Brazil
A new stake was created on September 20th. The Sete Lagoas Brazil East was organized from the Sete Lagoas Brazil Stake and includes the following five wards: the Belo Vale, Curvelo, Interlagos, Nova Cidade, and Sete Lagoas 2nd Wards. The new stake is the second to be organized in the city of Sete Lagoas and is the 13th stake to be organized in Minas Gerais State.
A new district was organized from three mission branches in the Brazil Salvador Mission. The Barreiras Brazil District was organized on September 27th and includes the Barreiras 1st, Barreiras 2nd, and the Luis Eduardo Magalhaes Branches. The new district becomes the first new district in Brazil organized from mission branches since xxx.
There are now 256 stakes and 38 districts in Brazil.
Nigeria
The Church organized its sixth stake in Benin City on September 20th. The Benin City Nigeria Oregbeni Stake was organized from a division of the Benin City Nigeria New Benin Stake and the Benin City Nigeria Ikpokpan Stake. The new stake includes the following seven wards: the Esigie, Igun 1st, Igun 2nd, Ogbeson, Oregbeni, Sokponba, and Ugbekun Wards.
There are now 30 stakes and 19 districts in Nigeria.
Utah
A new stake was organized last Sunday in South Jordan, Utah. The South Jordan Utah Midas Creek Stake was organized from a division of the South Jordan Utah Country Crossing Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards: the Country Crossing 1st, Country Crossing 3rd, Country Crossing 5th, Country Crossing 6th, Country Crossing 9th, and Country Crossing 10th Wards.
There are now 577 stakes and one district in Utah
Argentina
A new district was organized on September 27th. The Punilla Argentina District was organized from mission branches in the Argentina Cordoba Mission and a division of the Córdoba Argentina Sierras Stake. The following four branches are included in the new district: the Cosquin, Cruz del Eje, Dean Funes, and La Falda Branches.
There are now 74 stakes and 30 districts in Argentina.
Ukraine
The Church organized a new district in the Crimean Peninsula on September 20th. The Simferopol Russia District was organized from the four mission branches in the Crimean Peninsula, namely the Bahate, Sevastopol, Simferopol's'ka, and Yevpatoriis'ka Branches. The Church previously operated a district that included these four branches from 2004 until 2007 that was called the Sevastopol Ukraine District. The Church reassigned these four branches to the Russia Rostov-na-Donu Mission several months ago due to the Russian occupation of the Crimean Peninsula. It is interesting to note that the Church has named the district the Simferopol Russia District instead of the Simferopol Ukraine District due to this recent political change.
There are now three districts and one stake in Ukraine (including the Simferopol Russia District) and two stakes and seven districts in Ukraine (including the Simferopol Russia District).
Malaysia
The Church recently discontinued the Johor Bahru Malaysia District. Organized in 2011, the district was previously organized from a division of the Singapore Stake. Only two branches have operated in the district since its organization. The two branches (Johor Bahru and Masai [Malay]) now directly report to the Singapore Mission.
There are now six districts in Malaysia.
New Jersey
I have confirmed that the Paterson New Jersey District was discontinued as part of the organization of the new Liberty Park New Jersey Stake. All three branches that previously pertained to the district are now part of the Soldier Hill New Jersey Stake.
There are now six stakes in New Jersey.
54 comments:
No mention of the new district in Simferopol?
Thanks for pointing that out! I have updated the post.
Why do you call it a "new district in Uktraine" when it is de facto in Russia, and the Church uses the Russia name for the district?
Do we know if any of the Patterson branches were made into wards?
Benin City has slightly over 1 million people, so having that many stakes is quite encouraging. I wonder if there is a chance of Benin City getting a temple in the near future. It is not that far from Aba, but not super close. However I don't see a temple announced there before 2020. After that year I am less sure. At the rate things are going I am not sure the Democratic Republic of the Congo will have its temple completed by 2020. I hope so, but they are currently no where near breaking ground on the project.
I also hope to see many of the groups in the DR Congo organized into branches soon and more districts progress into stakes.
I also have to say that I think if we name the states in the United States is such headlines, we should do the same for Australia, Brazil and probably Germany.
I am trying to find ways to make the Church more international.
