Monday, February 15, 2016

Stakes Likely to Split in the United States - February 2016 Version

Below is a list of stakes in the United States that appear likely to split within the near future. Previous lists are available for 2013 and 2009.
  • Anchorage Alaska North (10 wards, 2 branches)
  • Fairbanks Alaska (9 wards, 6 branches)
  • Wasilla Alaksa (15 wards)
  • Chandler Arizona East (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Flagstaff Arizona (12 wards, 1 branch) 
  • Goodyear Arizona (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Mesa Arizona Alta Mesa (12 wards)
  • Queen Creek Arizona (11 wards)
  • Queen Creek Arizona North (12 wards)
  • Taylor Arizona (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Thatcher Arizona (12 wards)
  • Gilbert Arizona Higley (12 wards)
  • Mesa Arizona Desert Ridge (13 wards)
  • Phoenix Arizona (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Queen Creek Arizona North (13 wards)
  • Queen Creek Arizona South (12 wards
  • Los Angeles California Stake (12 wards)
  • Poway California (12 wards, 3 branches)
  • Temecula California (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Colorado Springs North (14 wards)
  • Colorado Springs East (12 wards, 1 branch)
  • Meeker Colorado (12 wards, 3 branches)
  • Sugar Hill Georgia (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Ammon Idaho Foothills (12 wards)
  • Declo Idaho (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Meridian Idaho South (11 wards)
  • Middleton Idaho (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • St. Anthony Idaho (11 wards, 1 branch) 
  • Cambridge Massachusetts (12 wards, 4 branches)
  • Springfield Missouri South (11 wards, 2 branches)
  • Billings Montana (11 wards, 4 branches)
  • Omaha Nebraska (12 wards, 1 branch)
  • Las Veas Nevada South (13 wards)
  • New York New York (13 wards, 2 branches)
  • Oklahoma City Oklahoma (11 wards, 2 branches)
  • Columbus Ohio North (11 wards) 
  • Reading Pennsylvania (11 wards, 4 branches)
  • Providence Rhode Island (10 wards, 5 branches)
  • West Columbia South Carolina (10 wards, 2 branches)
  • Allen Texas (12 wards, 1 branch)
  • Austin Texas Oak Hills (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Houston Texas North (11 wards)
  • Richardson Texas (11 wards, 1 branch) 
  • Hurricane Utah West (12 wards)
  • La Verkin Utah (12 wards)
  • Lehi Utah (13 wards) 
  • Mapleton Utah (13 wards)
  • Morgan Utah (12 wards)
  • Morgan Utah North (12 wards)
  • Nibley Utah (12 wards)
  • Pleasant Grove Utah Manila (12 wards)
  • Pleasant View Utah (12 wards)
  • Provo Utah East (12 wards)
  • Provo Utah South (12 wards) 
  • St George Utah Bloomington Hills (12 wards)
  • St George Utah Washington Fields (12 wards)
  • Salem Utah (12 wards)
  • Saratoga Springs Utah (12 wards)
  • Saratoga Springs Utah Crossroads (14 wards)
  • Spanish Fork Utah Canyon Ridge (12 wards)
  • Ashburn Virginia (12 wards)
  • Fredericksburg Virginia (13 wards, 2 branches)
  • Mount Vernon Virginia (13 wards)
  • Bellevue Washington (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Maple Valley Washington (12 wards, 1 branch) 
  • Moses Lake Washington (11 wards, 1 branch)
  • Tacoma Washington (12 wards)
  • Vancouver Washington East (11 wards)
  • Casper Wyoming (12 wards, 2 branches) 
  • Cody Wyoming (13 wards)
  • Laramie Wyoming (12 wards, 1 branch)

34 comments:

  1. With the Irving Texas Stake being created in Texas on Feb 7th, there have been 4 new Stakes organized in Texas. This has only happened in 2014, 2008, 1997, 1983. & 1981. As we are only 2 months into 2016, there is a good chance that Texas will have a new record for itself for the most Stakes organized in Texas in a single year!

