Click here to access the updated Reaching the Nations country profile for The Bahamas. Little has changed for the Church in The Bahamas since the 2014 Edition of Reaching the Nations was published. The member activity rate in the country is estimated at 12%. Although a district was reestablished with "Nassau" in the name of it in early 2018, the district is headquartered out of the Cayman Islands and not The Bahamas. See below for the Future Prospects section of this article:
Low receptivity, negative cultural attitudes concerning the Church, and a high rate of church attendance in other faiths create significant challenges for future growth. Prospects for the creation of additional congregations appear poor until member reactivation efforts improve member activity rates, a higher percentage of new converts remain active for the long-term, and increases in convert baptisms occur. Traveling missionaries holding cottage meetings while visiting members and investigators on currently unreached islands may be a means of beginning missionary work in these locations.
I have no real connections to church HQ so this will just be some thoughts about the temple building era it appears we are heading into. One thought is based on what is occurring with several of the ground breakings lately. All of these are being built on existing church properties. The church tear downs the chapel and builds a chapel. I think this is a great way to accelerate temple building because now you have taken a year or more off the process. You don't have to find land, deal with the government red tape, and the many delays.
ReplyDeleteSecond thought is it wouldn't surprise me that many of the places where temples are announced will be places that have fewer members than normally would be needed to have a temple. This leads to my next thought of why i think this could happen.
Third thought is that with 2 hour church a reality now, there are fewer callings available in many wards where the church is smaller. I believe that many more members will be called as temple workers in areas where the church is smaller in members. As I was talking about this with my wife, I think the announcement of women with children can now serve as temple workers is part of this change.
These thoughts have come from what I have heard and some may have also heard or read about Pres. Nelson being more interested in building temple than meetinghouses, with his desire to begin with the end in mind, that he would be known as the temple building prophet surpassing what Pres Hinckley.
Needless to say I am very excited for general conference.
Matt, It looks like today was published the new Kingstown St. Vincent District.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lds.org/church/news/refined-processes-products-exemplify-churchs-joyful-imperative-to-simplify-and-focus?lang=eng
ReplyDeleteFound this on Twitter. The three lines mark the percentage of US residents who are catholic, mainline protestant, or who say they have or belong to 'no religion'.
ReplyDeleteThe 'no religion' line has just risen above the Catholics line but surpassed the Mainline denominations line some time before.
https://twitter.com/michael_nielsen/status/1111690201917583360/photo/1
I have only heard the rumors of increasing number of temples to be built on the comment threads of this blog, so I have no idea if that is an actual thing that is happening or pure conjecture. That said, if more temples were to be built in areas with smaller membership I put together a top 50 U.S. locations for kicks and giggles:
ReplyDeleteFairbanks, Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
Pago Pago, American Samoa
Flagstaff, Arizona
Fayetteville/Rogers, Arkansas
Bakersfield, California
Redding, California
San Jose, California
Grand Junction, Colorado
Alamosa, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Jacksonville, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tampa/St. Petersberg/Bradenton, Florida
Vero Beach, Florida
Savannah, Georgia
Burley, Idaho
Preston, Idaho
Rigby, Idaho
Wichita, Kansas
Shreveport, Louisiana
Augusta, Maine
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Jackson, Mississippi
Great Falls, Montana
Missoula, Montana
Elko, Nevada
Farmington, New Mexico
Albany, New York
Charlotte, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Cleveland, Ohio
Eugene, Oregon
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Knoxville, Tennessee
Austin, Texas
Corpus Christi, Texas
El Paso, Texas
McAllen, Texas
Rapid City, South Dakota
Heber City, Utah
Kanab, Utah
Price, Utah
Richfield, Utah
Tooele, Utah
Tremonton, Utah
Tacoma, Washington
Charleston, West Virginia
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Casper, Wyoming
The YSA Ward I am in regularly does joint Temple nights either with Juneau or Fairbanks, though I do not know how many people from those areas actually attend. Fairbanks, I would say would be a great contender for a temple, given the distance between there and Anchorage, in addition to the possibility of the Fairbanks Stake splitting in the next 10 or so years (don't quote me on anything). However, for Juneau, it's a tough issue. Southeastern Alaska is pretty remote, and only 2 towns are actually connected to the road system (Skagway and Haines), while everywhere else either requires boat or plane. There are also a lot of things politically that I kind of prefer not to discuss, but things currently aren't looking too good for the region (especially the decades-long debate over whether or not to move the capital away from Juneau, which if moved, is projected to cause serious loss to Juneau itself).
