According to my calculations there was only a net growth of 22 wards and branches worldwide for 2018 year. Also a net increase of 42 Stakes in 2018 as compared to 75 last year!
About a month ago someone posted a link to a website that has been recently mapping the location of new wards and branches. Does anyone still have that link, I can't seem to find it looking back over the blog.
I do not know what the changes are, but if I did would not probably discuss them in detail. I do know that the endowment has changed from time to time. God speaks to us in our own language and way. The formulation of his message is changed from time to time.
On another note the Wikipedia article on The Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple survived a deletion attempt with a decisions to keep. Some survivals are no consensus. The article was first deleted back in Janaury of 2015, but that was much earlier in the process of the building of the temple.
Another great newsletter, Matt! Thank you for that excellent report. It appears the United States is, in some ways, starting to recover from the stagnant growth issue we saw last year. I cannot be sure, but I imagine that part of the reasoning behind reestablishing area presidencies for North American areas was to deal more directly with that stagnation. It also appears that all North American areas will have supervision from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and 2 members of the Presidency of the Seventy. Given a broadcast held for priesthood and auxiliary leaders here in Utah in mid-August, I have conclusively verified that all 3 of the previously-separate Utah Areas have been consolidated into one. Not sure what that means for the other areas which have been 4 separate ones but may now be 2.
I am not comfortable highlighting the changes which reportedly occurred for the endowment ceremony. The Salt Lake Tribune featured a report from a Church member about what had changed, and you can find that on their website, as the article in question is featured on the home page of that site right now. The problem I have is that the "unnamed source" for these reported changes was not authorized to speak for the Church or its' leaders, and doing so put whomever it was in direct violation of the Brethren's counsel to not discuss outside the temple what happens inside it.
It is interesting to me that the Church has already announced changes to missions for this year as well. To my knowledge, this is the earliest that has ever happened, and the anticipated announcement of new mission presidents, which will be made later this month, will also come about a month or two earlier than has previously been the case. But that's not surprising either. President Nelson seems to be very much on top of things, perhaps because his career as a heart surgeon honed skills of focusing quickly on minute details, which I am sure is aiding him in his assignment now as President of the Church. What a wonderful time we live in.
That said, with my thanks to Matt for his ongoing excellent posts, and to all of you for contributing to my understanding of topics discussed here, I would also like to thank Matt for allowing me to share the address of my blog. I have covered several of the latest temple and Church news stories. Most significantly to me, it appears that the announcement of the open house and dedication information for the Fortaleza Brazil Temple is on the horizon within the next week or less. A report came in before the end of 2018 that the temple was being furnished and prepared for its' open house, so that announcement is just a matter of time. You can find more information on this and other important developments of recent days at the web address for my blog below. Thanks again, everyone!
Tony, I show 23 net new wards and branches. In reality there were hundreds of new units, but Mexico lost 152 wards through consolidation while at the same time gaining 11 net new branches. Mexico also lost 9 stakes and gained 3 districts. Other areas showed losses, like California, where 38 wards and branches closed. Gains were great in the intermountain area, with Utah with 39 new wards and 3 fewer branches, Idaho + 35 wards and - 5 branches, and Arizona and Nevada combined up 16 wards and 2 fewer branches. Florida and Texas posted good growth as well, totaling 15 new wards and branches between them.
Brazil grew by 22 new wards and branches, and Peru increased by 12. Nigeria was up by 48 units, Ivory Coast by 20, Liberia by 12, and Ghana by 11.
You are correct that here were only 42 net new stakes, largely due to the Mexican consolidations. There were also 5 fewer districts. Some districts were discontinued, some merged and several were advance to stakes (7 districts in the Philippines alone became stakes). A few new districts were created.
