it's too large, yet from my understanding, Heber City is a popular tourist destination. The Church is pretty good at planning ahead (remember home-centered study being introduced before COVID reared it's ugly head and shut everything down?), which I feel makes sense (never been to Heber City), but I wonder if the Church opted for a smaller temple that these same people would complain it's not big enough because tourists are making it too busy?
This is just my opinion of course. Something to keep in mind is most non-members likely don't understand or appreciate how significant temples are to us. To them, it's "just another building." We'll see if Fairview keeps its word.
As someone who has been following this story closely, this is a good outcome. The Church gets to move forward with building the temple that the Church and Fairview agreed to in mediation. Moreover, litigation is avoided. While I would have preferred the original design, going the litigation route to get there would have resulted in bad feelings, etc. This settlement gets the temple that the Church was happy to agree to, and that Fairview agreed to.
The main difference between Heber and Fairview is that the Heber temple was approved by city council unanimously and is being stalled by a lawsuit from a few residents. The temple in Fairview was rejected by the city council. Going to court would be justified for the church in both cases, but Fairview managed to come to a compromise, while those Heber residents flat out reject any temple on that lot.
I'm not as familiar with the controversy over the Heber City temple, so I can't really comment on that. However, for Fairview, a similar situation could occur. It sounds like the City Council will honor their mediated settlement agreement and approve the temple. Whether the Fairview residents will go along with that is an unknown. They might file a lawsuit, which sounds like what happened in Heber City. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. For the moment, the City Council indicating that they will approve is a good sign. So, lets hope it proceeds without too much further controversy.
Maybe the church can sell part of the McKinney land. It’s prime land and more than required for the smaller temple.
I can't remember exactly, but I think I recall that the total square footage of the Phoenix Arizona Temple ended up being bigger when they reduced the height due to adding a full basement.
The footprint of the 30k sf temple is likely going to be bigger than the 44k sf temple. This is because it's no longer going to be multi-story.
Hello again, everyone! I promised I would post my more specific list of prospective temple locations when I had it ready, so here it is! You can find the locations I am specifically projecting for this conference at the bottom of that document. My thanks once again to you all.
Also, the first leaders of the Alabang and Davao Philippines Temples have been named, suggesting both will be dedicated this year:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2025/03/27/new-temple-presidents-and-matrons-london-to-tokyo/
My thanks once again to you all.
James, I think it’s more fair to say “suggesting both are expected to be dedicated by August 2026”?
Nope. Both are on track to be dedicated this year. I'm projecting Alabang in October or November and Davao in November or December. If I'm wrong on either or both of those, I'll come back and let you say "I told you so." But that's coming from someone who correctly predicted the window for Farmington New Mexico's dedication to the exact month and date range, so make of that what you will.
Sorry if that sounded vain or pompous. That wasn't my intent. I don't know why exactly my estimate matched the announced date for the dedication of the Farmington New Mexico Temple, but I'm grateful that it did. I can't take credit for that.
Sorry if this is a silly question, but it's about Rick's Temples site. On my browser, I always have 2 tabs from his site open, one on the News page and the other on the Stake/District Changes page. I have both pages bookmarked, but my question is: how am I supposed to find the Stake/District Changes within the website? I've looked all over Library and Statistics, but I've seen nothing that says "here's where you can see the recent changes to stakes and districts worldwide." The only reason I have the page was because someone provided a link.
I guess I ask from two different perspectives: 1) a person that discovers the site and is curious to find everything they find about temples and their respective districts and might be interested to see new or discontinued stakes/districts, and 2) if I were to somehow lose the bookmark (or use a computer and don't have access to my bookmarks, like this one), how can I find it again without having someone just give me the link.
If I remember correctly Alabang was not in the original list of temple presidents released a few weeks ago. It is good to see it have a president announced. Elder Kearon had invited President Marcos of the Philippines to the Alabang Open house when thry met a few months ago, and had indicated it would probably be in 2025. So I am not surprised.
This means that every temple announced by President Monson now has a President called. We just need a president called for Pago Pago American Samoa and the same will be true for every temple announced by President Kimball. OK I have maybe worn out the comments on Pago Pagos unique story.
With the McKinney Texas Temple I think the main plus to the mediation leading to the temple being built is this process is faster.
The idea of selling off some of the land makes no sense. The smaller temple is mainly achieved by going from 2 stories to 1 story. The size is not bring reduced by haldmf, so the square footage may go up, I am not sure.
