Brazil
The Church organized a new stake in Parana State on June 19th. The Apucarana Brazil Stake was organized from the Apucarana Brazil District and the Maringá Brazil Stake. Most, if not all, of the five branches in the former district appear to have become wards.
There are now 20 stakes and one district in Parana State, and 261 stakes and 38 districts in Brazil.
DR Congo
The Church organized a new stake in the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 26th. The Likasi Democratic Republic of the Congo Stake was organized from the Likasi Democratic Republic of the Congo District. Information on which of the 10 branches in the former district that became wards remains unavailable. The new stake is the Church's first stake to operate in the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo outside of Lubumbashi.
There are now 16 stakes and two districts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Honduras
The Church organized a new stake in San Pedro Sula on June 26th. The new stake was organized from a division of the San Pedro Sula Honduras and Satélite Honduras Stakes. The new stake appears to be named the El Carmen Honduras Stake or the San Pedro Sula Honduras El Carmen Stake. The new stake includes the following five wards and one branch: Calpules, El Carmen, La Aldea, Las Lomas, and Ocotillo Wards, and San Juan Branch.
There are now 25 stakes and seven districts in Honduras.
Nigeria
The Church organized a new stake in western Nigeria on June 26th. The Ile-Ife Nigeria Stake was organized from the Ile-Ife Nigeria District. Information on which of the 10 retained branches in the former district that became wards remains unavailable. The Ile-Ife Nigeria Stake is the Church's first stake in Osun State where four million people reside. The Church originally organized the Ile-Ife Nigeria District in 1999.
The Church organized a new stake in south-central Nigeria on June 19th. The Onitsha Nigeria Stake was organized from the Onitsha Nigeria District. Information on which of the nine retained branches in the former district that became wards remains unavailable. The Onitsha Nigeria Stake is the Church's first stake in Anambra State where 4.8 million people reside. The Church originally organized the Onitsha Nigeria District in 1988. Prior to the creation of the new stake, the Onitsha Nigeria District was the oldest district of the Church in Nigeria.
There are now 38 stakes and 17 districts in Nigeria.
Taiwan
The Church in Taiwan organized a new stake on June 26th. The Chiayi Taiwan Stake was organized from the Chia Yi Taiwan District. Information on which of the seven branches in the former district became wards remains unavailable. The Chia Yi Taiwan District was the last district of the Church in Taiwan as all others have become stakes. The Church in Taiwan has implemented an aggressive strategy to organize several new stakes within the past five years, resulting in the number of stakes increasing from 11 to 17.
Angola
The Church organized its second district in Angola on June 12th. The Viana Angola District was organized from a division of the Luanda Angola District. The new district includes the following three branches: Terra Nova, Viana, and Zango. Missionaries have reported within the past couple years plans for the organization of the first stake in Angola within the near future. However, the decision to divide the Luanda Angola District, which previously had eight branches, appears to indicate plans to organize several new branches in the Luanda metropolitan area to spur greater growth in this massive city of 6.8 million inhabitants.
Cote d'Ivoire
The Church organized a new district in central Cote d'Ivoire on June 5th. The Bouake Cote d'Ivoire District was organized from the following five mission branches that operate within the city of Bouake: Ahougnanssou, Bouake 1st, Bouake 2nd, Bouake 3rd, and Bouake 4th Branch. The Church originally established its first branch in Bouake in 1989. At least two branches functioned in the city in the early 2000s, but all branches were discontinued in the mid-2000s due to the First Ivorian Civil War. The Church reestablished official branches in Bouake in 2015.
There are now 10 stakes and eight districts in Cote d'Ivoire.
South Africa
The Church organized a new district in southwestern South Africa on June 12th. The George South Africa District was organized from two mission branches in the George area, namely George and Knysna. The decision to organize a district with only two branches suggests plans to organize additional branches in the area within the near future as districts typically have at least three branches.
There are now 15 stakes and five districts in South Africa.
So no new stakes in July, when apparently the leadership will take a break? How many stakes have been formed in July in church history? How long has this policy been in effect?
ReplyDeleteWill less stakes be created the second half of '16 than so far?
I came across the CES enrollment data for 2015 in a talk given by Kim B. Clark a few months ago:
ReplyDeleteSeminary: 409,180
Institute: 369,579
K-12 Church Schools: 6,953
LDSBC: 2,877
BYU-H: 3,963
BYU-I: 33,802
BYU: 43,161
I think it's particularly encouraging that we're continuing to see growth in seminary and institute enrollment. From what I could find on the last annual report available, these are all-time highs in enrollment for seminary and institute.
