Within the past few months, there has been a substantial net increase in the number of wards and branches worldwide. The number of congregations has increased by nearly 100 within the past three months; a significant development considering the Church reported only modest annual increases in the number of congregations worldwide that ranged between 124 and 315 since 2008. If these congregational growth rates continue for the remainder of 2014, there may be a net increase of 400 or more congregations for the year, which would be the highest net increase experienced by the Church since 2005.
It is still to early to tell whether this acceleration in congregational growth is attributed to the surge in the number of missionaries serving worldwide and if these new growth trends will be sustained for the long-term. However, the opening of additional locations to missionary work (such as in Sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, Europe, and the Philippines) and the implementation of church-planting rather than church-splitting tactics in many areas of the world appear largely responsible for these improvements in congregational growth trends.
You can bet that is at least the reason in the Philippines, a mix between the surge and a focus on reactivation. The number of baptisms have decreased but the average church attendance. Check the average % increase in church attendance (stats from the Area Presidency Broadcast:)
ReplyDelete2013 3.48%
2012 4.30%
2011 2.75%
2010 0.12%
2009 5.76%
2008 2.20%
Those are huge percentages, especially when you consider that in the last 4 years they have had less than a 2.5% increase each year in membership. Also active Melchizedek Priesthood went up 9% in one year in one of the graphs they showed.
Adam, was the address posted somewhere to the Internet? The numbers are close to extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they gave the numbers and then I made the %'s myself. Some are here:
ReplyDeletehttp://lds.org.ph/bc/content/Philippines/Dateline%20Philippines/2014/Dateline%20February%202014%20English.pdf
The other I saw from a graphic that was posted from a member that was apparently from the Jan 2013 Area broadcast where they showed the growth from 2011 to 2012, not very good at hyperlinking but here is a photo of it, hope it works.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/v/t1.0-9/1779825_10152041748798621_1349026555_n.jpg?oh=afee00e7d2654c5ab3d80f18112aa8d2&oe=53E0778D&__gda__=1405986488_d2201b140770907b9b2d478e8d8e8d24
The Minot North Dakota Stake was created on 4 May. There are 5 wards and 3 branches in the stake:
ReplyDeleteMinot 1st Ward
Minot 2nd Ward
Minot 3rd Ward
Williston 1st Ward
Williston 2nd Ward
New Town Branch
Rugby Branch
Stanley Branch
The Blumenau 2nd Ward, Vale do Itajaí Brazil Stake, was created on 13 April. There are now 6 wards and 2 branches in the stake:
Blumenau 1st Ward
Blumenau 2nd Ward
Camboriú Ward
Itajaí 1st Ward
Itajaí 2nd Ward
Navegantes Ward
Brusque Branch
Piçarras Branch
The Bujumbura 3rd Branch, Democratic Republic of the Congo Lubumbashi Mission, was created on 30 March. There are now 9 independent branches in the mission:
Kolwezi Democratic Republic of the Congo District
Likasi Democratic Republic of the Congo District
Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of the Congo District
Aerodrome Branch
Bondoyi Branch
Bujumbura 1st Branch
Bujumbura 2nd Branch
Bujumbura 3rd Branch
Democratic Republic of the Congo Lubumbashi Mission Branch
Musadi Branch
Mwene-Ditu Branch
Uvira Branch
I was the first one to view this, it was posted an hour ago.
ReplyDelete2012 Philippines Area Broadcast.
https://www.youtube.com/user/LDSPhilippinesArea
The link in my above comment will go to seven videos, it's the most recent one as of the time of this post that you will see the broadcast.
ReplyDeleteThe Taguig Philippines stake will be created on June 16 by splitting the current Pasig Philippines Stake. The new stake will be composed of Taguig 1&2, Signal 1&2, Pateros 2nd wards. It is not clear whether Bicutan Ward from Paranaque Stake and 2 more wards from Makati Eas stake will also be part of the new stake
ReplyDeleteNot sure if it was previously posted, but there is now a Chorley 4th Ward in the Chorley England Stake. I was told today that there is also a Chinese branch being organised in the Sunderland England Stake, they have their own meetings and are baptising 20-30 a year.
