Sunday, June 9, 2019

New Stakes Created in the Philippines (2), Utah (2), Argentina, and Mexico; Stakes Discontinued in Chile (3) and Taiwan

Philippines
The Church has organized two new stakes in the Philippines.

The Baliwag Philippines Stake was organized from the Baliwag Philippines District. Organized in 2004, the former district had five branches at the time it became a stake on May 26th. All five branches appear to have become wards in the new stake.

Today (June 9th), the Church organized a new stake from a division of the Lipa Philippines Stake (organized in 2001). The Batangas Philippines Stake includes the following five wards and one branch: the Batangas 1st, Batangas 2nd, Bauan, Rosario, and San Jose Batangas Wards, and the Ibaan Branch.

Additionally, the Church is scheduled to organize at least three more new stakes in the Philippines before the end of the month. Two of these stakes will be located in Iriga and Orion. I have not yet been able to confirm the location of the other new stake to be organized.

Currently, there are 111 stakes and 66 districts in the Philippines.

Utah
The Church organized its fifth Tongan-speaking stake in Utah on May 19th. The Orem Utah 2nd (Tongan) Stake was organized from a division of the Provo Utah Wasatch (Tongan) Stake (renamed Provo Utah 1st (Tongan) Stake. The new stake includes the following eight wards and one branch: the American Fork 2nd Ward (Tongan), Eagle Mountain 13th Ward (Tongan), Eagle Mountain 14th Ward (Samoan), Lehi 41st Ward (Tongan), Lehi 42nd Wad (Samoan), Orem 8th Ward (Tongan), Orem 13th Ward (Samoan), and Pleasant Grove 10th Ward (Samoan), and the Saratoga Springs 12th Branch (Tongan). It is unclear why the Church did not organize a Samoan-speaking stake instead of a second Tongan-speaking stake, albeit Tongan and Samoan-speaking units are often included in the same stakes in the United States.

The Nibley Utah West Stake was organized from a division of the Nibley Utah Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards: the Nibley 6th, Nibley 7th, Nibley 8th, Nibley 9th, Nibley 10th, and Nibley 12th Wards.

There are now 602 stakes and one district in Utah.

Argentina
The Church organized a new stake in southern Argentina on June 2nd. The Tierra del Fuego Argentina Stake was organized from the Tierra del Fuego Argentina District. The new stake includes the following five wards and two branches: the Andino, Austral, Chacra, Monte Olivia, and Ushuaia Wards, and the Puerto Williams and Rio Grande Branches. Church leaders have prepared the district for many years to become a stake. For example, in 2014 the Church discontinued the Ushuaia Argentina District and combined it with the Rio Grande Argentina District to prepare the southernmost region of Argentina for a stake. With two stakes in the Tierra del Fuego region of South America (the other located in Punta Arenas, Chile), prospects appear favorable for a small temple in this isolated region of the world.

There are now 78 stakes and 28 districts in Argentina.

Mexico
The Church organized a new stake in Puebla, Mexico on June 2nd. The Puebla México Ometoxtla Stake was organized from a division of the Puebla Mexico Cholula Stake and Tlaxcala Mexico Stake. The new stake includes the following five wards: the Almecatla 1st, Almecatla 2nd, Coronango, La Joya, and Ometoxtla Wards, and the Xoxtla Branch. The new stake is the Church's third new stake organized in the greater Puebla city area during the past decade. Unlike other major cities in Mexico, the Church in Puebla has reported steady congregational growth and no discontinued stakes. The Church announced a temple for Puebla in 2018.

There are now 221 stakes and 47 districts in Mexico.

Chile
Local members in Santiago report that three stakes were discontinued on June 2nd. These stakes include the Santiago Chile Gran Avenida Stake (organized in 1993), Santiago Chile Las Araucarias Stake (organized in 1995), and Santiago Chile O'Higgins Stake (organized in 1992). Unlike other areas of Santiago, the Church in southern Santiago has struggled with very low member activity rates for many years without noticeable success with improving church attendance. It is unclear how many wards were discontinued as part of the changes, but perhaps as many as 10-20 wards were closed in the process of the stake consolidations. Other areas of Santiago reported average-sized church attendance for South America (generally 75-150 active members) with some improvements in increasing church attendance in recent years. The decision to close these three stakes in southern Santiago does not appear related to any recent church growth developments, but rather a long overdue administration change in an area where mission and stake efforts to revitalize missionary work have been unproductive. Additionally, local members noted concerns with socialization problems at church in some units affected by the changes due to few active members. Several church meetinghouses will be sold due to these changes. This marks the first time since 2005 that a stake has been discontinued in Chile.