Kim B. Clarks' talk: https://video.byui.edu/media/Kim+B.+Clark+%E2%80%9CCESA+The+Lord%E2%80%99s+Educational+System+for+His+Church%E2%80%9D/0_xl0zwja3/21751142
Your CES enrollment data seems to miss the thousands of people worldwide participating in the BYU-I Pathways program online - which was one of the major features of Elder Clark's talk.
ReplyDeleteMy estimate (very rough!) 25 students per 4500 English speaking stakes = 112,500 students
He presented that earlier; there were 21,001 Pathway students in 2015. He also said that 90,696 people enrolled in BYU Independent Study High School Courses, and 74,090 were in BYU I.S. College Courses.
ReplyDeleteWow! I work for BYU IS and always wondered how many students we have.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's necessarily a fact that stakes don't get created in July. There were 5 stakes created in July 2015 per the sidebar.
ReplyDeleteChurch's statement about Russia: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/russia-passes-law-affecting-missionary-work
ReplyDeleteI think the issue is that the First Presidency and the Priesthood and Family Executive Counsel don't meet in July (or December) to approve new stakes, but from the time of approval to the actual creation by one or more general or area authorities assigned to create stakes may take a few weeks to a few months.
ReplyDeletePosted this comment on another post but wanted to feature it here as well: I have once again revisited my list of locations that may soon have a temple announced. In doing so, I have looked at the comments on other similar posts, have done better research, and really got my list fine-tuned. I would appreciate any feedback. Please visit the link below and, if you feel so inclined, leave a comment letting me know what you think.
ReplyDeletehttp://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2016/07/4th-edition-of-cities-that-are-most.html
Wait, BYU has over 40,000 students? I thought it was just over 30,000. I wonder if these numbers include online students who are not counted for some purposes. The number of Pathway Program students is becoming quite impressive. I have seen people go from being marginally active to very active as a result of being involved in the program.
ReplyDeleteSo, evidently the 43,000 is regular enrolees at BYU. Are you sure you did not up the BYU and BYU-I numbers each by 10,000?
ReplyDeleteThose high school and college numbers are quite impressive. Of course at least in the case of high school enrollment I know people who have no connection to the Church enroll in courses, and many at least online BYU courses have no overt religious content.
2015's 5 stakes in July was by far the most, at least from 2011 on. 2011 and 2010 saw no stakes organized in July. 2013 and 2014 saw 1. Of course this means we could see 0, 1, 5, or 25, or some other number organized in July. My guess is we will see about 5, which is less than we saw in just some weeks in June, but I could be off on lots of things.
ReplyDeleteThe vast majority of students that I work with through BYU IS are not LDS.
ReplyDeleteMost of the ones that are LDS are either current or former BYU students, or students at other Utah schools, especially UVU.
http://www2.byui.edu/IR/stats/index.htm
ReplyDeleteBYU Idaho's numbers
@John Pack Lambert: He makes it clear that those are the enrollment numbers for the 2015 CALENDAR year. That includes two overlapping school years, so it ends up being more than BYU's 30,000 enrollment (since a new class of about 8,000 comes in during the fall semester, and there's probably a couple of thousand transfer students). It's anyone who ended up being a student at BYU (or another CES entity) during 2015, so it's a bit higher than the traditional enrollment number.
ReplyDeleteBYU's Independent Study program is huge. BYU just started an expansion on the Caroline Hemenway Building that houses the Continuing Education offices.
The Church's growth and size as a problem (which is a good sign all the same) makes it seem more likely that July HAS to be used as a time of unit creation and formal expansion.
ReplyDeleteWith only so many weekends in the year it seems likely that general authority vacations will not shut down new stake creations. Also, July is a notable month for new mission presidencies coming together, which is a fascinating time.
Oh, now it makes sense why the numbers are so big. That is a reasonable way to count them, just not what is normally done. Basically it ends up being 25% larger, since your year to year turn-over is roughly 25% (those who take 5 years to finish are balanced out by those who transfer and take only 2 or 3, although maybe I have not thought through the effects of a large number of students leaving for or returning from missions).
ReplyDeleteI wonder if anyone has joined the Church as a result of being exposed to the Church through BYU independent study courses?
It is possible that the name itself has led people to inquire more about the church, though I will add that BYU IS is not actually run through BYU and as such is not directly affiliated with the church. Students who take IS courses are not required to have an ecclesiastical endorsement, nor follow any form of honor code and the curriculum is entirely secular. This is different from BYU Online courses which are very similar but only offered for persons who are actually students at BYU.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the creation/reinstatement of many districts in Russia within just the last couple years was part of the Lord's way of preparing the Church there to be more organized and self-sufficient with this new law in place.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Wouldnt be surprised if they made Vlad a district too...
ReplyDelete