Sunday, December 26, 2010

Church Growth News

Brazil's most populous unreached city by the LDS Church now has an LDS congregation.

Located in the remote interior of Para State, the first known LDS congregation was recently organized in Maraba. The Maraba Branch services the city of 186,000 inhabitants that was formerly Brazil's most populous city without an official LDS congregation nearby. The only other Brazilian city with more inhabitants without an LDS congregation nearby is Mage, located nearby Rio de Janeiro. The nearby Piabeta Branch administers Mage. Mage appears likely to have its own congregation in the coming years as it the city supports a population of 216,000. There remain several additional cities with over 100,000 in northern Brazil without LDS congregations, such as Caxias, Araguaina, and Parauapebas.

New Stake to be created in Guatemala in January

Full-time missionaries serving in the Guatemala Quetzaltenango Mission report that a new stake will be organized next month in the Quetzaltenango area and that several new congregations will be created. Guatemala experienced rapid church growth in the 1980s and 1990s, but only one new stake was created in the 2000s as membership growth rates declined, low convert retention and member activity prevented the creation of new congregations and stakes, and several wards and branches were consolidated. I will provide more information once the new stake is created.

Growth accelerates in El Salvador

Full-time missionaries serving in El Salvador report many positive developments for 2010 as one of the two missions has baptized over 2,000 new converts this year and sacrament attendance has consistently increased to over 11,000 in one of the missions. Several stakes are close to splitting as branches have consistently become wards in recent years, but there has been no noticeable increase in total congregations in 2010 however. No significant increases in the number of congregations in the next year will likely indicate member activity and leadership development problems, but increases in sacrament attendance point to some improvement in activity rates in this nation that has historically seen some of the lowest member activity and convert retention rates worldwide.

District discontinued in Pennsylvania

The Brookville Pennsylvania District was discontinued and two of its seven original branches were discontinued. Most of the branches were absorbed into the Altoona Pennsylvania Stake. One of the branches - the Brookville Branch - has become a ward. There are now ten districts left in the United States, many of which are in remote areas or in the intercity. With the ongoing trend of district consolidations with stakes in the United States, it is possible that most remaining districts may be consolidated within the next decade as in 2000, there were 16 districts in 2000.

12 comments:

  1. Exciting things are happening for the Church in South and Central America! I'm sure the activity in Central America has been helped by having 3 new temples under construction, 2 of them to be dedicated in the next year.

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  2. So how is 2010 shaping up for +/-'s of stakes and districts?

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  3. What happened to the stake that was supposed to be created in November in Honduras?

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  4. Every evidence as I can find shows nothing new in Tegucigalpa, still 8 stakes.

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  5. I count 22 new stakes with 1 dissolved, and -2 districts.

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  6. For 2010, I count 32 new stakes and 17 new districts, with 1 stake discontinued and 20 districts discontinued (with 4 of those districts being created into new stakes).

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  7. Discontinued Districts:
    1. Juticalpa Honduras
    2. Guaymaca Honduras
    3. Obera Argentina
    4. Kampala Uganda (became stake)
    5. Anchorage Alaska Bush
    6. Chañaral Chile
    7. Ping Tung Taiwan
    8. Goiana Brazil
    9. Moscow Russia West
    10. Palermo Italy (became stake)
    11. Fajardo Puerto Rico
    12. Basseterre Saint Kitts-Nevis
    13. Matehuala México
    14. Arecibo Puerto Rico
    15. Santarém Brazil Pará (became stake)
    16. Ufa Russia
    17. Monte Plata Dominican Republic
    18. Bundaberg Australia
    19. Guam (became stake)
    20. Brookville Pennsylvania

    Discontinued Stakes:
    1. Tokyo Japan (English) (became district)

    New Districts:
    2. Huaral Perú
    3. Tokyo Japan (English)
    4. Minj Papua New Guinea
    5. Monjarás Honduras
    6. Abak Nigeria
    7. Ekpoma Nigeria
    8. Battambang Cambodia
    9. Sorriso Brazil
    10. Mbaise Nigeria
    11. Ibesikpo Nigeria
    12. Toamasina Madagascar
    13. Stavenger Norway
    14. Puerto Cabezas Nicaragua
    15. Paxajtup Guatemala
    16. Sogere Papua New Guinea
    17. Antsirabe Madagascar
    18. Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of Congo

    New Stakes:
    1. Kampala Uganda
    2. Spanish Fork Utah River
    3. Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire Niangon
    4. Tulancingo México
    5. Kaohsiung Taiwan East
    6. Crestwood Kentucky
    7. San Félix Venezuela
    8. Eagle Mountain Utah North
    9. Lehi Utah Cedar Hollow
    10. Smithfield Utah South
    11. Palermo Italy
    12. Tremonton Utah West
    13. Smithfield Utah YSA
    14. Providence Utah YSA
    15. Santarém Brazil Pará
    16. Spanish Fork Utah Maple Mountain
    17. Springville Utah Dry Creek
    18. West Haven Utah
    19. Waco Texas
    20. Alphaville Brazil
    21. Arlington Washington
    22. High Point North Carolina
    23. Alvarenga Brazil
    24. Castanhal Brazil
    25. Macaé Brazil
    26. San Francisco Venezuela
    27. Barrigada Guam
    28. Fortaleza Brazil Benfica
    29. Pacajus Brazil
    30. Paniqui Philippines
    31. Belém Brazil Entroncamento
    32. Belém Brazil Icoaraci

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  8. A few more of those stakes were created from districts, making 23 discontinued districts by my count. Castanhal Brazil, Paniqui Philippines, and Guam.

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  9. Also, the Ammon Jordan District cropped up. It was created in 2005.

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  10. Porto Seguro Brazil District is missing from that list

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  11. To Ryan: How did you find that the Amman Jordan District was created in 2005? I can't find it in any of the temple districts on LdsChurchTemples.com where all the stakes and districts are listed with their dates of creation.

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  12. I know this is old, but Ray's question was never answered. I just discovered that the Amman Jordan district is listed under the London England Temple on ldschurchtemples.com.

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