ReplyDeleteJust finished watching the 2012 Philippine Area Broadcast. It was nice seeing the growth in the more recent broadcasts compared to the one they did in 2012.
ReplyDeleteSomething that stuck out to me, and help me if my math is wrong, is that Elder Ardern said that just 12% of adult members had a current temple recommend, and they listed the 2010 number of temple recommend holders at 29,640. If such is the case, that means that there would be a total of 247,000 adult members, meaning that there would be at that time nearly 400,000 child of record members on the roll seeing as total membership for 2010 was 645,776. There are a lot of kids in the Philippines don't get me wrong, but I doubt that over 60% of member records are children.
Can anyone think of what may be the cause of these weird numbers or where I might be off with my calculations?
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteThe statistics doesn't seem to be flawed. The non-adult population, comprising of primary and youth, are often greater in numbers than the adult population. These non-adult are mostly non children of record; they are first generation members who are baptized at the same time with their parents
Does anyone have YTD congressional growth for California?
ReplyDeleteThe Atchison Branch, Platte City Missouri Stake, was created on 4 May. There are now 10 wards and 3 branches in the stake:
ReplyDeleteLeavenworth 1st Ward
Leavenworth 2nd Ward
Maryville Ward
New Mark Ward
Parkville Ward
Platte City Ward
Platte Woods Ward
St Joseph 1st Ward
St Joseph 2nd Ward
Tiffany Springs Ward
Albany Branch
Atchison Branch
Platte City YSA Branch
California currently has 7 temples; 19 missions; 157 stakes; 1,197 wards; and 159 branches.
ReplyDeleteI have two California units created in 2014.
ReplyDeleteThe Rocklin 6th Ward, Rocklin California Stake, was created on 2 February.
The Visalia 8th Ward, Visalia California Stake, was created on 13 April.
I don't have visibility on deactivations and reactivations, except when I had stored dumps of all, which I didn't do for California in January.
In the past 42 days, there have been 75 stakes, districts, wards, and branches created. This isn't net increase, because it doesn't include deactivations and reactivations.
ReplyDeleteSo if you take those Philippines numbers from the newsletter, the sacrament meeting rates aren't changing much:
ReplyDelete2007 17.8%
2008 17.5%
2009 18.0%
2010 17.7%
2011 17.7%
2012 18.1%
2013 18.2%
Man, it is so tantalizing to know that these numbers exist and not be able to get them! Does anyone know of a similar report for other areas?
Congregation consolidations continue in South America. I have to wonder - would there be twice as many if not for the missionary surge?
ReplyDeleteI noticed W. Craig Zwick of the first Quorum of the Seventy was called as a Mission President, effective immediatly. If he was just serving on an interim basis until July 1, I would think the Church news would not have included him as a new Mission President. Does anyone have any thoughts, intel, or speculation as to what is going on here? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@Aris
ReplyDeleteYou are likely correct. I just looked at a population pyramid for the country and 46% of the population falls under the age of 20. There isn't as big a difference as I thought.
@Brandon
They instituted the "no tracting" rule at the beginning of 2012, meaning that if you have a few hours free where you don't have lessons planned, you visit less-members and just street-contact while traveling between visits. This means that we will basically see the effects of the policy starting at the end of 2012.
As a total percentage it doesn't change much, but look at it this way. I took the increase in sacrament attendance divided by the increase in membership. (And again each year represents Dec 31 of that year:)
2013 32.85%
2012 37.15%
---New Policy Instituted---
2011 19.83%
2000 0.98%
2009 35.92%
2008 11.64%
2007 22.97%
So the average of the five years before the policy change was around 18%, the percentage after is 35%, which is basically just under America-quality retention. You can bet that the increase in members serving due to the surge (they are currently over 2 native missionaries per unit) will ideally make these numbers stay around what they are. They could be a result of simply going out and grabbing the recommended (as an Area Presidency member said) "low-hanging fruit," (which is still a good thing,) but as long as they are over 30% yearly that % in attendance number will keep creeping up.