ReplyDeleteImportant to note that "no religion" doesn't mean "atheist", and many of these people still have some kind of belief in God but are simply fed up with real or perceived hypocrisy, bigotry, failure to meet their spiritual needs, etc. that they find in organized religion. Of course, our church is not immune to problems either, but many of these people would undoubtedly be receptive to the restored gospel if we could tailor our message in the right way. I think playing up our focus on every member cultivating a personal relationship with God and receiving personal revelation is a good start.
ReplyDeleteI have heard from many sources, and have no reason to doubt, that the LGBT issue is one of if not the biggest catalyst for millennials leaving this church specifically. Since we aren't at liberty to change the doctrine, and I doubt very much that will ever happen, we need to do a better job of being loving and inclusive to LGBT members in any way we can. I have one gay friend right now, and I'm sure there are thousands of others in the world, who really wants to stay in the Church but is struggling to reconcile it with his sexuality and doesn't feel like he can be happy either way. A good start, I think, is treating LGBT members exactly like all other members instead of being fixated on whether or not they "act on" their attractions, which frankly, unless we're their bishop, is none of our business. We don't worry about whether someone will break the law of chastity just because they have opposite-sex attraction, so why the double standard? Did Jesus ever say to anyone, "I want to be kind to you, but I'm worried that it will look like I'm condoning your lifestyle"? I think not.
ReplyDeleteI missed the women with dependent children can now be temple workers change. That is huge. Same with apparently there are no specific calling restrictions anymore. Previously members of bishoprics could not be temple workers. The First Presidency does still advise balancing.
ReplyDeleteSo this may not be a huge opening to temple workers, since many mothers may not be able to find the time. However there are certainly some who will. This change will make it much easier to open and staff temples in areas where church members tend to be relatively young. It will also allow avoiding temples being dependent on outside missionaries.
With not needing to call missionaries from elsewhere as temple workers, this will have two other pluses. Senior missionaries will be less needed for temple assignments and can be reassigned to grwo new areas. Also senior missionaries in temple assignements can now be used more strategically to facilitate local staffing growth as opposed to being a permanent rotating temple staff.
I have not managed to get to the temple since last year. I will go for sure next week either Thursday or Friday. I was going to go today, but I ended up watching my grandson instead.
I think much of the rhetoric about LGBT issues driving people from the Church is misplaced. The question has to be do we hold to the Lord's teachings on the matter or the world's.
ReplyDeleteI think the very firm standards of baptism and membership of people involved in same-sex marriages are a clear movement in the right direction. They might have been helped in inplemented in a Nelsonian way with announcement in general conference. President Nelson's connection of them with revelation in a Young Adult devotional has been at times mocked by the left, but that is to be expected.
Considering the membership trajectories of churches that have compromised with the sexual revolution does not suggest that that is the problem. Nor do I think that people who have a strong faith in the Church will fall away if they or a family member struggles with LGBT concerns.
Also the collapse of religious membership is often more connected to changes in instutitional connection than belief. There are more and more people in the US who have never been part of any church.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor those interested, below is a link to a document of all unit changes since my last posting on January 17th. Rather than clog the comments here with the 16 page list, I placed it on ge.tt, a free file hosting site.
ReplyDeletehttp://ge.tt/8OHcmIv2
@Gnesileah I went to the link and can see the file name but can’t access it or download it. I tried sharing it to my email but it keeps saying something went wrong when I send it.
ReplyDeleteJim Coles, I am not Gnesileah, but I wanted to let you know it worked fine for me. You may want to try checking whether your browser has pop-up blockers enabled, and if so, disable them. You could also try clearing your browser's cache and cookies. Whenever I have issues like the one you described, I find checking both things to be helpful, and it usually resolves the issue. Hope this information is helpful to you.
ReplyDeleteI was able to download it as well.