    Texas Chronology

    El Paso Texas Stake September 21, 1952
    Houston Texas Stake October 11, 1953
    Dallas Texas Stake October 18, 1953
    San Antonio Texas Stake January 19, 1958
    Texas Dallas Mission February 16, 1961
    Beaumont Texas Stake September 3, 1961
    Corpus Christi Texas Stake May 31, 1964
    Fort Worth Texas Stake September 24, 1967
    Lubbock Texas Stake November 26, 1967
    Texas San Antonio Mission December 10, 1967
    Houston Texas East Stake May 5, 1968
    Odessa Texas Stake December 15, 1968
    Longview Texas Stake November 9, 1969
    Plano Texas Stake May 27, 1973
    Austin Texas Stake October 14, 1973
    McAllen Texas Stake May 4, 1975
    Houston Texas North Stake November 16, 1975
    San Antonio Texas East Stake May 30, 1976
    Texas Houston Mission July 1, 1976
    Hurst Texas Stake November 14, 1976
    Dallas Texas East Stake May 15, 1977
    Friendswood Texas Stake May 29, 1977
    Killeen Texas Stake November 26, 1978
    College Station Texas Stake October 28, 1979
    Houston Texas South Stake November 30, 1980
    Harlingen Texas Stake March 22, 1981
    Lewisville Texas Stake April 12, 1981
    Abilene Texas Stake May 3, 1981
    Amarillo Texas Stake May 31, 1981
    Kingwood Texas Stake April 18, 1982
    El Paso Texas Mount Franklin Stake August 29, 1982
    Orange Texas Stake August 29, 1982
    Gilmer Texas Stake January 16, 1983
    Richardson Texas Stake January 30, 1983
    San Antonio Texas West Stake June 5, 1983
    Cypress Texas Stake November 6, 1983
    Dallas Texas Temple October 19, 1984
    Arlington Texas Stake April 13, 1986
    Texas Fort Worth Mission July 1, 1986
    Texas McAllen Mission July 1, 1989
    Texas Houston East Mission July 1, 1990
    Bay City Texas Stake October 13, 1991
    Austin Texas Oak Hills Stake December 1, 1991
    Katy Texas Stake December 1, 1991
    Denton Texas Stake May 3, 1992
    McKinney Texas Stake September 11, 1994
    Laredo Texas District October 31, 1995
    Colleyville Texas Stake April 13, 1997
    Texas Houston South Mission July 1, 1997
    Eagle Pass Texas District October 19, 1997
    San Antonio Texas North Stake October 19, 1997
    Round Rock Texas Stake June 6, 1999
    Houston Texas Temple August 26, 2000
    Carrollton Texas Stake December 9, 2001
    Lubbock Texas Temple April 21, 2002
    Texas Lubbock Mission July 1, 2002
    Fort Stockton Texas District September 7, 2003
    Klein Texas Stake November 2, 2003
    Tyler Texas Stake January 22, 2005
    San Antonio Texas Temple May 22, 2005
    Houston Texas West Stake (Spanish) January 8, 2006
    Weatherford Texas Stake April 30, 2006
    Richmond Texas Stake May 7, 2006
    Allen Texas Stake August 26, 2007
    San Antonio Texas Hill Country Stake January 27, 2008
    Frisco Texas Stake May 4, 2008
    Kyle Texas Stake May 4, 2008
    McAllen Texas West Stake September 7, 2008
    League City Texas Stake October 25, 2009
    Spring Texas Stake November 8, 2009
    Waco Texas Stake October 17, 2010
    Heath Texas Stake May 20, 2012
    Houston Texas Summerwood Stake June 3, 2012
    Round Rock Texas East Stake November 24, 2013
    Alliance Texas Stake February 16, 2014
    Frisco Texas Shawnee Trail Stake May 4, 2014
    Lubbock Texas North Stake September 14, 2014
    The Woodlands Texas Stake October 12, 2014
    Houston Texas Bear Creek Stake February 22, 2015
    San Antonio Texas Cibolo Valley Stake January 10, 2016
    El Paso Texas Chamizal Stake January 17, 2016
    San Antonio Texas La Cantera Stake January 24, 2016
    Irving Texas Stake February 7, 2016

    Source of Chronological List:
    LDSChurchTemples.com

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  2. I would love to see Provo Utah East split, but the fact that that stake takes in the area just south of BYU campus and has lots of married students who only live there a short time may make it unlikely. with such high levels of transience it is hard to get enough people for positions like high council. I would love to be wrong.

