Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Dedication Date Set

The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has announced that the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple will be dedicated in 12 sessions from August 14-16, 2009. The open house for the new temple will begin on June 1st.

New District in Moldova; District Dissolved in Argentina

The first district of the Church was created two Sundays ago in the Eastern European country of Moldova. The Chisinau Moldova District consists of two branches in Moldova and one branch in Romania. The branch of the Church in Chisinau has been described by return missionaries as one of the strongest branches in the region despite there being less than 300 members in the entire country. The other branch in Moldova is located in Orhei. The city of Balti, Moldova once had missionaries serve in it several years ago, but has not since then. Hopefully missionaries will return to the city and a branch will be established considering it is the second largest city in the country.

The Gualeguaychú Argentina District was dissolved recently. The district was originally organized back in 2003 and as of recently only consisted of two branches. There are now 70 stakes and 37 districts in the country.

City Opens For Missionary Work In the DR Congo

Several missionary companionships have been assigned to the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo city of Likasi last month. Likasi, as far as I know, has not had missionaries assigned to it before, yet has four branches operating together as a district (which was organized in 2002). Likasi is the eighth largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with around 360,000 inhabitants, and is located 100 or so miles northwest of Lubumbashi.

There are around 20,000 members of the Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, organized in five stakes, four districts, and a couple mission branches.

First City To Open For Missionary Work in Guyana Interior

According to Sister Robison from the West Indies Mission, missionaries will now be assigned to the interior city of Linden for two days a week. This is the first time the Church has taken an effort to establish itself in the interior of the country. Most of the people living in these areas are of Amerindian heritage. These native peoples have been receptive to the Gospel in towns where the Church is present. The population of Linden is between 30,000 and 60,000 depending on the source. Senior Missionaries have periodically visited the interior, but only for recreational and humanitarian purposes. No branch has been established Linden as of yet.

The city with the most inhabitants that does not have a Church presence in Guyana is now Corriverton with around 13,000.

Assessing Inactivity

I have discussed recently how inactivity can be expressed by a ratio of Church membership over congregations. The logic for this statistic is that you have to have a certain number of active members to have a congregation and once the congregation grows too large it is divided. This also assumes that the Church has kept congregations the same size over time. The above graph shows how this ratio has fluctuated over time. Notice how members per congregation today is about what it was in the 1940s. Much of the recent increase in members per congregation is due to inactivity in Central and South America, which unfortunately is worsening overall considering this ratio. Most countries in Latin America add around 10-20 members per congregation because new congregations are not being created at the same rate membership is increasing.

The Unreached Population of Brazil

Although Brazil has over 1,040,000 members and 27 missions, tens of millions do not have access to the Church. With around 190,000,000 inhabitants, Brazil is a country that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has invested much into. The only other country with more missions is the United States, with over 100.

The Church is most established in the southern portion of Brazil, but even in these areas there remain cities with tens of thousands that do not have missionaries close by or worship services to attend. The map below illustrates those areas in which the population does not have access to missionaries or a congregation of the Church in blue. This information was collected from the Church via maps.lds.org and corrections are welcome. The vast majority of the northern portion of Brazil shown in blue is sparsely population, but there are cities with over 100,000 people in those areas.

Northern Brazil


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Southern Brazil


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Dependent Branches and Groups

Something I have neglected to write about in this blog are the existence of what are called dependent branches. In the Church we are familiar with the terms wards and branches. Wards typically have around 100-400 people attend each Sunday and must be a part of a stake (which usually have 5-12 wards or branches). To be a ward, there needs to be a certain number of active members and active Melchizedek Priesthood holders. Branches can be a part of a stake, district, or under the direction of the mission president in the area and usually have fewer than 100 people attend Church meetings on Sundays.

Dependent branches function like groups. They are attached to another branch or ward to which they report to. These dependent branches' locations are not provided on Church websites and are often very dynamic to fit the needs of members in the area which they live. Dependent branches can be found all over the world, even in the United States. For example, I live in the Denver area and before the Monte Vista (Spanish) Ward was created earlier this year in the Denver Colorado North Stake, it meet as a dependent branch to a ward in the stake. As for how dependent branches and groups differ, I do not completely know except groups tend to be smaller and can report directly to a mission or area presidency instead of a branch or ward which the group may be attached to. Dependent branches also have a branch president with two counselors, whereas groups just have a group leader.

Sometimes dependent branches and groups are jokingly referred to as "twigs" by those in the Church since they are very small. I believe all the new branches organized in Hungary in the past year are actually dependent branches since I cannot find any information about them from Church websites. These new Hungarian branches were in cities such as Békéscsaba and Kaposvár and had around 30-40 people attending each Sunday. I recently found out about a dependent branch organized in Butterworth, Malaysia and groups organized in Kosi Bay, South Africa and the western half of the city Douala in Cameroon. Since I am on the topic of Cameroon, a third branch will be created soon in Youande, Cameroon as well.