Just wanted to mention this here: It appears that, earlier this week, a new picture for the Brasilia Brazil Temple site showed that a construction fence has been placed around it. Because Brazil and its' political leaders have such a good relationship with the Church, Brazilian members are reportedly hoping that the announcement of a groundbreaking ceremony for that temple will occur soon. The Brasilia Temple was the first of the last 5 temples President Monson announced during the final General Conference in which he spoke prior to his passing. So it seems that that temple has passed both the temples in Pocatello Idaho and Saratoga Springs Utah as the next one for which a groundbreaking will likely be announced. Based on new information about the announced temples, I have projected that, in addition to the already-scheduled groundbreakings for the Urdaneta Philippines and Bangkok Thailand Temples (both of which will occur within the next 18 days, which is roughly 2.5 weeks), and the groundbreakings for the other three temples mentioned above, there are at least 3-4 others I am watching for news on (namely Lima Peru Los Olivos, Harare Zimbabwe (which, as Elder Andersen advised the Vice President of Zimbabwe, is anticipated to occur in the late months of this year), Nairobi Kenya, and the second temple for Manila Philippines. And since many of us (myself included) were surprised by the unexpected announcements of the groundbreakings for the Port-au-Prince Haiti (in October 2017) and Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple (last year), I am not ruling out the prospect that other temples could (and likely will) have a groundbreaking during this year. Also, if the research I have done and the comments I have seen, it also seems likely that the Church will be announcing the renovations for several more temples in the near future, including the "pioneer-generation temples" and especially the Salt Lake Temple. Likewise, if the 19 temples announced last year was President Nelson's way of starting slowly, then 2019 will similarly be a big year for new temples to be announced, and may see even more temples announced in 2019 than the 19 announced last year. Unless President Nelson publicly details the extent and timing of his plans in that regard, it may be hard to gauge how many temples might be announced in April and October, but given that President Nelson has already taken major steps to start tackling the current backlog (which has involved the confirmation of site locations for many of the temples he announced last year), we may be in for a much bigger windfall of temple-related developments this year than we saw last year. And that is amazing to think about.
According to my calculations there was only a net growth of 22 wards and branches worldwide for 2018 year. Also a net increase of 42 Stakes in 2018 as compared to 75 last year!
ReplyDeleteTony, are you including the sensitive units in this?
ReplyDeleteI am using the figures on fullerconsideration.com and the stake numbers on this site.
ReplyDeleteAbout a month ago someone posted a link to a website that has been recently mapping the location of new wards and branches. Does anyone still have that link, I can't seem to find it looking back over the blog.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI do not know what the changes are, but if I did would not probably discuss them in detail. I do know that the endowment has changed from time to time. God speaks to us in our own language and way. The formulation of his message is changed from time to time.
ReplyDeleteOn another note the Wikipedia article on The Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple survived a deletion attempt with a decisions to keep. Some survivals are no consensus. The article was first deleted back in Janaury of 2015, but that was much earlier in the process of the building of the temple.
Another great newsletter, Matt! Thank you for that excellent report. It appears the United States is, in some ways, starting to recover from the stagnant growth issue we saw last year. I cannot be sure, but I imagine that part of the reasoning behind reestablishing area presidencies for North American areas was to deal more directly with that stagnation. It also appears that all North American areas will have supervision from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and 2 members of the Presidency of the Seventy. Given a broadcast held for priesthood and auxiliary leaders here in Utah in mid-August, I have conclusively verified that all 3 of the previously-separate Utah Areas have been consolidated into one. Not sure what that means for the other areas which have been 4 separate ones but may now be 2.
ReplyDeleteI am not comfortable highlighting the changes which reportedly occurred for the endowment ceremony. The Salt Lake Tribune featured a report from a Church member about what had changed, and you can find that on their website, as the article in question is featured on the home page of that site right now. The problem I have is that the "unnamed source" for these reported changes was not authorized to speak for the Church or its' leaders, and doing so put whomever it was in direct violation of the Brethren's counsel to not discuss outside the temple what happens inside it.
It is interesting to me that the Church has already announced changes to missions for this year as well. To my knowledge, this is the earliest that has ever happened, and the anticipated announcement of new mission presidents, which will be made later this month, will also come about a month or two earlier than has previously been the case. But that's not surprising either. President Nelson seems to be very much on top of things, perhaps because his career as a heart surgeon honed skills of focusing quickly on minute details, which I am sure is aiding him in his assignment now as President of the Church. What a wonderful time we live in.