    It is also hard to say what lower mission ages will do to the population. With more BYU students starting just after their mission, and with some having girlfriends who get back at the same time, they may get married and spend 4 years or clsoe to 4 years as married students. Of course, married students often move apartments, but some will stay put. This may aid in allowing more permanence of membership, but it is hard to say. It might also lead to more conversions and reactivations in the area.

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  3. It is impressive that 2016 is already a leading year for new stakes in Texas.

    One thing with the LDS Church temples data, some of those dates might actually not be when it became a stake but when it was formed as a district. Although I think that only tends to be an issue with stakes formed from a specific district since they started the database, so most of those dates will be correct. However if as is hoped Laredo District becomes a stake this year, it might not show up for 2016 in later years.

    If I read this right there is only 1 more stake needed in Texas this year for it to exceed the previous record for new stakes in one year.

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  4. Actually 1997 only saw two new stakes. The other two additions are a mission and a district.

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  5. @John Pack Lambert; Thanks for catching that and correcting on 1997!

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  6. Also the church just published a video on Church Growth in Africa and acknowledged that to a degree the growth there is being controlled to prevent the church from growing faster than can be managed, or in other words, quality of conversion over number of members: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/

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  7. Missoule mt stack was clouse to splating last uear. And the Billings stack should of been splat last uear but did not have the membership to do it. Or a stack center for the new stack eather.

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  8. Missoule mt stack was clouse to splating last year. And the Billings stack should of been splat last year but did not have the membership to do it. And it did not have a stack center for the new stack to ues as will. But the Billings stack does have a lot of a Active members there is some wards by the temple that had 300 members but will have 200+ each Sunday.

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  9. It was announced yesterday in our ward that 2 new wards will be created in the Klein Texas Stake on Feb 28...this will take our stake to 12 wards and a branch...along with the Houston North Stake (next door) that you mentioned on your list, and the Houston Cypress Stake on the other side with 9 wards, I would anticipate that 2 new stakes could be created out of our 3 stakes...

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  10. >>>Fredericksburg Virginia (13 wards, 2 branches)

    Just 406 more members to go. We have the priesthood and obviously the wards, but that stubborn 3000 members for each resulting stake is there (5594 reported in Stake Conference yesterday). We have grown about 600 in 3 years. Well maybe the President of the Centreville Stake will change his mind and allow us to appropriate the Warrenton 2nd Ward. Or maybe get the Tappahannock Ward from the Richmond Stake.

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  11. >>>BryceisBibleMan

    Thank you for the update on a possible stake split in Billings.

    There are three criteria for a stake to be created in North America:

    1. At least 3000 members.
    2. At least 5 wards.
    3. At least 24 active full-tithe-paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders (in addition to those required for the wards). Each ward requires 300 members and at least 15 active full-tithe-paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders.

    Each criteria has the word "should" in it, but First Presidency approval requires a pretty good reason if one or more criteria are not met. Since our ward split 2 years ago we have been around 300 members and even dropped below 300 for a while and around 180 in attendance, but that doesn't necessarily help (except that we are well above the 15 active full-tithe-paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders required).

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    1. Thanks I know with the Billings stack 6000 for two atacks to be there may be why. It hasent splat yet. But I would thank it was getting close it was a high baptizing stack in my mission. At the time I was there.

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    2. Thanks I know with the Billings stack 6000 for two atacks to be there may be why. It hasent splat yet. But I would thank it was getting close it was a high baptizing stack in my mission. At the time I was there.

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  12. The current issue with splitting the Mount Vernon Stake (my stake) is that we need another meetinghouse to do this, because I guess none of them in one of the resultant stakes would be big enough to be a stake center. It looks like the Church is actually going to build a meetinghouse as the first two levels of a new mixed-use high rise building that is planned to be built. However, that is still years away from being accomplished. In the meantime, we've purchased an office building next to where the YSA wards and Mid-Singles ward meet, which will allow the Mid-singles ward to split. However, there still isn't room for a stake center until the high rise is built.

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  13. Where in the world would a high rise be built in Mount Vernon?!?

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    1. Potomac Yards area by Crystal City. Was announced today in Stake Conference.