However also a selling point, that might not have quite worked but is still key is that the plan increases the number of trees and leaves the temple not much visible for the residents.
Selling off any of the land is just a way to make people around more angry. Even selling off a small amount to build houses would make people mad, and I do not think it would be practical.
There are good results of having green space and space gor quiet contemplation. Not every square inch has to be building or parking lot, so selling off the land makes no sense. Especially since center if is mot clear the building footprint, the amount of ground covered by the building, will go down at all.
Yes I know there are temple like Tokyo and Philadelphia in central urban areas that have less acreage devoted to them, bur then there is Washinton DC which has a truly immense average devoted to it. The current McKinney lot fits the general area it is in, selling part of it off would not.
Anonymous, Like my good friend, James Stokes above, I too don't wish to be labeled as "pompous or vain". I have been labeled in the past by some here as "Taking over the site" as if I was the owner or only one allowed to post or comment. I truly hope none of you see me in that light. And if so, I am truly sorry for adding my 2 bits of ongoning research or knowledge from a select few official Church recognized sources, i.e. Church News, or Newsroom daily post updates, or non official but my good personal friend Rick Satterfield, who runs his own site non profit and not official as the site declares, called https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org. Which with my friendship he had graciously shared with me some months ago, his own list of ongoing changes he updates weekly on any of the individual Temple Districts pages. To remind himself, then me specifically, which changes were made within the last 90 days. I then compare my ongoing Excel database of Stakes/Districts past and present.
Here is his general list of links to all the Dedicated Temples worldwide. I click on the link here related to the change i'm looking for.
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/statistics/districts/
Using my initiative, I first locate the name of the changed or added Stake or district on Meetinghouse locator and on my Google Earth maps, from Matt's Potential Temples as a starting point. Which also shows many of the current districts. He is very busy and takes time for him to update all the districts to his map format.
If i know the closest or nearby Dedicated temple, then i can click on the link to that district to find the changed or added Stake in that list or nearby temple.
Here is the afore mentioned Rick Satterfield's Stake/District updates page link. That i too have bookmarked on my browser. In the case as you mentioned, that you or an acquaintance has erased the saved link. It cannot be located anywhere on his site. Since, it his own personal reminder of what changes were made so i could follow. Prior to him making that Updates page, i was asking him every day in emails which changes if any were changed on the Temples site. Now when I find a change on tuesday morning Meetinghouse updates in each 23 Church Areas list I tell him, and he updates the official Temple District from the official Church CDOL list assigned units.
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/units/
Among today's group of Biographies for 16 new Mission Leaders, I found 2 unexpected changes for this year.
1st, Brother Sergio A. Castañón, had been called earlier this year, to preside over the Nicaragua Managua North Mission. But this week, has been replaced by the youngest new President in this group (38 years old), Brother Walter Venegas from Costa Rica, to replace President Roger Perez.
2nd, an addition was made to this years New Presidents. It looks like President Milton Queiroz (that was not announced earlier this year) of the Brazil Sao Paulo South Mission, is being released a year early. And Brother Paulo Ribeiro de Moura, has been called this week to replace him.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2025/03/28/new-mission-presidents-and-companions-nevada-to-nicaragua/
I forgot to add, according to my records, there is just 7 more Mission Leaders Biographies to post for the July 2025 changes. Including 3 that were previously posted as "To be announced".
I personally enjoy (most of) the commentary on this blog, even if I'm not terribly interested in the topic. If there is a comment on a subject I don't care about, I just skip it (I have the freedom to do that, no one's forcing me to read it), and I don't bear ill against the person. Someone might say you have "too much time on [your] hands," but I see no shame in a project you are passionate about (as long as it's constructive, not destructive). Just because *I'm* not interested doesn't mean it's not important to someone else.
During Sunday School or Elders Quorum, I make a couple of comments, but then I stay silent if I feel I've talked too much. There's just a chaotic tug-of-war in my life with trying to be humble without lacking confidence, trying to ensure that confidence doesn't extend into arrogance, trying to fulfil the desire to contribute while avoiding the idea of being overbearing. Might seem contradictory to try to value other's opinions while worrying about being imposing with my own, but I'm still figuring it out.