One interesting conversation I had on these lines was once on an online forum for Latter-day Saints, someone referred to the president of the US using the term "our president". I pointed out that in such a forum such a title should be reserved for the president of the Church. The person responded by accusing me of just disliking the president at the time. They either were incapable of reading what I wrote, or more likely believed I was being dishonest in my statements. However I was being 100% truthful. I objected to the Americanization of the forum. My views on that president of the US were not relevant to my statement, and I would have said the same thing at another time with a different president who I like much better than the president mentioned there.
I just hope people can follow what I said through all the attempts to be unclear. I generally hate unclearness. I wish Elder Renlund had mentioned Baltimore, Maryland, United States not the amorphous ambiguous "Eastern United States" in his talk.
It seems some people tell stories more as amorphous parables rather than fact filled narratives. I personaly enjoy the details but there other audiences that derive "greater or broader" truthes than the one factual story.
Jesus certainly had his style, as does Mormon, President Monson and every other teacher.
I actually feel like mentioning Baltimore specifically de-internationalizes the talk. Non-Americans may or may not have heard of Baltimore, but they probably don't know where it is, since it's not a large city on the international scale (yes, it is on the domestic scale). So, Eastern United States helps give non-Americans as specific an idea as they are going to get. It would have been nice for Americans, but some may see it as alienating abroad.
Case in point: when I was serving in Paris (an international city and therefore generally more internationally aware), I talked with a woman on the street. The conversation went like this:
"You have an accent; where are you from?"
"The United States."
"What part?"
"Utah, it's in the Rocky Mountains next to California." (close enough)
"Oh! I have a friend! Do you know Bob in Chicago?"
So, even an educated woman in a western capitol had a bit of trouble (and apparently thinks there is only one Bob in Chicago).
Reading over my post, it can be taken as argumentative. I don't mean it as such; I just mean to provide another perspective.
A new stake is being created in Missouri, the Far West Missouri Stake will be created from the Liberty Missouri and Platte Missouri Stakes on October 17/18, 2015
Yeah, they announced the Farr West Temple! I read about it in the Doctrine and Covenants. Ground breaking to be announced.
Missouri should have at least 3 temples by then; maybe 25. And could the City of Enoch have a few of them?
The Far West Temple groundbreaking occurred long ago. When my wife an I went there about 20 years ago, we went to the site and saw several people working to keep the site clean--probably some local ward service project. The four cornerstones were still there.
So what will they call it when they start building the temple there? I have seen some corner stone markers for the Independence Temple but that ground had not been broken, besides the fact it is owned by that breakoff church that has around 1200 members or so.
Exciting times when those temples will be built. Although to me a temple in India or the Persian Gulf or Shanghai or Jakarta would be pretty amazingly cool as well.
According to ldschurchtemples.com, there is also a new stake in Lehi called the Lehi Utah Thanksgiving stake.
I think you meant to say "there are 2 stakes and 7 districts in Russia including the Simferopol Russia District," not Ukraine.