There are now 74 stakes and 16 districts in Chile.

Taiwan
For the first time in Church history, the Church has discontinued a stake in Taiwan. The Pingtung Taiwan Stake, organized in 2010, was discontinued and retained units were combined with the two Kaohsiung stakes. Southernmost Taiwan has struggled for many years with lower activity rates and a greater lack of church growth compared to other cities in Taiwan. These changes appeared associated with a lack of growth since the Kaohsiung Taiwan North Stake was organized in 2015, and problems associated with stakes and wards running with fewer than the minimum number of active members needed to properly operate. The Asia Area appeared to make an emphasis about five years ago to organize wards with fewer active members, likely in an effort to reduce travel times and assist in reactivation efforts (such as in Hong Kong). Additional ward and stake consolidations may occur in other areas of Taiwan, albeit reports from return missionaries indicate wards with more active members and with better growth trends in other major cities such as Taichung and Taipei compared to Kaohsiung. Thus, it appears more likely that some additional ward consolidations may occur if the Asia Area is placing an emphasis on the establishment of wards with larger numbers of active members. However, the greatest impact on recent church growth trends in Taiwan is a significant reduction in membership growth rates during the past five years to only 1-2% a year versus 3-10% a year in the 2000s. The Church in Taiwan has also historically struggled with very low member activity rates, which delayed the establishment of stakes in several areas of the country.

There are now 16 stakes in Taiwan.

27 comments:

  1. Wasn't Cauayan trying to become a stake a few years ago? I think I remember reading something about that on this blog.

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  2. It is a shame to see that there are stakes that do not follow in Chile that is my country, a pity that it is not possible to improve, I met the Church in 1990 and from there to date there is no real improvement in activity to the chapels, on the contrary , the Church is not strengthened.

    many chapels have been sold and there are others empty, neighborhoods that vanished and stakes that disappeared, inactivity is very high

    Omar Valenzuela E
    Santiago de Chile

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  5. Ribeirao Preto South Brazil stake created

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  6. The 2nd Farsi Language Unit (1st Ward) of the Church was created yesterday (6/09). The University Park Ward / Newport Beach California Stake held it's first official meeting in the chapel adjacent to the Newport Beach Temple. This unit will serve native Persians across all of Orange County.

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  7. Maintour, do you know the name of the new Farsi Branch in Newport Beach? University Park Ward is an existing ward. Perhaps this is a new Farsi group within the University Park Ward.

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  8. Bonita Canyon Branch (Persian) (2139928)


    Branch President
    9 Jun 2019
    Dodaran A. Ahadpour

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  9. 11 June 2019 - Kuwait City News Release Apostle Thanks State of Kuwait for Formally Recognizing the Church

    Elder Cook and his wife, Mary, greet Mr. Fareed Emadi in Kuwait City

    https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/apostle-thanks-kuwait-church-recognition

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  10. Today's Church Directory of Organizations shows 14 new wards and branches (10 wards and 4 branches), the most I can recall in ten years of tracking daily reporting of new units. This includes 11 for the US (8 new wards and 3 new branches in 9 states), 2 new units in Africa, and 1 in South America. Growth appears to be accelerating.