ReplyDeleteTell me I'm not the only one who saw this? The church of Jesus Christ temples website had a bit of a mystery going on yesterday. I saw on the main page was posted the news of the location of the Layton Utah temple. Apparently the church installed theres a picture (i downloaded too) a sign with the churches logo, temple rendering and also the site plan. The news insert has been completely removed from the website today.
ReplyDeleteOK I did some digging KSL Instagram confirms its fake
Deletehttps://www.instagram.com/p/Bvo8AlLgZtQ/?hl=en
Speaking of fakes we had a lesson today in 2nd hour on finances. We read the 1st presidency letter that denounced financial fraud. Our branch president twice mentioned such would exclude from the temple.
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note it seemed that there was nore mention of it being the Church of Jesus Christ outside of opening of testimonies than I heard in the past but maybe President Nelson has made me more observant of such things.
On another note we opened 2nd hour with a prayer and song. One brother seemed to think such was against policy.
Some have discussed singles in the Church. I was jyst thinking about this. At times I think it is problematic that our branch council lacks African-Americans when about half the branch is African-American and probably 75% of the residents of our branch and closer to 90% of investigators are. However the council also at present lacks single adults. There is only one married African-American brother in the branch and his health is poor, and only two married African-American sisters, the other one is my wife. On the other hand our first branch oresident who is currently 1st counselor in the EQP is single ansmd always has been. The 2nd counselor in the RS presidency is single. The same is true of the 2nd counselor in the young men presidency.
The young women's camp coordinator is a 20 or so year old single who is taking off a semester from Michigan State University.
We have a Lebanese brother who is single who just moved from another branch where he had been in the presidency. At least one of the members of our stake high council is single.
I think we need to not forget that singles have lots of talents and abilities and not overlook them for callings.
On a slightly related note a YSA unit was elimanated in Anaheim California. Having been in a YSA ward for many years I lived it. Still I miss the vitality a unit gets if YSA actively are involved in it.
Hello, Unknown. I have some thoughts on your comment above. When the change to the 2-hour block was announced last October, the material released by the Church noted that the second-hour class should not begin with a song or prayer. However, the material also noted that, on the fifth Sunday of the month, the details about what takes place are at the discretion of the bishopric. Since fifth Sundays are flexible based on what bishoprics are inspired to do, I believe that there would be similar discretionary allowances for the second-hour meeting on an important topic to begin with a hymn and a prayer, especially if that set the stage for whatever was being discussed.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I am basing that opinion solely on what I have read in terms of the material the Church provided about the 2-hour block, including 2 sets of FAQs. But I would certainly assume that the fifth Sunday is an exception to the general rule of the second hour not beginning with a hymn or a prayer.
On another note, I was reading something somewhere in the recent past about General Conference. The material in question suggested that, starting with this upcoming General Conference, the first session would begin and the last session would end with a prayer, but there might not be any prayers offered in between that time. I find it hard to believe that would be the case, since congregational or Church-wide conferences of any kind have usually involved prayers being offered at the beginning and end of each session. I would be very much surprised if that suggestion proved correct.
One other thing I heard about (which I may have mentioned in other threads here in the past) was published in an article not long after General Conference last April. The article noted the change made by the Church to not have the previous year's statistical report read over-the-pulpit, and suggested that the same might be true in subsequent April General Conferences about the Church Auditing Department Report. I am not sure what to believe in that respect. That particular report allows reassurance to be given to the Church membership as a whole that tithes and other offerings are being used in accordance with the guidelines established in Doctrine and Covenants 119 & 120.
But aside from those things, something big coming for the temple construction program of the Church, potential changes to the missionary program, or possible adjustments to the demographics of the area seventies quorums, it appears the rumor mill has been far more quiet this go-round. Perhaps that is because more Church members are recognizing we are in somewhat unprecedented territory in terms of what might be ahead.
Either way, these are just some additional thoughts from me, for what they may be worth to any of you here. I wanted to also note that I am continuing to accept comments about my list of locations most likely to have a temple announced during the upcoming General Conference, and that commenting period will remain in effect until midnight Utah time when Thursday April 4 becomes Friday April 5, which will insure I have sufficient time to make any changes, additions, or updates before General Conference on April 6.