Unit Update
4 Oct
Nakawakawa Branch, Taveuni Fiji District (10 Branches)
11 Oct
Lehi Utah Thanksgiving Stake (9 Wards)
Cranberry Farms 1st Ward
Pilgrims Landing 1st Ward
Pilgrims Landing 2nd Ward
Pilgrims Landing 3rd Ward
Pilgrims Landing 4th Ward
Sunset Hollow Ward
Thanksgiving Meadows 1st Ward
Thanksgiving Meadows 2nd Ward
Thanksgiving Village Ward
South Jordan Utah Midas Creek Stake (6 Wards)
Country Crossing 1st Ward
Country Crossing 3rd Ward
Country Crossing 5th Ward
Country Crossing 6th Ward
Country Crossing 9th Ward
Country Crossing 10th Ward
Anizacate Branch, Córdoba Argentina South Stake (3 Branches, 5 Wards)
Englewood 3rd Branch (Spanish), Soldier Hill New Jersey Stake (6 Branches, 5 Wards)
Frisco 9th Ward, Frisco Texas Stake (1 Branch, 9 Wards)
Herriman 2nd Ward, Fort Herriman Utah Stake (8 Wards)
Isale-Ake Ward, Abeokuta Nigeria Stake (1 Branch, 9 Wards)
Las Palmeras Ward, 2 Branches 10 Wards)
YTD 486(11.85/week 41)
Africa 149, 30.7% (Middle East/Africa North Area Added)
Asia 15, 3.1%
Europe 17, 3.5%
North America (w/ Caribbean) 127, 26.1%
Pacific 42, 8.6%
South and Central America 53, 10.9%
Utah & Idaho 83, 17.1%
Totals no-sensitive
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 148 418 3,152 544 22,483 7,350 34,120
Us/Can 10 81 131 1,590 10 12,542 2,065 16,429
US n/a 73 124 1,543 7 12,206 1,915 15,868
Utah n/a 15 10 576 1 4,678 327 5,611
Canada n/a 8 7 47 3 336 150 551
Out 15 67 287 1,562 534 9,941 5,285 17,691
With Sensitive
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 148 418 3,152 555 22,487 7,441 34,226
For what it is worth I always find it exciting when Elder Sitati or President Uchtdorf or anyone else mentions a specific city, including one I have not heard of, and dislike it just as much when people talk too amorphously about anywhere, not just places in the United States. I dislike generalized mentions of Africa, either by people from Africa or elsewhere, and want to hear people mention Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Liberia if not more specific.
That is one reason I live the film Freetown. It is set specifically in Liberia and Sierre Leone. True, it helps it is based closely on real events. Still I am glad they kept with the real places as least for the start and end points. Of course the fact that the name Freetown is such an emotion evoking name probably help convince them that they needed to keep real places.
The Other Side of Heaven is a bit more fuzzy on places. While Tonga is real, and Niotoutafu (which I probably butchered the spelling of) is real about halfway through the film they misrepresent events. When Elder Groberg was made district president he was sent to a new island group and no longer had contact with his previous area. Of course that would have ended any change for continuing characters from the island, so it makes sense that artistic liberties were taken at that point.
Me too, John. My love for geography has developed a more City-centric mind, so hearing specific locations excites me while general locations can frustrate me. For example, whenever a missionary tells me, "I'm from Arizona" or "I'm from Australia," I immediately want to know, "Where in Arizona?" or "Where in Australia?" Sedona evokes a very different picture for me of a missionary's upbringing than Mesa or Gilbert. And Alice Springs is worlds apart from Sydney or Brisbane.
I understand that for others, geographic specifics are not helpful and can be just as frustrating if they identify with regions instead of cities. That is especially true when addressing a worldwide audience where everyone's geographic knowledge varies so widely. But...I just wanted to say: I get ya!
Here http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865639104/Elder-Sitati-addresses-race-self-reliance-and-Church-growth-in-Africa.html is a report on a talk at the University of Utah by Elder Sitati. One think I found interesting is that he said most adult members of the Church in Africa have dealt with in their minds and come to terms with the past priesthood restriction. I think this makes sense, but it does contradict the claims of those who say that the Church grows in Africa because of low access to the internet.
The argument is somewhat reflected in the fact that the film "Freetown" had a section where they discussed the past restriction. This made it surprising to some that Latter-day Saints so openly promoted the film. Of course I think the fact that some reporters wrote articles grabbing on to that one small scene in the film shows a lack of understanding of what the film was about. Also considering the whole film denounces the inter-ethnic violence in Liberia, we see American racism not as exceptional as some see.
I just realized that there are more people in Texas than Australia. Yet Australia has more temples. To be fair Texas is in the same number of temple districts, with a chunk of west Texas in the Ciudad Juarez Temple District.
Also, Australia has over 10 times the area of Texas.
John Pack Lambert, that last line about Australia's size is why it has one more temple than Texas. Every temple in Australia except Sydney was built as part of Pres. Hinckley's big "32 temples in 2 years" push to bring temples to the people, so most of the temple districts have very few stakes. Contrast that to Texas, which has larger temples in Dallas and Houston and next-gen smaller temples (which are about 1.5 times the size of most of Australia's) in Lubbock and San Antonio. While I don't think any new Texas temples are imminent, I wouldn't be surprised to see more Texas temples in the next 10-20 years as membership continues to grow.
