Sunday, April 10, 2011

Church Growth News

New district in Mexico

A couple weeks ago a new district was organized in the Mexican state of Sonora.  The Puerto Penasco Mexico District was organized from the Caborca Mexico District and includes two branches in Puerto Penasco and the Sonoita Branch.  There are now 222 stakes and 35 districts in Mexico. 

Preparations underway for opening Gabon to missionary work

The mission president of the Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa Mission has begun making preparations for the opening of Gabon to missionary work.  Gabon has never had an LDS presence and is officially assigned to the Africa Southeast Area.  Recently an area branch was organized for Gabon and members meet in few numbers in Libreville for church meetings.  Missionaries report that some members from Cote d'Ivoire have immigrated to Gabon and are facilitating the establishment of an official church presence.  Gabon will likely  be officially assigned to the mission in Kinshasa and in the near future will likely be included in the creation of a prospective mission in Cameroon which could also administer the Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea.

Cities no longer to open for missionary work in Sierra Leone

Missionaries serving in the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission report that plans have been postponed for opening Makeni and Moyamba for missionary work due to an increased emphasis on districts in Freetown and Bo becoming stakes in the near future with the assistance of full-time missionaries. 

100 LDS congregations in the DR Congo

The DR Congo has become the fourth African country to have over 100 LDS congregations.  Congregational growth rates remain strong and new units are organized on nearly a monthly basis.

2010 LDS membership statistics not yet released

The Church has not yet released country-by-country membership statistics for 2010.  These statistics are often published within the first few weeks after General Conference in April and I will provide a thorough analysis once they become available. 

9 comments:

Tom said...

The amount of congregations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo appear to be growing faster than that of any other nation in the world.

The last time I checked there were only 79 congregations. Now there are 100. Which has been achieved not even with gigantic membership totals.

It appears retention is very strong in this nation. The gospel is flooding this land; a country torn by war and the poorest nation by GDP by capita on earth.. but one receptive and willing to bring forwards the truth of god.

The church can drive this country forward.

Ray said...

Tom, if you want to get daily updates on congregational growth throughout the world just go to CDOL.LDS.org and enter your Church user name and password. This information is available by country and Church Area.

Deivisas said...

Elder Holland is in the Middle East to split a stake there, also he will be visiting 8 countries in 12 days in the middle east in preparation for the church to grow there.

Erik said...

Amazing to hear about the division of the Manama Bahrain Stake - with few members and high activity, I'm guessing this will mean the resulting two stakes will be the stakes with the fewest members in the world! Deivisas, do you know which Middle Eastern countries Elder Holland is visiting? I wonder how things have been moving ahead for Lebanon since it was dedicated to the preaching of the Gospel a year and a half ago..

Tom said...

using the site I have been given; I have established the following information on selected countries congregational wise and how they have changed from the end of 2009.

This is how they are as of current, thus it is even more up to date than the statistical report.

Mexico now has 2010 congregations, up from 1977.

Brazil now has 1927 congregations, up from 1849.

The Democratic Republic of the congo has 101 congregations, up from 74.

Madagascar has 28 congregations, up from 14 (only country I have found to have doubled)

The United Kingdom has 333 congregations, receeding from 347. (However some branches seem to have became wards)

South Africa has 148 congregations, up from 130.

Malaysia has 28 congregations, up from 19.

Peru has 779 congregations up from 751

J Bailey said...

Can anyone access the CDOL.lds.org site? It is asking for a reason to have the information and I was not sure if this is restricted to a certain level of leadership in the church.

Erik said...

J Bailey - it is restricted. I requested access (by writing a reason for access) and received the following e-mail:

I do not currently show you on the authorized user list for CDOL or in an active authorized position in CDOL. At present we only give local access to Mission Presidents, their counselors and certain other positions if added by the president, Temple Presidencies, Temple President Secretaries, Temple Recorders and Assistant Recorders, Stake Presidencies, District Presidencies, Stake and District Clerks, Stake and District Executive Secretaries if added by the President, Bishoprics, Ward Clerks, Ward Executive Secretaries, Branch Presidencies, Branch Clerks, Branch Executive Secretaries, and authorized Church employees who need the information to do their jobs. If you are not one of the above, but you need directory information, please see your priesthood leader about possibly getting the information you need from him. Thank you.

Gnesileah said...

cdol.lds.org is only partially restricted. You have to have special clearance to access the names of leaders and organizations, however, anyone can access the reports on church organization totals, sorted by the whole church, or by country or church area. Updates occur daily Tuesday - Saturday.

Craig said...

Brazzaville, Gabon & Cameroon--

New missions need a center of strength. I speculate that the prospective mission would be in Brazzaville and include all five countries that used to be French Equitorial Africa - Republic of Congo (with the large Brazzaville stake),Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, and eventually Chad. They share the same currency and French spelling while Democratic Republic of Congo has a different currency and Belgian spelling.