Lastly, I just wanted to emphasize that dependent branches and groups are very important for the Church's establishment in areas in has not yet existed.

New District in Nigeria

Last month a new district of the Church was created in Nigeria. The Ibiono Nigeria District was likely created from at least three or four mission branches around the Nigerian city of Ikot-Ekpene. These branches have existed for sometime (at least five or six years) in cities such as Ikot-Ekpene and Ono. There are now 16 stakes and 15 districts in Nigeria.

The new Ibiono Nigeria District was created in the part of the country where the Church is the strongest. There are 11 stakes and three other districts within 50 miles of the new district. It is likely more districts and stakes will be created in this very Christian region of the country, where the Aba Nigeria Temple is also located, in the coming years considering the high activity and steady growth of the Church there.

It is also likely a new stake or two could be created in Benin City. The first stake in Benin City was created in 1993 and last year the third stake in the city was organized. The three stakes continue to grow rapidly in terms of congregations. The Church has a very limited presence or is non-existent in the areas outside of the city to the north, south, and west. For instance, the city of Sapele 30 miles to the south has over 100,000 inhabitants without a congregation of the Church.

Stakes in the United States Likely to Split Soon

Below I have an updated list of stakes in the United States which could possibly split soon due to the large number of wards (large congregations) within them. An old version of this list from last April can be found here. When multiple stakes are listed on the same line, this indicates that it is likely one new stake could be created from them.

In order for new stakes to be created, there has to be enough active members, which makes the increase in new stakes a good indicator for Church growth.

Huntsville Alabama Stake (13 wards)
Flagstaff Arizona (12 wards, 3 branches)
Prescott Arizona (13 wards, 2 branches)
Tuscon Arizona North and Rincon Stakes (12 wards each)
Rocklin California Stake (13 wards, 1 branch)
Arapahoe and Parker Colorado Stakes (12 wards each)
Denver North Stake (11 wards, 1 branch)
Greeley Colorado Stake (11 wards, 2 branches)

Meeker Colorado Stake (11 wards, 3 branches)
Fort Myers, Brandon, Tampa, and Lakeland Florida Stakes (38 wards, 12 branches)
Chubbuck Idaho Stake (12 wards)
Eagle Idaho Stake (12 wards)
Kuna Idaho Stake (13 wards)
Preston Idaho North Stake (12 wards, 3 branches)

Rigby Idaho Stake and Rigby Idaho East Stake (22 wards, 2 branches)
Louisville Kentucky Stake (11 wards, 5 branches)
Cambridge Massachusetts (11 wards, 3 branches)
Traverse City Michigan District* (10 branches)

Burnsville Minnesota Stake (10 wards, 4 branches)
Kearney Nebraska Stake (8 wards, 8 branches)
Omaha Nebraska Stake (11 wards, 2 branches)
New York New York Stake (12 wards, 2 branches)
Keizer Oregon Stake (12 wards, 1 branch)
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Stake (10 wards, 3 branches)
Colleyville Texas Stake (13 wards)
Dallas Texas East Stake (12 wards)

Houston Texas West (Spanish) Stake (11 wards, 2 branches)
Richardson Texas Stake (13 wards)

Round Rock Texas Stake (12 wards, 1 branch)
Eagle Mountain Utah (35 wards in 3 stakes)
Farr West Utah Stake (12 wards)
Fort Herriman Utah Stake (14 wards)
Kanesville Utah Stake (12 wards, 1 branch)
La Verkin Utah Stake (12 wards)
Lehi Utah North Stake (13 wards, 1 branch)
North Salt Lake Utah Parkway Stake (13 wards, 2 branches)
Orem Utah Sunset Heights Stake (12 wards, 2 branches)
Providence Utah (25 wards and 1 branch in 2 stakes)

Salt Lake Utah (Tongan) Stake (12 wards, 1 branch)
Santa Clara Utah Stake (15 wards)
Saratoga Springs Utah Stake (14 wards)

Saratoga Springs Utah North Stake (13 wards)
Smithfield Utah (22 wards and 1 branch in 2 stakes)
Spanish Fork South Stake (13 wards)
Buena Vista Virginia Stake (12 wards, 2 branches)
Pasco Washington Stake (12 wards, 4 branches)
Tacoma Washington Stake (12 wards, 1 branch)
Madison Wisconsin Stake (8 wards, 7 branches)
Laramie Wyoming stake (12 wards)

One Year of Blogging

It has been a year ago from today that I began this blog. A lot of very exciting things have happened since then. Nine new temples have been announced, around 30 new stakes organized, and dozens of cities opened to the preaching of the Gospel. Membership growth and the rate of new congregations created has slowed in 2008 as far as I know, but I look forward to 2009 and hope that the Church will strengthen throughout the world. If there are any subjects you would like me to cover concerning the growth or the demographics of the Church, please offer your suggestions.