What do you think of the prospects for a future temple in Flagstaff AZ? It could probalbly take 3 stakes from Snowflake, 3 from Phoenix, and one stake from the St. George temple districts.
Also it is interesting to consider that Texas has well over 300,000 members and surrounding membership in states of two countries while Australia has something like 140,000 with a few islands distantly located.
I am sure that Texan Saints generally have more cultural ties, like attending BYU football games, having family and friends not too far away in Utah and the Inter-Mountain West, going to General Conference, having Gifford Nielsen as a news anchor, etc.
The Polynesians of the South Pacific may be like the Hispanics of the New World as far as having special activity in the faith.
Flagstaff? Not likely for some time.
It's got very good freeway access to Phoenix, taking I-17 all the way down and getting off at Pinnacle Peak Road and the temple is only three miles from the freeway and between two others by a nearly equal distance (101 and 303). Would only take Prescott, Camp Verde, and Payson to the south, Flagstaff itself, and maybe one other to the east along I-40 but those may be closer to Snowflake.
By measuring distance between cities using google maps, Flagstaff is closer to Page Arizona Stake, Cottonwood Stake, two Prescott stakes, Winslow Stake, Tuba City, and the stake in Flagstaff. It may be a while but I think someday the potential is there.
I was thinking about the groundbreaking in Tucson today and decided to look into what is the potential for a temple in the North part of the state. A few of those stakes are small.
Today I learned that my ward mission leader is a mother international person than I realized before. I knew he was born and raised in Mexico, served his mission in Canada and his wife is from Colombia. Today I learned he spent the last two years of high school in Peru because his parents were presiding over a mission there. To be fair his daughter is in a situation where both her grandfathers were born in the United States, although Brother Lyons father is half Hispanic, his mother's maiden name was Castillo. His father's parents met while his grandfather was a Spanish-speaking missionary in the US. At some point his grandfather decided that he missed being around the Hispanic culture so he moved his family to Mexico.
On another note of international trends in the Church, not only is one of the missionaries in my ward from the Phillipines, but both of the missionaries in the other ward that meets in our building were born outside of the US. To be fair Elder Nelson was born in Ecuador, adopted at birth, and largely if not entirely raised in Utah, specifically South Jordan. The other however is Elder Chen who left on his mission from Taiwan. He is one of two missionaries from Taiwan currently in the Michigan Detroit Mission.
One thing that complicates the comparison of Texas and Australia is that Australia has over 10 times the area of Texas.
Also, Australia has one large temple and the remaining ones are small. Texas has 2 good sized temples, Denver and Houston, and then the San Antonio Temple, which is 16,000 square feet, so not as small as some. The Lubbock Temple is smaller though. The Austian Area and northward towards Denver has seen a lot of growth in the Church, plus both Denver area and San Antonio Area, so there may be call for a temple in or around Austin. Another area that could really benefit from having a temple is the McAllen/Brownsville Area. With the Church booming in Metro Houston clearly the Houston Temple District could loose stakes, but it is not clear south Texas has enough members to justify a temple.
I also wonder if any part of Texas is assigned to the Oklahoma City Temple District.
I'm thinking the next temple in Arizona is more likely to be in Prescott than in Flagstaff. Prescott has 2 stakes to Flagstaff's 1. However I think we will see a few more stakes organized before that happens.
The Wichita Falls area of Texas is part of the Lawton Oklahoma Stake, which is the only part of Texas assigned to Oklahoma City.
A temple in Flagstaff could service:
1. Cottonwood Arizona Stake (7,2) [Phoenix] - 13 minutes less travel
2. Flagstaff Arizona Stake (11,1) [Snowflake]
3. Page Arizona Stake (6,2) [St George] - 14 minutes less travel
4. Tuba City Arizona Stake (4,5) [Snowflake] - more than an hour and a half less travel
5. Winslow Arizona Stake (5,2) [Snowflake] - 10 minutes less travel
Kingman Arizona Stake - 28 minutes faster to Las Vegas, but has tolls
Lake Havasu City Arizona Stake - 33 minutes faster to Las Vegas
Payson Arizona Stake - 30 minutes faster to Mesa
Prescott Arizona Stake - 16 minutes faster to Phoenix
Prescott Valley Arizona Stake - 16 minutes faster to Phoenix
There are no tolls between Kingman and Las Vegas. What might have been seen as toll booths on US-93 on the AZ side of Hoover Dam are actually wildlife crossing bridges, which are becoming more common in areas. There's no road, no connectors to the bridges, often they have vegetation on them, etc., and fencing is set up on the highway to funnel deer, etc., to them to cross.