That said, with my thanks to Matt for his ongoing excellent posts, and to all of you for contributing to my understanding of topics discussed here, I would also like to thank Matt for allowing me to share the address of my blog. I have covered several of the latest temple and Church news stories. Most significantly to me, it appears that the announcement of the open house and dedication information for the Fortaleza Brazil Temple is on the horizon within the next week or less. A report came in before the end of 2018 that the temple was being furnished and prepared for its' open house, so that announcement is just a matter of time. You can find more information on this and other important developments of recent days at the web address for my blog below. Thanks again, everyone!
http://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com
Tony, I show 23 net new wards and branches. In reality there were hundreds of new units, but Mexico lost 152 wards through consolidation while at the same time gaining 11 net new branches. Mexico also lost 9 stakes and gained 3 districts. Other areas showed losses, like California, where 38 wards and branches closed. Gains were great in the intermountain area, with Utah with 39 new wards and 3 fewer branches, Idaho + 35 wards and - 5 branches, and Arizona and Nevada combined up 16 wards and 2 fewer branches. Florida and Texas posted good growth as well, totaling 15 new wards and branches between them.
ReplyDeleteBrazil grew by 22 new wards and branches, and Peru increased by 12. Nigeria was up by 48 units, Ivory Coast by 20, Liberia by 12, and Ghana by 11.
You are correct that here were only 42 net new stakes, largely due to the Mexican consolidations. There were also 5 fewer districts. Some districts were discontinued, some merged and several were advance to stakes (7 districts in the Philippines alone became stakes). A few new districts were created.
Tony: yes, 2018 was not as good at creating stakes as 2017. Temple announcements were amazing.
ReplyDeleteThis year will be interesting to observe.
Just wanted to mention this here: It appears that, earlier this week, a new picture for the Brasilia Brazil Temple site showed that a construction fence has been placed around it. Because Brazil and its' political leaders have such a good relationship with the Church, Brazilian members are reportedly hoping that the announcement of a groundbreaking ceremony for that temple will occur soon. The Brasilia Temple was the first of the last 5 temples President Monson announced during the final General Conference in which he spoke prior to his passing. So it seems that that temple has passed both the temples in Pocatello Idaho and Saratoga Springs Utah as the next one for which a groundbreaking will likely be announced. Based on new information about the announced temples, I have projected that, in addition to the already-scheduled groundbreakings for the Urdaneta Philippines and Bangkok Thailand Temples (both of which will occur within the next 18 days, which is roughly 2.5 weeks), and the groundbreakings for the other three temples mentioned above, there are at least 3-4 others I am watching for news on (namely Lima Peru Los Olivos, Harare Zimbabwe (which, as Elder Andersen advised the Vice President of Zimbabwe, is anticipated to occur in the late months of this year), Nairobi Kenya, and the second temple for Manila Philippines. And since many of us (myself included) were surprised by the unexpected announcements of the groundbreakings for the Port-au-Prince Haiti (in October 2017) and Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple (last year), I am not ruling out the prospect that other temples could (and likely will) have a groundbreaking during this year. Also, if the research I have done and the comments I have seen, it also seems likely that the Church will be announcing the renovations for several more temples in the near future, including the "pioneer-generation temples" and especially the Salt Lake Temple. Likewise, if the 19 temples announced last year was President Nelson's way of starting slowly, then 2019 will similarly be a big year for new temples to be announced, and may see even more temples announced in 2019 than the 19 announced last year. Unless President Nelson publicly details the extent and timing of his plans in that regard, it may be hard to gauge how many temples might be announced in April and October, but given that President Nelson has already taken major steps to start tackling the current backlog (which has involved the confirmation of site locations for many of the temples he announced last year), we may be in for a much bigger windfall of temple-related developments this year than we saw last year. And that is amazing to think about.
ReplyDelete