I will also be carrying updated coverage this week leading into General Conference, throughout that weekend, and directly following the conference weekend. With my ongoing thanks to Matt for continuing to allow me to do so, I wanted to again share the address of my blog for any who would like to read and comment on the newest content.
http://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com
I'd like to thank you all again for continuing to add to my understanding of the topics discussed here. I appreciate being able to dialogue about such things.
The rumor mill, for temple construction anyways, might be quiet because Temple department employees have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements. That is what my institute teacher who has a friend in the temple department said.
ReplyDeleteI had stake conference today, and a new stake was organized:
ReplyDeleteOmaha Nebraska Millard Stake.
It is a division mainly of the Omaha Nebraska Papillion Stake with about one unit taken from the Omaha Nebraska Stake. The new stake is comprised of the following units:
Chalco Hills Ward
Elmwood Ward
Field Club Branch
Gretna Ward
Harrison Hills Ward
Lakeview Ward
Millard Ward
Rockbrook
In conjunction with that, my former ward, the Cold Springs YSA Ward of the Omaha Nebraska Papillion Stake was dissolved and merged into the Winter Quarters YSA Ward of the Omaha Nebraska Stake. Winter Quarters YSA now covers the boundaries of former Cold Springs YSA Ward, as well.
I should say that Winter Quarters YSA now covers the boundaries of both YSA wards, including the new stake formed today.
ReplyDeleteHey, Alexander! My reference to the "rumor mill" related to other aspects of General Conference theories. Temple Department employees could have been asked to sign an NDA, but with what has been said by apostles, according to either those they have talked to, or those who have talked to those who have talked to them, there is a more-than-likely prospect that at least a dozen new temples may be announced, and I heard personally from one or two of my sources that it could be 2-3 times that number that will actually be announced. Either way, I don't see a hiatus on temple announcements anytime soon. If anything, there will be an acceleration of the process whereby temples can get from announcement to groundbreaking, and I would not be shocked to see several smaller temples constructed over a period of 2-3 years or so.
ReplyDeleteMy institute teacher's friend was asking him if he knew any architects. Because apparently they are looking to hire more people.
ReplyDeleteI don't doubt there are signs of the number of temples are increasing.
ReplyDeleteTwo articles were recently published on the Church News site:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2019-03-31/new-temples-havent-always-been-during-general-conference-heres-a-breakdown-of-how-thats-changed-49372
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2019-03-31/a-sacred-spirit-remembering-what-temple-announcements-are-really-about-49359
The latter article has a oddly worded conclusion that ma possibly detail what is to happen in conference:
"Perhaps announcements of new temple locations in the future might move to another time, another setting or another medium. And that may be the case if the responses to such announcements in general conference start to become more like high school commencement exercises, where the acknowledgment of an admirable accomplishment has, for some, evolved into an effort to out-cheer others.
Or perhaps conference attendees will be reminded to receive temple announcements in the same sacred spirit they are presented by a prophet of God.
Consider what happened after the October 2009 announcement of a temple in Concepcion, Chile. After viewing the conference session in a Talcahuano, Chile, stake center, members there stayed to kneel in a prayer of gratitude."
I guess this could be solely the opinion of the writer. But maybe the church leadership instructed him to write this in order scale our expectations. If the number of temple announcements continues to grow, it would make sense to announce them as they come through church press releases, similar to how president Hinkley did it. That way, once the church is ready, they can start seeking construction approvals without the worry that a location will be leaked prematurely. This would cut the time period of announcement to groundbreaking by simply delaying the announcement rather than making an announcement at conference.
I need the file sent to courtchatelain@gmail.com
ReplyDeletePop ups are enabled and started an account with the file sharer service
Hey, Cory, I read both of those articles within the last 36 hours. We have seen a few temples announced outside of General Conference, the most recent example being the July 2011 acknowledgement that the Church was looking at building a temple in Paris France. Of course, most sources now list the official announcement time as October 2011, when President Monson reiterated that announcement over the pulpit.
ReplyDeleteI have long held the belief that we may be entering a time when temples are announced during each General Conference, with a few in between as needed. But I don't think the articles were so much about the timing of future announcements. Instead, the focus should be on reverence during General Conference sessions. I understand (and very much appreciate) why there would be gasps, ripples, or even celebratory whooping when certatin locations are named, especially for those who will be blessed by the temples in such locations. And I for one loved how President Nelson stopped between each location last time to allow people to react, and responded with a smile, a chuckle, and a twinkle in his eye.
