Ireland Dublin Mission to be Discontinued

The Ireland Dublin Mission will combine with the Scotland Edinburgh Mission to create the Scotland/Ireland Mission. The mission will be headquartered in Edinburgh and serve members in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland in seven stakes, one district and several mission branches in northern Scotland. Since 2000 membership has increased from 2,333 to 2,772 in 2008 and there has been no change in the number of congregations.

Member activity may have increased substantially in the past decade. Those who identify themselves as LDS on the census increased by 48.5% between 2002 and 2006 whereas total membership rose by 3.8% during this time period. Greater numbers of active members lessen the role missionaries serve in countries with a small Church presence. The Ireland Dublin Mission has only served members in two stakes and one district. Most missions generally have five to 15 stakes. Missions in areas where the Church has recently arrived, experience high member inactivity, and an expanding Church outreach can have only a couple districts and no stakes within their boundaries. The Greece Athens Mission had no stakes or districts within its boundaries until 2007 when the Nicosia Cyprus District was created. The Russia Vladivostok is the only regular proselyting mission without a stake or district.

In addition to the small LDS membership and population, low growth rates, and increasing independence of Irish membership, the Scotland Edinburgh Mission also experiences slow growth and has had the number of congregations drop by seven during the 2000s. Membership grew by only 1.7% between 2000 and 2008. The consolidation of the two missions will likely not decrease the few numbers of converts the Church gains in Ireland and Scotland and allow for greater mission resources to be utilized in more needy areas of the world.