Saturday, November 17, 2012

Mumbai, India to Open for Missionary Work; Sister Missionaries to Begin Serving in India

Members in India report that the India New Delhi Mission will assign proselytizing missionaries to Mumbai for the first time.  With 21 million inhabitants, Mumbai is the world's 12th most populous urban agglomeration and was the third most populous urban agglomeration without proselytizing missionaries assigned after Guangzhou and Shanghai.  Delays opening Mumbai to proselytism appear due to safety concerns.  Currently the Church does not have missionaries assigned to any cities outside of New Delhi in the India New Delhi Mission.  There is one branch that functions in Mumbai.  Prospects appear favorable for growth in Mumbai, especially if missionaries open additional semi-official congregations called groups that operate under the administration of the Mumbai Branch in areas distant from the Mumbai Branch meetinghouse.

Members in India also report that sister missionaries will begin serving in both the India New Delhi and India Bangalore Missions.  Most, if not all, sister missionaries will likely be Indian members due to recent difficulties securing foreign missionary visas. 

For a recent case study on cumorah.com examining methods for expanding LDS missionary activity in India, click here.

3 comments:

Will said...

Matt,
The maps on cumorah.com show Mumbai as being administered by the India Bangalore Mission, not the India New Delhi Mission. Is this changing, or why would the Elders be sent from the New Delhi Mission?

Matt said...

Mission boundaries were recently realigned in India so that Mumbai now pertains to the India New Delhi Mission.

James W. Anderson said...

ldschurchtemples.com on its news page says the 3,000th stake was created yesterday, one of seven created yesterday.

That 3,000th stake was designated as the one in Sierra Leone. One in Argentina may not have been on the radar here, but the other six were.