Since the church keeps info on the down-low when it tends to be discouraging, (which I'm fine with because it keeps the cannon fodder down for the anti's,) I doubt we will ever see such statistical reports from Central and South American Area authorities, though it would be great to analyze.
The Frisco Texas Shawnee Trail Stake was created last Sunday, but so far only one ward is included on CDOL.
ReplyDeleteSeveral significant denominations are publishing statistics at the congregation and the US level. These include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Presbytrian Church (USA), and others.
As an example of a congregation (http://locator.lcms.org/nchurches_frm/c_detail.asp?C620120) is for the Christ Lutheran Church in Murray. It reports 509 baptized members (remember, like most churches they baptize infants), 403 confirmed members (those 7 or older, often in teenage years, that go through first communion), and 152 average weekly attendance. This is about 30% attendance, which is actually on the high side for most Lutheran Churches.
I do wish the LDS Church would publish similar numbers, but I also do believe antis would be all over us.
Continuing with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregations in Utah:
ReplyDeleteGrace Lutheran Church, Sandy, UT (840 baptized; 642 confirmed; 220 average weekly attendance)
Saint Paul Lutheran Church, Ogden, UT (555 baptized; 420 confirmed; 183 average weekly attendance)
Christ Lutheran Church, Murray, UT (509 baptized; 403 confirmed; 152 average weekly attendance)
Trinity Lutheran Church, Saint George, UT (236 baptized; 205 confirmed; 120 average weekly attendance)
Redeemer Lutheran Church, Salt Lake Cty, UT (223 baptized; 197 confirmed; 100 average weekly attendance)
Trinity Lutheran Church, Layton, UT (213 baptized; 146 confirmed; 25 average weekly attendance)
Saint Johns Lutheran Church, Salt Lake Cty, UT (171 baptized; 96 confirmed; 88 average weekly attendance)
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, West Jordan, UT (145 baptized; 101 confirmed; 55 average weekly attendance)
Cross Of Christ Lutheran Church, Bountiful, UT (130 baptized; 91 confirmed; 39 average weekly attendance)
Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Vernal, UT (128 baptized; 94 confirmed; 50 average weekly attendance)
First Lutheran Church, Tooele, UT (110 baptized; 85 confirmed; 40 average weekly attendance)
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Logan, UT (97 baptized; 82 confirmed; 50 average weekly attendance)
Trinity Lutheran Church, Cedar City, UT (60 baptized; 55 confirmed; 55 average weekly attendance)
Saint Mark Lutheran Church, Provo, UT (50 baptized; 50 confirmed; 45 average weekly attendance)
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Richfield, UT (44 baptized; 30 confirmed; 22 average weekly attendance)
Mount Zion Lutheran Church, Kanab, UT (33 baptized; 31 confirmed; 20 average weekly attendance)
Grace Lutheran Church, Moab, UT (24 baptized; 20 confirmed; 18 average weekly attendance)
All but the Moab congregation are in Circuit 8 (Utah) of the Rocky Mountain District. This circuit has 3544 baptized; 2728 confirmed; and 1264 average weekly attendance.
I would rather be playing with statistics on LDS congregations, but I'll find statistics where I can find them.
ReplyDeleteThe above statistics suggest that the Utah Circuit of the LCMS would have the equivalent membership for a stake if they were LDS stats. However, only 3 of the congregations are large enough to be wards. Of course, the Grace Lutheran Church in Sandy is large enough to make 2 wards. A lot of equivalents to branches.
I don't know that publishing attendance figures would release the hounds; anti's are already all over us for "lying" about our membership because we count less actives. I'm still not sure what they expect; should we be writing people off as a lost cause without their approval?
ReplyDeleteIf anything, reporting attendance by state/country would help the members wake up to the amount of work we need to do.
