The first district in western Romania was created in Arad. The Arad Romania District likely includes branches in Oradea and Timisoara and possibly Cluj-Napoca and Deva. The other two districts in Romania are based in Bucharest and Ploiesti. A district is made up of two or more branches which is presided over by a district presidency. Districts report to the mission president of the mission in which they are located and can mature into stakes.
Like most Eastern European countries, Church growth was rapid a first and has slowed substantially in Romania. There are about 2,700 members of the Church in Romania and 19 branches. Today membership typically increases by around 100 each year, whereas in the 1990s membership increased by around 200 each year. Not very many cities have opened to missionary work in Romania in the past five years. The latest city to have full time elders assigned to it was Craiova.
It is exciting to see the leadership of the Church develop and strengthen enough in Eastern Europe to support the new districts created in Arad this month and Moldova last January. Perhaps we will see future districts created in L'viv Ukraine, Hungary and Athens Greece as leadership continues to mature and grow in this area of the world where the Church is yet in its infancy.
It seems the Ploiesti Romania District has been dissolved now, according to ldschurchtemples.com. I wonder if the district was just moved to Arad instead? Ploiesti is only 35 miles from Bucharest, and Arad is a healthy 260 miles, and this move was probably done to better manage the branches in the country.... hopefully in preparation for a stake in the future.
ReplyDeleteHi from Romania -
ReplyDeleteFor those interested, two weeks ago the Ploiesti District (which included the cities of Ploiesti and Brasov) were combined with the Bucuresti district (already containing Bucuresti, Pitesti, and Alexandria).
The Arad district does not include Cluj-Napoca, as suggested as a possibility by the author. It includes four cities (Arad, Timisoara, Deva, and Oradea). It was created on March 7th.
There are still 6 cities in Romania which are part of the mission district: Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Craiova, Constanta, Bacau, and Galati
Now, the group of Craiova make a part of Pitesti branch from Bucuresti District.
ReplyDeleteIs the Craiova Group still meeting and now reports to the Pitesti Branch or do members now have to travel to Pitesti for Church meetings?
ReplyDeleteI was just looking for documents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Romania. I was born in Romania, and lived there until I was 17. Now I am 18 years old and I live in Charlotte, NC, USA. I am currently learning about the church, and I hope to get baptized soon. The hardest part is that I have to tell my parents about my decision. It will be very hard, because as you have noticed probably, Romanians are pretty connected to the Orthodox Church.
ReplyDeleteI think I am the only Romanian from Charlotte, and from my hometown in Romania that has made this decision. I prayed and I felt the power of the Holy Ghost telling me that everything is true and that I should get baptized. I am currently asking God and Jesus Christ to give me the strength to tell my parents about the decision.