Eight New YSA Stakes Organized in Utah; Three Stakes Discontinued in Utah and One Stake Discontinued in California

Eight new YSA stakes in Utah

The LDS Church organized eight new YSA stakes on May 1st in the Salt Lake area in an effort to simplify organizational administration for young single adults in the region.  New stakes are headquartered in Bountiful, Draper, Layton, Murray, Sandy, Syracuse, Taylorsville, and West Jordan.  Many of the congregations which now pertain to these stakes were assigned to ordinary "family" stakes in the region and as many as three dozen wards and branches were consolidated.  At present, none of the eight new stakes have any YSA branches as a result of the reorganization and restructuring of congregations.  The number of YSA wards in the eight new stakes varies from as few as seven to as many as twelve. 

Three stakes discontinued in Utah

Three stakes were discontinued in Utah.  Originally organized in 1981, the Blanding Utah West Stake included only four wards and three branches and was consolidated with the Blanding Utah Stake (organized in 1978), which had five wards and two branches.  There are now nine wards and five branches in the Blanding Utah Stake.

Organized in 1978, the Salt Lake Mount Olympus North Stake had five wards and was discontinued and consolidated with the Salt Lake Mount Olympus Stake which also had five wards.  There were six wards in the Salt Lake Mount Olympus Stake until the YSA ward was placed under a YSA stake recently.  The number of LDS congregations in both stakes was unchanged from as early as 2004.  There are now ten wards in the Salt Lake Mount Olympus Stake. 

Organized in 1965, the Taylorsville Utah West Stake had five wards and was discontinued and consolidated with the Taylorsville Utah North Central and the Taylorsville Utah South Stakes.  There were six wards in the former Taylorsville Utah West Stake between 2004 and 2007 until one ward was discontinued in 2007.  The recent creation of the Taylorsville Utah YSA Stake removed a YSA ward part of the stake, resulting in the Taylorsville Utah West Stake possessing only four wards.   

Despite the LDS Church in Utah operating 555 stakes and experiencing significant population shifts from Salt Lake City to other areas, only eight stakes were discontinued in the past decade whereas approximately 80 were created.  Stakes discontinued in the past decade include the Kearns Utah North [2002], Salt Lake Eagle Gate [2003], Ogden Utah Canyon View [2004], Ogden Utah Mount Ogden [2004], Salt Lake University 4th [2004], Blanding Utah West [2011], Salt Lake Mount Olympus North [2011], and Taylorsville Utah West [2011].  Congregational growth has been stagnant in the Salt Lake stakes and in many surrounding communities and few wards and branches have been organized or discontinued.  Only a handful of additional stakes appear likely to consolidate in the coming years in Salt Lake unless additional congregations are consolidated.  Although there has been no announced plans, prospects appear high for the establishment of Spanish-speaking stakes in the area.  The organization of Spanish-speaking stakes would likely prompt additional stake consolidations as Spanish units are reorganized in new stakes.

Stake discontinued in California

Organized in 1992 and recently consisting of nine wards, the Escondido California South Stake was discontinued and consolidated with the Escondido California Stake which had only five wards.  The realigned Escondido California Stake now has 13 wards; a large number for stake and which would generally prompt its division.  Additional congregations may be consolidated in the near future because of the large number of units in the stake.  California has experienced the largest number of LDS stake closures over the past two decades of any state (15) primarily due to many active members moving to other areas of the stake or outside of the state and convert retention and member activity challenges.