I just remember looking at the membership numbers for the Southern Baptist Convention because they have been declining in overall membership for the past couple years. Can you imagine how discouraging that must be for them? I kind of put myself in their shoes and tried thinking about if we were to see such trends in our church, taking into account how our church doctrine is that we will continue to grow until the end of times, stone cut without hands, etc. I could certainly see it discouraging a lot of members that are already struggling with their testimonies, especially in the "dangerous decade" of when most members leave the church.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that I we are definitely in the upswing, as seen by the real growth we have experienced the past few years. Five to ten years from now I could see them beginning to release numbers containing more recent (much as the Philippine Area presidency is) because they will be on the more positive side. The 2000's were just really rough for a lot of areas.
Adam, take a look at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. About 10 years ago it was about the same size (members and congregations) as the LDS Church in the US. But, it is going down fast and a wide gap has entered in.
ReplyDeleteBrandon, I agree that we already get hit for including less actives. And that we should include them. There is a relatively constant movement between active and less active (both ways). They aren't static categories.
I note that every church that does post membership and attendance figures shows 20-30% as the typical attendance nation-wide. The ELCA has a policy of deleting records for people who haven't attended in three years and they still average about 25% in weekly attendance nationwide.
Finances is another category I wish were reported. I rather suspect that if the Church would actually release a financial statement with numbers in it, that we would be attacked for (1) not getting as much as has been predicted or for (2) "see I told you they didn't have the support."
ReplyDelete(Obviously, I think less is contributed than some estimate).
I just don't see posting the information as doing anything but fueling anti-fire. I wish it weren't so.
For finances, I believe the reason the Church stopped publishing full reports in conference after 1958 was to avoid lawsuits for punitive damages. Every time there's a home teacher who abuses a kid, there's a salivating lawyer trying to find out the net worth of the Church.
ReplyDeleteI live in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. The "semi-Four Corners" area of northwest Arkansas, southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas, and northeast Oklahoma continues to see steady growth. On May 4, a new branch was created in the Fort Smith AR stake, and a new ward was created in the Rogers AR stake. A new meetinghouse is on the verge of completion in Skiatook, OK (Tulsa Stake), the first new building to be completed in this area in many years.
ReplyDeleteIn this area we have the following stakes -
Fort Smith AR: 8 wards, 6 branches
Springdale AR: 8 wards, 3 branches
Rogers AR: 12 wards, 3 branches
Joplin MO: 10 wards, 3 branches
Tulsa OK East: 10 wards, 2 branches
Tulsa OK: 9 wards, 2 branches
That's a total of 57 wards and 19 branches, 76 total units, an average of 12.67 units per stake.
A new stake in this area, even without creating any new wards or branches, would leave an average of 10.85 units per stake. Anecdotally, sacrament meeting attendance continues to grow in my stake. Two wards became three in early 2013; before the split, average attendance was around a total of 525-550, and since the split, total attendance in the three wards averages around 625-650.
We are hoping for another new building and another stake soon!
The Frisco Texas Shawnee Trail Stake was created on 4 May. There are 7 wards in the stake:
ReplyDeleteAubrey Ward
Cross Roads Ward
Frisco 2nd Ward
Little Elm Ward
Prosper 1st Ward
Prosper 2nd Ward
Prosper 3rd Ward
The Akanu and Amuma branches, Umuahia Nigeria District, Nigeria Port Harcourt Mission, were created on 20 April. There are now 13 branches in the district:
Akanu Branch
Amuma Branch
Apumiri Ubakala Branch
Asaga Ohafia Branch
Ebem Branch
Ndoro-Oboro Branch
Nsirimo Branch
Old Umuahia Branch
Umuahia 1st Branch
Umuahia 2nd Branch
Umuahia 3rd Branch
Umuahia Nigeria District Branch
Umunwanwa Branch
The Kitengela Branch, Nairobi Kenya Stake, was created on 4 May. There are now 9 wards and 3 branches in the stake:
Athi River Ward
Kayole Ward
Lucky Summer Ward
Mountain View Ward
Nairobi 2nd Ward
Nairobi 1st Ward
Riruta Ward
Upper Hill Ward
Zimmerman Ward
Kitengela Branch
Langata Branch
Ongata Rongai Branch
The definition of active and "retained" is hard to define, even with clear or transparent numbers divulged.