That is also the future I-11 project as well, now that the bypass of the dam is complete.
Before a Flagstaff Temple, I see a Yuma AZ Temple being built which can include Yuma Stake (soon to be split), El Centro CA Stake, Lake Havasu AZ Stake, Sun Luis Mexico Stake, Mexicali Mexico Stake, Mexicali Los Pinos Mexico Stake.
So a Yuma Temple District could include 6-7 or more stakes.
Yuma possible too. I just wonder about the border crossing and Visa issues. Prescott could be an alternate to Flagstaff due to more stakes. I hope to see more temples in place far from the nearest temple as Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Kenya or Uganda Uganda, Brasilia, Mongolia or other places.
I have come across many unofficial comments via social media that the groundbreaking for the Lisbon Portugal Temple will be announced soon--tentatively for December.
Cabo Verde could use a temple soon enough. Other than Madagascar, the island chains of Reunion, Mauritious, Seychelles, and Maldives could use more missionaries, members and temples. French may be one of the most explosive LDS growth languages, with Cote d'Ivoire and Congo taking off. Hopefully mission outreach can arrive more places there and Burkina Faso, more of untouched Western Africa.
Confirmed: Lisbon Portugal Temple will have its groundbreaking on December 5, 2015
I heard somewhere (I think it was in a comment on this blog, actually) that Cape Verde is going to get a temple when it has five stakes. That shouldn't take too much longer (knock on wood).
Lisbon will be one of two that will be completed in 2018, Tucson is the other, although I could see Concepcion going that far too. Three in 2017 (Meridian, Star Valley, Cedar City), and six at least next year with the possibility of one or two going over into 2017.
Refurbished temples will be all done in 2016, excepting Jordan River.
So I now see more temples to be announced next year probably April conference, simply because while there will be some of the 13 left to start work begun next year, there are a few that have some hangs in getting things squared away, mostly situations that may involve things they can't control, like the time it takes to get approvals, and other issues that can and do get in the way, as they seem to want to have between five and ten in the pipeline at any one time.
Matt, can you post your grading criteria rubic from a few years ago for scoring the prediction of potential temples again? I'd like to see it again with any updates or changes you have made to the rubic.
Many people in this discussion have commented on where new temples might potentially be built. But in so doing, I think we fail to acknowledge the miracle of temples that have already been announced. There are three (2 currently under construction and 1 already dedicated) that I had a strong feeling about several years before they were announced. Those three are Paris France, Rome Italy, and Payson Utah. I used to live in Payson during my primary years. At that early stage of life, I had a distinct impression that a temple would be built in Payson. During my high school years, I felt the same way about Paris, France. And when a young man in my AF Ward that I had been in Aaronic Priesthood Quorums with was on his mission to Italy, he expressed to me his awe about how the work was progressing in that region, and told me of the progress that would have to be made before a temple was built there. I felt impressed to tell this friend that I felt certain a temple in Italy would be built within his lifetime. And now all these temples have been announced and are complete or nearing completion. I never saw coming the announcement of temples in Durban, South Africa, or the most recently announced ones for the Ivory Coast, Haiti, and Bangkok. This has demonstrated to me that the Lord's purposes and timing are far different from ours. That's what makes predicting future temples nearly next to impossible. And yet, how many times has Matt made a prediction regarding a future temple site that very soon after came to fruition? I don't know why, but I still feel very strongly that I will live to see 200 temples on the earth, possibly all dedicated by or before the 200th anniversary of the Church. I think it would be awesome if, a few weeks before the April 2030 General Conference, the 200th temple was dedicated. It took roughly 16 years (2000-2016) to make it from 100 to 150. It's not that unreasonable, in my mind, to expect or anticipate that we could easily go from 150 to 200 in the 14 years that remain (until 2030). I will watch all temple-related news with great anticipation, and you can bet your bottom dollar that any and all such news will be featured on my blog. Thanks for taking time to read and respond to this.