The problem, however, arises when the celebrations or excitement about temple locations takes away from the acknowledgement that each new temple is a blessing from the Lord, and will ultimately serve to cut the power of the adversary in the lives of those each temple will be built to serve. And since President Nelson has rightly focused on what is needful, I can see him requesting the essence of a particular idea in an article, even if he ultimately left the specifics of how that was conveyed to the author.
I believe that bearing in mind the purpose of temples and reverential protocol will help to make whatever is announced a more sacred experience for all of us, and it is a timely reminder. I also believe that the reaction of the Chilean Saints was what should be happening on a global scale for each of us individually, in response to the announcement of any temple location whatsoever.
@ The Chatelain's: I sent you an email with the attachment.
ReplyDelete@ Jim Coles, feel free to email me at gnesileah@gmail.com for a copy of the file. Anyone else who wants a copy emailed can shoot me a message too.
It appears the file at ge.tt was downloaded 29 times so far, but if you are having problems, you can also try downloading at https://uploadfiles.io/q2toa
Thanks.
The other thing with the possible announcements is if there are a larger number like more than what was announced in October, they may refer us to a website (typically Newsroom but it could be elsewhere) to see a list.
ReplyDeletePresident Hinckley didn't give a list when he announced 32 in 1998, they all were announced later.
I thought it was interesting that every prophet except President Nelson had announced some temples outside of General Conference. It seemed to me like that article was saying that President Nelson's non-general conference announced ones were coming...
ReplyDeleteJames Anderson, since President Nelson has not been shy or reticent about giving the Lord credit for so much of what he has done since January 14, 2018, I don't foresee him having a list of new temple locations posted without having first mentioned them personally in General Conference. And President Hinckley didn't give a list when he announced 32 in 1998, but President Nelson is not President Hinckley. Given the precedent we saw last year where 17 of the 19 new temples announced had a specific city identified, at least for the immediate future, any new temples announced during General Conference weekend will more likely be by word-of-mouth over-the-pulpit.
ReplyDeleteUnknown, the time between President Monson's ordination and the first temples he announced (near the end of April 2008) is only around a week longer than the period of time elapsing between President Nelson's ordination and when he announced his first temples. And given President Nelson's vigor and enthusiasm, I can see a scenario where most temples will continue to be announced every six months during General Conference, while a few are likely to be announced here and there in between each April, October, and subsequent April. Just a few more thoughts from me, for what they may be worth to anyone who reads them.
Having read Scott Taylor's article on temple announcements I have a few take aways. I am suspecting that President Kimball announced the Mexico City Temple in unrecorded conducting remarks, as President Hinckley did with an early comment about the need for a bigger building for general conference.
ReplyDeleteI also seem to recall President Hinckley annoucing both the Lubbock Texas and Lagos Nigeria Temples in conference.
I really expect that President Nelson will stay with the announcement at conference plan. Paris was meant to be announced at conference, but leaked to the media. So every temple since Trujillo was announced at conference.
Also in reading over the 32 announced temples from 1998, I realized President Hinckley explicitly stated Fiji in where temples would be built. That is the only location where there is a one to one corespondence.
Exciting times ahead "... in Zion, and in her stakes, and in Jerusalem"
ReplyDeleteFor it is ordained that in Zion, and in her stakes, and in Jerusalem, those places which I have appointed for refuge, shall be the places for your baptisms for your dead.
D&C 124:36
"To accomplish this work there will have to be not only one temple but thousands of them, and thousands and tens of thousands of men and women will go into those temples and officiate for people who have lived as far back as the Lord shall reveal."
Brigham Young
Discourses of Brigham Young, page 394
"The time will come when there will be temples established over every portion of the land, and we will go into these temples and work for our kindred dead night and day..."
Lorenzo Snow, 17 August 1899
If we think big... there is a situation in which it wouldn't be feasible to announce all og the locations at general conference.
ReplyDeleteSay there are 50 or even 100 announced. It could be that he explains the changes and whats coming and says all of the locations will be released in a press release at the conclusion of conference.
Just pointing out possibilities.