ReplyDeleteWho pays tithing? How many go to extra-curricular activities? How many less active smokers play basketball at church, thus getting more fellowship than some who attend most Sundays?
Each ward has its own paths towards re-activation, but I know many are visited by the missionaries, other priesthood, Relief Society and others, even though they do not show up as active.
Numbers are indicators and elusive, and give a picture of the truth, but it is never totally clear what all the numbers absolutely mean.
Glad only God will judge us in the end, who are "counted".
Of course, all the unknown and unclear real numbers that we cannot truly know (like who is truly active in a faith or congregation, per se) do not take away from the statistics, demographics and other information available, that is more empirically measurable. I find this blog site very interesting and a tremendous indicator of the dynamic trends of the LDS Church growth, despite the fact that we all know about individuals and even entire units that have fallen away over time.
ReplyDeleteOne things about anti-Mormons: many of them seem to be an indicator of the strength of the Restoration of Jesus Christ's faith in its complete nature in the end times. So, like many detractors tried to stop the original Church of Christ 2,000 years ago, it seems they have their place. Even new laws enacted that don't seem to match up with Gospel principles have some effect on the the growth of God's true religion.
It's all for reasons that sometimes we do not comprehend now.
And the Lord's work marches on.
I think it is good we don't release the numbers. Yes, in part because of the anti-Mormons, but also because of the members. I think that it would do more harm than good. I think more members would be discouraged by low stats than the motivated members. Furthermore, numbers can get in the way of ministering properly. We see that with missionary baptisms, as well as members. My aunt and uncle are currently missionaries with a branch that is trying its darnedest to become a ward. The branch meets all ward requirements (including active members) except total members. Because they know that is all they need, there is he strong temptation to just baptize unready investigators and to hold on to lost sheep's records, even if they know where they have moved. They always have to keep themselves in check against prioritizing numbers over souls.
ReplyDeleteI have very sad news. The Warren Ward in the Bloomfield Hills Michigan Stake was consolidated with the neighboring Roseville Ward. Over the last 3 years or so, 4 wards and 3 branches have been eliminated in the Detroit area.
ReplyDeleteA stat that is part of the issue is seen at a single adult dance I went to recently. about 20% of the people there were African-Americans. Overall, there were about twice as many females as males, but among the African-Americans all were females.
This is why in parts of Detroit that are over 95% African-American it is hard to form wards. For a braod array of reasons there are few African-American adult males in the church.
One of the African-American ladies at the dance I mentioned is someone I am dating. If we do get married, which is a big if, I don't know where we would live, so I might soon help change stats for the church in parts of the city.
In the suburbs I think we suffer from not having figured out good ways to reach out to African-Americans, when African-Americans are growing percentages in our areas. We also suffer from so many church members being here only for short-term work assignments.
In my mission we would at times see 9 and 10 year olds, and older get baptized without their parents. I've known even more cases of such happening with people at 16 and 17.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if you baptize a couple with 2 parents and 4 children, either baptismal age of below, and that is your entire branch, you end up with only 33% of the population adults, and 4 is no record for children. That also assumes both parents get baptized, often only one actually joins.
In the US with lots of adult singles, and lots of grand-arents and great grandparents the stats are different. But in places iwth lower life expectancy, or with most of the members being recent converts who joined between the ages of 18 and 30 and are still under 45, having well over 50% of the population under age 18 is believable.
The Firenze (Florence) Italy Stake was created on May 11, 2014. There are 5 wards and 7 branches in the stake:
ReplyDeleteFirenze ward (consolidation of the Firenze 1st and Firenze 2nd branches)
Prato ward (consolidation of the Prato and Pistoia branches)
Livorno ward
Pisa ward
Rimini ward
Ancona branch
Forlì branch
La Spezia branch
Montevarchi branch
Pesaro branch
Ravenna branch
Siena branch
Like many patterns and trends, there are interesting what appears to be negative and positive goings on with the African-American population and the LDS Church.