The two stakes in Pleasant View, UT, are holding a combined special stake conference on November 15. It appears that a third stake will be created, likely with some realignment in the North Ogden/Harrisville area. There are currently 22 wards in the two PV stakes.
I know that we have a living prophet upon the earth today, and you can see the marvelous things that are happening in the Church now with 100 operating temples. Some of you here will live to see the day when there are 200 operating temples and then 300 operating temples, and whatever the number might eventually become. Well, we’re living at this time and this day and age when marvelous things are happening. When we talk about a living prophet who receives revelations from on high in directing this work, I testify to you that those of us who work and associate with him can testify to you that he is God’s prophet here upon the earth, leading us in doing what is right and what is proper.
Elder David B. Haight
Be a Strong Link
October 2000 General Conference
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2000/10/be-a-strong-link?lang=eng
This morning in sacrament meeting, the high councilor read a letter from the Stake Presidency that the Raleigh NC, Apex NC, and Durham NC stake will split to form a new stake next week. The following week, Nov 7, is my Stake Conference (Apex) and the new stake presidency will be called for the new stake. I find this rather miraculous that in just 11 years since the formation of the Apex Stake another stake is forming. No stake center is built yet so they will need to find a place for this new stake presidency to meet. All buildings in the area are full except my ward which is in Garner, NC. We are the only ones meeting there for now, however a new ward will be formed next year. We have the numbers but it appears that want this reorganization to place before they proceed. I think by the creation of this new stake, this will pave the way for the announcement of the Charlotte NC Temple in the next 2-3 general conferences.
During the Tucson West stake conference it was announced today a new stake would be created, the Marana AZ stake. Both the Seventy and the Area Authority expressed their surprise since they had intended to simply reorganize the Tucson West stake and were told on Friday 10/23 to organize an additional stake by today. The Area Authority remarked that this was happening to add more hands to the rescue effort and the Brethren felt it needed to be done urgently, which I've never heard spoken about a new stake.
Also, I was trying to return to catch the Tucson Temple groundbreaking the other week but my out-of-state flight got rescheduled due to a delay. I was very disappointed but on a whim started googling and was surpised to find that the Church broadcast the ceremony on LDS.org and I was able to watch it that day anyway. They've also posted the broadcast for the Concepcion Temple groundbreaking but I can't find this for any other temples. Does anyone know if this is a first? Hopefully they continue, what a great way to participate in temple groundbreakings from around the world.
Decades ago I heard rumors of what it would take to get a temple in Tucson. It was stated in various versions of the rumor that Tucson and nearby would need to have nine stakes for a temple, and the probable location would end up being the Catalina foothills, almost universally it was indicated that the Church had property somewhere near Skyline Drive.
All three have happened now. 9 stakes in the district, the Skyline Drive location (although the property purchase is said to be more recent), and the number of stakes although a couple are still outside the metro which was likely a given anyway.
(I should add that at the time I found the broadcast via a link from LDSChurchTemples.com, thanks Rick! Love your site!)
Since the subject came up, question for The Opinion, or anyone else from the Carolinas. How busy are the Raleigh North Carolina and Columbia South Carolina temples? I keep hearing hypotheses about an upcoming Charlotte temple on this blog, including a long-time spot on Matt's prediction list, and I'm trying to understand why. Both temples a Charlotte temple would draw from have days with only 2 sessions, and neither gets above 4-5 sessions on any given day. (Spokane, an identical temple that's busy, has 6 sessions every day.) Distance is a non-issue, as Charlotte is within 100 miles of Columbia and within 200 miles of Raleigh. Are the temples busy enough that you think more sessions are in the works, and are there enough temple workers available to staff those sessions? (Notably, are there enough of both to justify a whole new temple in the area?) If not, I don't see Charlotte happening anytime in the next decade.
I'd love more details about the split of the Tuscon West Stake-- how did they split the 10 units? Did they create any new ones? Any other comments about the rescue?