Again, Thank you, Anonymous (whichever anonymous you are). I am indeed grateful for your feedback and humble evaluation. I am doing my best to reign in my natural "Leo" leadership tendencies here and allow all to comment or add to the conversation. I just get anxious sometimes to get the Good News out to you all here. And yes, I have taken a hiatus on my Cities Mapping project for the moment. I had recently just completed the Cities boundaries map for the 3 countries of Japan, North Korea and South Korea. I'm taking a break for a while before i continue with the rest of Southeast Asia and Southwest Asia and Middle East, each with their own writing script. It's hard to sort out names that i can't even read, let alone say. India and Indonesia may take less time, using the latin alphabet names on the map.
Chris D - Please email me at matt.martinich@gmail.com. I have something I want to discuss with you.
Just last Sunday, the Edmonton Gateway Stake had some boundaries adjusted. Some of the Sherwood Park Stake area (but no wards) was absorbed, and two new wards were organized, the Yellow Bird Ward (English), and the Meadow Lark Ward (Tagalog). The Yellowknife Branch was moved to the Bonnie Doon Stake. Other wards had some boundaries adjusted. There are now two Tagalog wards in Edmonton. The addition of two more wards in South Edmonton now further stretches the limited number of meeting houses in the Edmonton Area all around, but especially in South Edmonton. Two meeting houses have four wards, the rest three. One meetinghouse has only two YSA Wards but is actually just an Institute building with a small carpet gym that converts to a chapel, and North Edmonton has only one meetinghouse with only two wards using it. St. Albert has a meeting house with only one ward in it and is the only meetinghouse in the metro area with one ward. I thought it before but I definitely think so now; I really hope another chapel gets built in Edmonton very soon. I always thought it odd that Edmonton proper has only 9 meeting houses (including the institute building). While Calgary proper has 19 meeting houses, more than double, but only 2 more stakes than Edmonton. In case anyone is wondering if, Calgary and Edmonton have virtually the same sized urban area. Only a 6 km² difference with Calgary being bigger.
Per the Church news President and Sister Moura begin their service in March (meaning either now, or thry begin a week or more ago and it is only just being included). I know nothing more on this subject.
With only 7 more mission presidents to announce we could get them all announced before conference. Although there may be changes caused by calls in conference, we shall see.
Someone pointed that the size of the Lagos Temple may make an Ibadan Temple more likely. This may be so. It is also why I think a Lagos Nogeria Agege Temple is possible. It is the only case of city with a temple announced but not one dedicated I think has any possibility of having a 2nd temple announced before the planned temple is dedicated.
Guatemala City it would not shock me to see a 3rd Temple announced for the general city, same with Manila and Sao Paulo (and Lima, but it right now has 2 dedicated temples), but those all have an operating temple so it is a different story. There are also some cities with operating temples a 2nd temple would not shock me, but only Lagos of cities with only an announced temple would I not be astounded to see a temple announced for it. However south-east Nigeria probably has a steiner need for another temple than south-west Nigeria, and Ibadan is probably the most likely place the next south-west Nigeria Temple will go, so Lagos Nigeria Agege if it happens at all may not be announced for a while, and so Lagos Nigeria Temple may get done before the Legos,Nigeria Agege Temple is announced.
The Lima Peru temple is one of the smallest but also has a high number of stakes in the city. I wonder if they will rebuild that temple and double or triple the size.
The Lima temple is on a very small block of land.
Sorry, I was wrong about the size of the block the Lima Peru temple is on.
Could they rebuild it with basement space or add a floor? If more parking is needed at underground or multilevel parking space.
Here is an interesting article I missed earlier this week on the Newsroom site,
The President of the Africa West Area recently visited with Government officials in Togo. I know that Lome Togo has been on our radar for quite some time.
https://news-africa.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-of-the-africa-west-area-visits-government-officials-in-togo
New potential seminary building being discussed for the suburbs of Tucson, AZ:
https://www.kgun9.com/news/community-inspired-journalism/vail/lds-seminary-coming-to-cienega-high-school-is-raising-concerns
@Anonymous & Chris D.
I appreciate your comments about finding a happy medium between knowing when to speak and when to listen (both here and at church). I agree it can be a delicate balance at times.
Sorry about the confusion. I've been getting frustrated having to sign in nearly every time to make a comment under my name. I'm dealing with technical issues on my computer, where when it goes to sleep sometimes it will completely close out every program when it's not supposed to, and I'd have to sign into my browser at least a couple of times a day. I guess I forgot just how many different Anonymous can appear on here, but 11 of the (as of writing this comment) 29 Anonymous comments on this post are mine.
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