ReplyDeleteSome people tried to count the overall number of black numbers in the US Church in the 2012 election, and I saw articles putting it at three percent. For an overall US population of 11-12 percent, that makes the US LDS numbers only at a quarter of what I think it should be. Hence the missionary work goes on.
Worldwide I imagine numbers of blacks as members being much better, and possibly over-proportional in places like France. The church does not count the race of its membership, and that is fine. But as far as what we see and hear, it is encouraging to see a more diverse membership spread across our country and the globe.
It is hard to fight some of the past history that comes across as negative. However, here is a comparison.
Mormons in the 1800s were known for having multiple wives. But if you look at lifestyles in the last 100 years, I would wager a lot that there is no more monogamous demographic than LDS people. Almost every other group of religious/secular people probably have more lifetime partners than Mormons in 2014. Is that boasting? No, I call that reality.
In the same manner, a church with historically very few African-American members will probably end up being the best, most empowering organization in this community that has struggled in our country's history. We see the changes every day. Jabari Parker may be the LDS Tiger Woods.
All that said, the LDS Church grows from its diversity and increasing variegated membership and skill base. Rich and poor, people of all hues and languages.
May the missionary work continue, it is the life blood of our faith.
No real surprises with units consolidated to create Florence stake. I'm glad there's Montevarchi Branch because Arezzo province would be lost in Florence Ward.
ReplyDeleteI hope at some point they fix the boundary between Ancona Branch, and Pescara Ward in Rome East stake.
Apparently Elder Zwick is coming in because the former mission president in Puerto Rico had a family emergency. I wouldn't be surprised if the former president is allowed to return if the family emergency gets resolved. See http://kenpatterson.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=17
ReplyDeleteThe Adriatic South Mission report that "Last week they had the first baptism in Peja, Kosovo.... they did just open Peja and have another baptism this week and will be able to start meeting as a group in Peja and not have to travel an hour to attend church."
ReplyDeleteGreat news!
John, what is being done to reach out to all the Arabic speaking and Farsi speaking communities near Detroit? I'm actually surprised there's not an Arabic Branch yet...
ReplyDeleteThe Gleannloch Farms Ward, Klein Texas Stake, was created on 11 May. There are now 12 wards and 1 branch in the stake:
ReplyDeleteChampions Ward
Gleannloch Farms Ward
Inwood Ward
Klein Ward
Kleinwood Ward
Magnolia 1st Ward
Magnolia 2nd Ward
Memorial Springs Ward
Parkway Ward
Sam Houston YSA 1st Ward
Tomball 2nd Ward
Windrose Ward
Fallbrook Branch (Sign Language)
The Hatea Ward, Whangarei New Zealand Stake, was created on 11 May. There are now 6 wards and 4 branches in the stake:
Hatea Ward
Hikurangi Ward
Punaruku Ward
Riverside Ward
Whangarei 1st Ward
Whangarei 3rd Ward
Bream Bay Branch
Dargaville Branch
Te Horo Branch
Wellsford Branch
The Jutaí Branch, Brazil Manaus Missio, was created on 8 May. There are now 10 independent branches in the mission:
Boa Vista Brazil District
Itacoatiara Brazil District
Brazil Manaus Mission Branch
Coari Branch
Cruzeiro do Sul Branch
Formoso Branch
Ji-Paraná Branch
Jutaí Branch
Remanso Branch
Tefé Branch
Vilhena 1st Branch
Vilhena 3rd Branch
The Nova Conquista Ward, Fortaleza Brazil Bom Jardim Stake, was created on 4 May. There are now 8 wards in the stake:
Bom Jardim Ward
Cecília Ward
Jatobá Ward
Lisboa 1st Ward
Lisboa 2nd Ward
Nova Conquista Ward
Palmares Ward
Sumaré Ward