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  14. The Ann Arbor Michigan stake did not get a stake center until over 20 years after it was organized. So lack of a stake center alone should not prevent splitting the stake.

    On another building note, if LDS maps is both correct and up-to-date the newest stake in Henderson Nevada only has 1 chapel in its boundaries. Henderson has several chapels with wards from multiple stakes meeting there.

    The Ephraim YSA stake has multiple non-contiguous wards, that take in part of Ephraim itself and then also take in outlying parts of Sanpete County.

    In the Eagle Mountain West Stake the White Hills Ward is virtually surrounded by the Cedar Fort Ward. White Hills was a small neighborhood of just over 100 homes that existed before 2009 when the area was first proposed to be annexed to Eagle Mountain (it was actually annexed in 2011). There are plans for a major development around White Hills called Pole Canyon, but as far as I can tell it has not started.

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  15. White Hills apparently actually pre-dates the city of Eagle Mountain itself.

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  16. The Longueuil Québec Stake in Canada has 17 units with 8 wards and 9 branches. How that hasn't split is beyond me

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  17. @Grant
    I hadn't heard that we bought the office building next to the 23rd St Chapel. That would be amazing though if there was the YSA building and the SA building, but why wouldn't they just have one of the wards meet somewhere else, since the SA covers all of NOVA?
    @steve
    I've heard that the plan is to build a new building at Potomac Yard, so I would imagine that's the high rise one being talked about.

    The Mt Vernon Stake is very large and has to broadcast all of the Stake Conferences to the 23rd Street Building. Also, there's insufficient parking for the people who can fit at the stake center and they have to arrange for parking across the highway at a high school.

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  18. @Kevin, yeah, we bought the building next to the 23rd street chapel, but they haven't yet renovated it yet. When I asked why they didn't just relocate one of the singles wards, I was told that none of the other chapels have room to take another ward. Of course, I haven't visited each chapel in the stake, but that's what was conveyed down by the stake president. And apparently it is not the plan to tear down the 23rd street chapel and/or its neighbor to build a church-built building (which I imagine would have been a more efficient use of space).

    Anyway, the high rise is found here:
    https://www.arlnow.com/2015/07/21/new-church-approved-for-potomac-yard/

    If you want to get in and see the nitty-gritty of it (including a floor plan), you can see it here:
    http://arlington.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=2954&meta_id=132829

    The common thought is that once that building is in use, the stake will split.

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  19. I remember when the Mount Vernon Stake had 5 wards and a branch meeting in 2 chapels:
    Alexandria building: Alexandria and Colonial (Singles) wards and the Old Town (Ciudad Antigua) branch
    Mount Vernon building: Mount Vernon, Huntington, and Groveton Wards.

    I met my wife in the Colonial Ward and then we moved to the Groveton Ward.

    I remember a high counselor in our ward who moved to Lake Ridge and then the two Lake Ridge wards were then moved into the Mount Vernon Stake and he was again called as a high counselor. Those two wards left and are part of the Woodbridge Stake now.

    It is amazing how big the Mount Vernon Stake has grown.

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  20. Matt, You neglected to mention the Tongan stakes in both Provo and Salt Lake. With 13+ units in each stake, both appear ripe for division anytime now...

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  21. I think the Church is trying to get away from language-specific stakes. There were quite a few Spanish stakes in the U.S., and now, only 4 remain.

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  22. Ryan, That very well may be true, but the Spanish stakes that were discontinued were relatively weak with individual units closing with each dissolution, all in either Miami or Los Angeles that have experienced overall membership stagnation. Most of the wards of the former Covina CA Spanish stake, for example, were either abolished or downgraded to branch status.

    So unless there are pending closures of Tongan units along the Wasatch Front, which seems pretty unlikely based on steady unit growth, I think a fair argument could be made that at least one of these stakes is likely to be split in some manner, perhaps in conjunction with other stakes at the very least.

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  23. Generally there is a need for 5 wards per stake, so I can see why they have not split the Longueil Stake. There are advantages to being in a stake, so I can see why the Church has not formed a district.

