The Albany Georgia Stake was discontinued last Sunday. The stake had five wards and three branches. The majority of the stake was combined with the neighboring Douglas Georgia Stake, which was renamed the Tifton Georgia Stake. The Tifton Georgia Stake currently has 10 wards and one branch. The Albany Georgia Stake was the second stake to be discontinued this year, the first being the Grants New Mexico Stake. The stake was combined likely as a result of a massive stake realignment that included northern Florida as well back in June.
Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh. Now we are back at 2849 stakes. I just hate it when stakes are discontinued. I know there were masive realignments in the area but isn't 5 wards and 3 branches big enough to keep a Stake. Well, I am exceedingly thankful that only 2 stakes have been discontinued this year.
ReplyDeleteAnd so far this year no stakes discontinued in California(knock on wood). Maybe the outward migration of members has stopped or more likely slowed.
ReplyDeleteJames, where in California are you? When I was living in the Menlo Park California stake a few years ago I was told by an authoritative source that membership was declining because young families who had come to the area to work or study couldn't afford to stay. I don't know what the recession has done; on the one hand housing is much cheaper, but on the other hand the state's unemployment rate is above the national average.
ReplyDeleteI too am happy only two stakes were discontinued this year so far. Hopefully we will have the first year (in a long time) where we will not have any stakes discontinued outside the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Southern California near LA. In fact, the stake I grew up in was discontinued last year. Mostly, it was due to people like me and my siblings, who left to go live in cheaper states.
ReplyDeleteBut the good news is that this year definitely looks better than last year as far as number of stakes created and dissolved.
The discontinued stakes in the LA area is not so much people leaving California as it is the continued suburbanization trend, and the resultant ethnic shifts in the older suburbs. While many stakes and wards in the suburbs of the 60s & 70s (the valley, Covina, Anaheim) have discontinued or converted to Spanish-speaking stakes in recent years, new ones have opened in Lancaster, Victorville, Hemet, etc. What is interesting is how this effect is so much more pronounced in LA than anywhere else. We don't see it as strongly in places like Phoenix (where there are new outer rim stakes, but no discontinuances).
ReplyDeletethe discontinued Albany Ga Stake did not result in an overall change in the Stake count. There was a new stake formed in North Fl. The Albany and Douglas Stakes were both carved up and sent to strengthen other Stakes as well as two units to the new Stake, Resulting in the combining the remains of Albany and Douglas.
ReplyDeleteThis realignment takes the bountries back to a reflection of pre-1996 before there was a Alany Stake.