The Peniche Branch, Santarém Portugal District, Portugal Lisbon Mission, was created on 11 May. There are now 6 branches in the district:
Abrantes Branch
Caldas da Rainha Branch
Carregado Branch
Peniche Branch
Santarém Branch
Tomar Branch
The Quincy 2nd Ward, Nauvoo Illinois Stake, was created on 11 May. There are now 8 wards and 4 branches in the stake:
Burlington Ward
Kirksville 1st Ward
Kirksville 2nd Ward
Macomb Ward
Nauvoo 1st Ward
Nauvoo 3rd Ward
Quincy 1st Ward
Quincy 2nd Ward
Fort Madison Branch
Hannibal Branch
Keokuk Branch
Mount Pleasant Branch
The Villa Canales 2nd Ward, Villa Nueva Guatemala El Frutal Stake, was created on 11 May. There are now 7 wards and 1 branch in the stake:
El Frutal 1st Ward
El Frutal 2nd Ward
Margaritas Ward
Petapa Ward
Ribera del Río Ward
Villa Canales 1st Ward
Villa Canales 2nd Ward
Santa Elena de Barillas Branch
The Westlands Ward, Nairobi Kenya Stake, was created on 11 May. There are now 10 wards and 3 branches in the stake:
Athi River Ward
Kayole Ward
Lucky Summer Ward
Mountain View Ward
Nairobi 2nd Ward
Nairobi 1st Ward
Riruta Ward
Upper Hill Ward
Westlands Ward
Zimmerman Ward
Kitengela Branch
Langata Branch
Ongata Rongai Branch
Are there any news regarding the Dumaguete Philippines Stake? It seems that there's no date posted.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Branch, Bo Sierra Leone District, Sierra Leone Freetown Mission, was created on 6 April. There are now 9 branches in the district:
ReplyDeleteBo Branch
Lewabu Branch
Messima Branch
New Barracks Branch
New London Branch
New York Branch
Njagboima Branch
Njaie Town Branch
Sewa Road Branch
Dumaguete Philippines is still showing up as a district with the following 9 branches:
ReplyDeleteBacong Branch
Bayawan Branch
Dumaguete 1st Branch
Dumaguete 2nd Branch
Dumaguete 3rd Branch
Siaton Branch
Sibulan Branch
Valencia Branch
Zamboanguita Branch
Sometimes these things take time to get entered into the system, so I don't know if this is the current situation or it just hasn't been updated yet.
The Kahului Hawaii West Stake was created on 4 May. There are 6 wards in the stake:
ReplyDeleteHoolehua Ward
Kahului Ward
Kaunakakai Ward
Lahaina 1st Ward
Lahaina 2nd Ward (Tongan)
Wailuku Ward
This is the third time I have tried this, I will try to not digress too much.
ReplyDeleteI know of no Farsi outreach at all in Metro Detroit. In my part of hte city Indian outnumber Iranians. We now have an Indian family in our ward, although the husband joined the Church in India.
There are several Chaldean members in my stake, that is people of Roman Catholic background from Iraq, and a few others of Lebanese and Jordainian descent, all as far as I know of Christian bakcground. I do not know of any converted efforts to outreach to the Arabic population.
With over 1 million African-Americans, and strong opposition from some African-Americans to the building of new LDS chapels in Detroit almost a decade ago, we still have a lot of work to do there.
There is a bilingual in Spanish branch in Detroit.
The Church has a major problem of an overabundance of women to men in heavily African-American parts of the Metro Area. There is also the problem that children raised by single mothers, even where those mothers are church members, often succumb to the overwhelming negative influences of their neighborhoods.
The prevalence of rape, premarital sex, drug dealing and the like in much of Detroit is something that I do not claim to understnad. It is beyond what I know.
I see hope, such as the two married African-American members of our high council, the African-American relief society president in Roseville Ward with her member African-American husband and four children, her 13-year-old son is a solid, clean-cut, upstanding young man.
Still, there is a lot that can be done, both in outreach and strengthening the members already baptized.