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  24. On the issue of Spanish stakes the Houston Texas Stake was repurposed from being an all Spanish stake, to being a geographical stake, and since then there has been a stake split. Before that the Houston Texas Stake has lost some units to the new Houston North Stake that was half English-speaking units, half Spanish-speaking units. The high number of Spanish-speaking units was either 8 or 9, so being down to 4 is not as big a drop as it might seem.

    However the issues of Spanish-speaking and Tongan-speaking stakes are very different. Even at that the Spanish-speaking Houston Texas West Stake continues to add more branches in outlying parts of the Greater Houston area, showing that language-specific stakes can serve to create new units in that language in unreached areas.

    Back in the mid-1980s the stake leadership in New York City sought to have the stake split into an English-speaking stake and a Spanish-speaking stake, but this was vetoed by leadership higher up. I know this from the book "City Saints."

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  25. It also appears that every Tongan and Samoan unit belongs to one of the three Tongan stakes. In other words, unlike the Spanish units, I do not see ANY Tongan or Samoan units in or being added to the traditional stakes along the Wasatch Front. Thus, disbanding these three Tongan stakes would necessitate a massive reorganization of close to forty units.

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  26. My above comment also holds true for the two Tongan stakes in the San Francisco Bay Area as well.

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  27. Awesome links @Grant. Thank you!

    The building in the high rise looks still pretty small, so I imagine they would make King Street Building the Stake Center. Also, maybe once they have the new building, then they'll knock down the two offices and build a single building there.

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  28. While all Wasatch front Tongan units except the Tongan YSA ward in Provo which is in a Provo YSA stake may be in Tongan stakes, that is not true for Samoan units. The Rose Park Stake, Rose Park North Stake, Granger North, Granger South, Hunter, Taylorsville Central, West Jordan Heritage, Riverton and South Jordan Highland stakes all have a Samoan ward or branch. I think only one was a branch. I didn't even check any stakes in the Draper Temple district, nor all in the Salt Lake Temple disctrict so I may have missed some.

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  29. I am a member of the Cambridge, Massachusetts Stake. We have 15 units total, 13 wards and 3 branches. I attend the largest branch in the stake. All branches are language units 2 Spanish 1 Portuguese, and 1 ward is Spanish.

    About 4 years ago the church bought a piece of property in Woburn, Massachusetts from what I heard, to be a new "stake center" within 5 years. 4 Years have past and nothing yet. I assume the growth isn't quite there yet.
    However the Cambridge stake finally got a Stake Center in June 2010, 13 years since its creation (1997). The stake center houses 4 units, the Longfellow Park chapel houses 4 units as well. Belmont Chapel houses 3 units, Lynnfield houses 1 unit, Revere houses 2 units and Lynn houses 1 unit. Word is that there is also somewhat of a plan expand 1 or 2 of the chapels as well. I am not sure of the amount of members that Cambridge has, but 15 units is large enough to split, The problem that I see is that the Longfellow Park Chapel houses 4 units that all are college students going to Tufts, Harvard, MIT, etc. LP1 YSA, LP2 YSA, Charles River SA and a University Ward. So naturally, membership numbers change in those 4 units.

    Also, my stake presidency has been serving 8 years already. Perhaps the the church is waiting a little longer to do everything at once, split the stake and new presidencies and perhaps announcement of the Woburn Stake Center located at 71 Wyman in Woburn. (unsure of the exact number )

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  30. Mesa Arizona ALTA MESA STAKE will split this weekend (March 5th & 6th), creating the new RED MOUNTAIN STAKE

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  31. Update to my comment from above, Looks like the Cambridge, Mass Stake now has 16 units, a newly created Kendall Square Branch (Mandarin Chinese) So now there are the following:

    Belmont 1st Ward
    Belmont 2nd Ward
    Arlington Ward
    Revere 1st Ward (Spanish)
    Revere 2nd Ward
    Longfellow Park 1st Ward (YSA)
    Longfellow Park 2nd Ward (YSA)
    Cambridge University Ward (Student Single)
    Charles River Ward (Single Adult 30+) ** Newly created within the last 5/6 years**
    Lynnfield Ward
    Cambridge 1st Ward
    Cambridge 2nd Ward
    Cambridge 3rd Branch (Spanish)
    Cambridge 4th Branch (Portuguese)
    Lynn Branch (Spanish)
    ** Newly created in 2016 Kendall Square Branch (Mandarin)

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