Sunday, April 14, 2019

UPDATED: List of the Countries with the Most Members without a Stake - 2019 Edition

Below is an updated list of the countries with the most Latter-day Saints without a stake. Membership totals are as of 2018 and congregational and district totals are current. Estimated membership for mainland China and Pakistan is provided as official statistics are unavailable. The number of branches and districts in mainland China is not provided due to the sensitive nature of the Church in that country. Previous lists of the countries with the most members without a stake can be found here.
  1. China - 12,000 members?
  2. Malaysia - 10,504 members - 33 branches - 6 districts
  3. Guyana - 6,001 members - 11 branches - 2 districts
  4. Belize - 5,429 members - 12 branches - 2 districts
  5. Pakistan - 4,600 members? - 14 branches - 3 districts
  6. Armenia - 3,560 members - 11 branches - 2 districts
  7. Romania - 3,077 members - 15 branches - 2 districts
  8. Malawi - 2,941 members - 8 branches - 2 districts
  9. Bulgaria - 2,444 members - 7 branches - 0 districts
  10. Cameroon - 2,125 members - 13 branches - 2 districts
  11. Eswatini (Swaziland) - 2,057 members - 6 branches - 1 district
  12. Poland - 2,033 members - 12 branches - 2 districts
  13. Ethiopia - 1,933 members - 4 branches - 1 district
  14. Cook Islands - 1,854 members - 5 branches - 1 district
  15. Tanzania - 1,726 members - 8 branches - 1 district
  16. Suriname - 1,630 members - 5 branches - 1 district
  17. Sri Lanka - 1,597 members - 4 branches - 1 district
  18. Macau - 1,455 members - 3 branches - 1 district
As noted in the list from 2018, prospects appear most favorable for the formation of stakes within the next few years in mainland China, Malaysia, Guyana, Belize, Pakistan, Swaziland, and Cameroon as all of these countries have at least one district that is close to reaching the minimum qualifications for a stake to operate.  Low member activity rates, an insufficient number of branches in individual member districts, slow or stagnant growth, and few full-tithe paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders will likely continue to delay the organization of stakes in other countries for several more years to come.
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9 comments:

  1. Chris D.April 14, 2019 at 9:50 AM

    Matt, a small correction. Armenia has 2 districts (Yerevan and Vanadzor), Romania has 3 districts (Bucharest, Iasi, and Cluj-Napoca), and if memory serves, Poland only has 2 districts now. Thank you for all your useful data and updates.

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  2. Chris D.April 14, 2019 at 10:00 AM

    To clarify, my statement above. The Bydgoszcs Poland District was discontinued in 2017. Pardon my mispelling.

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  3. James AndersonApril 14, 2019 at 10:39 AM

    That's OK, try to type anything like that fast and you are more likely to screw one up more often. I have had to deal eith it typing in headstone transcriptions from Poland.

    But that has helped turn up quite literally an important find or two. One woman was looking for a deceased American airman from WWII who was shot down over Poland. Over 70 years later a person taking pictures of headstones with the Billiongraves.com app shot that along with almost everything else in the same cemetery.

    The woman searching for the lost airman was just about to give up when she looked one last time on the sites she was checking and that included Billiongraves, and this time it turned up the airman's grave, very recently photographed and transcribed.

    The remains of the airman were eventually exhumed and flown home for re-burial in Florida.

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  4. AlexApril 14, 2019 at 8:51 PM

    Ten years ago, when I was a missionary in Malaysia, there was serious talk of the first 1-2 stakes being created within just a couple years (KL and Kuching). During my 2 years there, I want to say we had at least 6 branches created (maybe more), which accounts for about 20% of total congregations. Prospects were looking great on that 2-3 year time window for a stake creation. But since that growth spurt, it looks as if only 2 or 3 branches have been created. Definitely sad to me that Malaysia has slowed down so much in growth and still does not have a stake. It looks like it has completely stagnated.

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  5. AlexApril 14, 2019 at 9:07 PM

    After doing a little bit of digging into Matt's older posts, it looks like there were actually at least 9 branches created in my time in Malaysia (my initial thought was 8+, but I just couldn't confirm that many). And there have been 5 created in the last 8 years (with 3200 growth in membership). I mean this is quite a remarkable slow down from being one of the fastest congregational growers to very little net congregational growth.

    I know my mission president was very focused on congregational growth (those 9 branches came with only a membership increase of ~2000), and he was not afraid to establish a church presence in areas previously not reached with a formal church presence. Not sure what's caused the changed.

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  6. UnknownApril 15, 2019 at 1:48 AM

    One factor is desire to grow centers of strength. Unless you have Sierra Leone or Ivory Coast level growth you either focus on building to stake level or constantly reach out to new areas with new congregations. Doing both at once is difficult. Add to this a desire to build the Church with lical leaders and slower growth is understandable.

    Another factor that may play in is member emigration.

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  7. TomApril 15, 2019 at 2:06 PM

    I served in Malaysia 10 years ago as well. I went back 3 years ago and a lot has changed. I remember asking an Elder what neighborhoods he has been finding and he said 'We are really working with the members, because its through them we will get the kind of baptisms that stick' No surprise he had zero investigators at church in an area that used to average 8+. On the other hand I had a recent convert start his mission two months ago and he left the Phillipines MTC with 3 other members from Malaysia. I think the number of Returned Missionaries from East Malaysia has easily doubled or more in the last 10 years. Given the right mix of vision there is no reason the church cant grow leaps and bounds. There is hardly a presence in many large cities.

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  8. John Pack LambertApril 15, 2019 at 8:23 PM

    The attitude that only investigators found though members stick needs to be given up. I have known way too many people who were found from media referrals and tracting to believe that. Harriet Uchtdorf was the last door on some floor of a multi-story apartment building. People who say that lack the vision.

    I can also think of lots of people I have known who had lots of member friends before baptism who went totally inactive not long after baptism.

    So we need to root this narrow view out of missionary work. On my mission I baptized 9 and 12 year old recently adopted children of a member mother who thanked us for baptizing her children. The catch is my companion who had been teaching them for about a month when I got there didnt realize the mother was a member until I actually bothered to look at the ward list. She never came out to Church, and they found the children by speaking to everyone as they went by on bikes.

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  9. EduardoApril 21, 2019 at 5:00 AM

    My parents were tracted by elders knocking (maybe in 1967) and baptized in 1968. Both have been life long members, my mom serving two full time missions with my step father. (He came into the Church because of attending with an ex-wife.)
    Guyana has had some serious political problems with missionaries in country.
    Poland needs to generate stakes, it is a major European country.
    Cameroon has had some bad goings on in the English area, which I think abuts Nigeria. But maybe the Church growth is stronger in the majority French part?
    Missionaries always will find the elect by open proselityzing. But, finding through previous relationships is great. That said, it is hard to predict who will stick in the faith.

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