When I lived in South Carolina in 2002, a local member told me that at the dedication of the Columbia Temple in 1999, President Hinckley remarked that when the temple reached 80% operating capacity, the Church would build a second temple in the area, generally believed to be Charlotte. In 2002, the temple was operating at 30%, as claimed by this local member. I lived in Greenville, which is equidistant between Columbia and Atlanta. Although we were officially assigned to Columbia, half the members still attended Atlanta due to convenience. I look forward to the day when a temple can be built in Charlotte.
Why does growth feel so stagnant right now with stakes? Is it because it's towards the end of the year? Maybe it's just me or the hype that I got a couple of years ago when the age lowered and supposed prophecies from apostles and seventies from members and missionary letters that were being commented on posts on this site from those who said supposedly soon we'd be baptizing in the high hundred thousands, millions etc a year.
Not trying to be a downer on here, but I invite discuss on the topic because it's been a couple of years, and we aren't baptizing millions a year like supposed GAs have supposedly had said during missionary and stake conferences. Thoughts?
Iris and Craig, I think that growth feels stagnant possibly because by the numbers, stake growth has been a fairly straight line for a long time. I don't think the reason has anything to do with the general authorities; it has to do with the condition they all put on the growth promises. President Hinckley held a huge missionary fireside in 1999 (link here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1999/04/find-the-lambs-feed-the-sheep?lang=eng) where he gave a promise I view as a prototype of growth prophecies in the Preach My Gospel era. The promise is that we can double the number of baptisms IF we do a few things, the first of which is us as members finding people for the full-time missionaries to teach. Another step is retention, which requires involving new members in the ward dynamic (often through their callings) and home and visiting teaching them (the minimum amount necessary to meet "a friend, a responsibility, and nurturing by the good word of God," especially for those the missionaries found for us). Every ward I have ever been in has been somewhere between mediocre and abysmal at finding, and our missionaries are still spending most days doing tracting, street contacting, and looking for our long list of inactive members for us. Don't get me started on how terrible our home and visiting teaching statistics are (many nearby wards see over 20% home teaching as a very good month). My point is that we aren't seeing huge growth because the promise is conditional, and we are not meeting the conditions, then being baffled when the promise isn't fulfilled. The promise doesn't take everyone in the stake ramping up their efforts, but it does take more than one or two people. On my mission in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area 7 years ago, mission leadership was working heavily with stake and ward leaders to try to ignite the passion for member missionary work. I think there was one stake and a couple other wards that at least briefly caught the fire. That stake was one of the two that just split. Early efforts to light the fire didn't have much of an effect on baptisms, but increased retention from 5% to 71%. Once that was stable and a few dozen members in the mission, including the leaders of a few whole wards (many of them now split), caught the finding bug, I saw baptisms double within 3 years. The excitement from the missionary work led to a noticeable increase in temple attendance that quickly brought a temple to Ft. Lauderdale, too. The prophetic promises for doubled growth are real; we just have to take responsibility for finding people for the full-time missionaries to teach and for home and visiting teaching before we'll see that growth.
Alex made a great comment. Allow me to note that I think that Stake growth has been stronger this Fall; It is that we are approaching the end of the year that highlights the slower stake growth earlier this year.
Also, the church's focus on reactivation is bearing fruit. As Elder Cook explained in April:
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has never been stronger. . . . The increase in demonstrably measurable areas, such as endowed members with a current temple recommend, adult full-tithe payers, and those serving missions, has been dramatic. Let me say again, the Church has never been stronger. "
@ James Anderson:
"Lisbon will be one of two that will be completed in 2018, Tucson is the other, although I could see Concepcion going that far too. Three in 2017 (Meridian, Star Valley, Cedar City), and six at least next year with the possibility of one or two going over into 2017."
I think it is more accurate to say, "Three next year, with the possibility of 2 more near the end of the year"
The "Completion" date at www.ldschurchtemples.com has often been optimistic, particularly with regards to temples outside of the U.S. This appears to be largely attributable to unforeseeable circumstances and the unreliability of uncontrollable aspects of the construction process. Also, I will note that the site's predictions are for the "completion" not "dedication" date. Several things happen between completion and dedication, including buffer time between completion and open house start date, the open house, and at least a week between open house end and dedication.
The further out the estimated completion date is, the more often the estimated completion date is likely to be pushed back and the more time the completion date is likely to be pushed back by.
Post a Comment