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  11. Bonita Canyon Branch (Persian) (2139928) Active California, United States Branch
    Dolisie Branch (2141442) Active Brazzaville, Republic of Congo Branch
    Dos Rios Branch (Spanish) (2142368) Active Colorado, United States Branch
    Emerson 3rd Branch (Spanish) (2142554) Active Idaho, United States Branch
    Hailey 3rd Branch (Spanish) (2142430) Active Idaho, United States Branch
    James River YSA Branch (2137623) Active Virginia, United States Branch
    Kigali 4th Branch (2144751) Active Uganda, Uganda Branch
    Kwale 2nd Branch (2144581) Active Edo, Nigeria Branch
    Lago Lindo Branch (Spanish) (2143763) Active Alberta, Canada Branch
    Pioneer Trail Branch (Spanish) (2144158) Active Kansas, United States Branch
    Salmon River Branch (Spanish) (2142856) Active Idaho, United States Branch
    Sky Vista Branch (Spanish) (2143755) Active Nevada, United States Branch
    Sonho Verde Branch (2144808)
    Ramo Sonho Verde
    Active Alagoas, Brazil Branch
    South Platte Branch (Spanish) (2142406) Active Colorado, United States Branch
    Talofofo Branch (2143380) Active Guam, Guam Branch

    look at that 8 spanish branches - i love it

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  12. Bonikro Ward (2143925) Active Cote d'Ivoire, Cote d'Ivoire Ward
    Caldwell 17th Ward (2141418) Active Idaho, United States Ward
    Caldwell 18th Ward (2141396) Active Idaho, United States Ward
    Caldwell 19th Ward (2141426) Active Idaho, United States Ward
    Crossroads YSA Ward (2144050) Active Utah, United States Ward
    Hillsborough Ward (2142155) Active North Carolina, United States Ward
    Ikot Ebekpo Ward (2143933) Active Nigeria, Nigeria Ward
    Newton 3rd Ward (2143798) Active Utah, United States Ward
    Nibley 15th Ward (2142279) Active Utah, United States Ward
    Oakridge Ward (2143240) Active Utah, United States Ward
    Paraíso Ward (2144034)
    Ala Paraíso
    Active Parana, Brazil Ward
    Provo YSA 265th Ward (2142333) Active Utah, United States Ward
    Provo YSA 266th Ward (2142341) Active Utah, United States Ward
    Provo YSA 75th Ward (Spanish) (2138360) Active Utah, United States Ward
    Scenic Oaks Ward (2144719) Active Texas, United States Ward
    Villa del Lago Ward (2140160) Active Puno, Peru Ward
    Willow Creek Ward (2142252) Active Georgia, United States Ward

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  13. Nice to see so many foreign language branches created in the US and Canada. If Spanish is still considered a "foreign" language in North America, that is.

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  14. Just a little correction, the new Kigali 4th Branch is in Rwanda.

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  15. This was from a comment on a previous post, but I was wondering if anyone had any more information on the Hispanic Outreach Initiative?

    Video originally posted by @Bryce: https://youtu.be/7b4LDgrQoM0

    One of the main emphases of the program is creating Spanish-speaking member groups (where needed) that will hopefully grow into branches and wards later. Practice in the past has been to wait for enough members in the area to create branches first.

    Specifically, since this is a program now directed towards parts of North America, I was wondering if it had been implemented in other parts of the US before (such as the Southwest or maybe Florida or California)? I was wondering also if this was perhaps inspired by all the success with member groups in certain parts of Africa?

    I'm excited about the implications of this program because it addresses an issue I saw on my mission in Kentucky/Indiana (and tried to help resolve) - that of transportation to church meetings. In Louisville, a large percentage of the Hispanics I taught lived on the far side of town from where the Spanish Branch met (and didn't own cars, or have easy access to buses that went to the church house). Having served in the city a few times over my first year in the mission, I petitioned the Branch President and Stake President to see if we could split the branch to meet the needs of the Hispanics who lived farther away. That idea was shot down, but luckily the Branch President got the branch moved to a closer, more centralized location next to the mission office.

    In a couple of other cities I served in (Charlestown and Evansville Indiana), the Mission President put me and other missionaries in to try and build up a Spanish-speaking program. The problem however, was that some of the pre-existing members (including ward missionaries/leaders, bishops, and former stake presidents) were antagonistic or antisocial to some degree to the work we were doing (didn't want to help with missionary work, had a grudge against missionaries in general, or didn't want to fellowship/home teach newly baptized Hispanic members). The other issue was that newly baptized Hispanic members and investigators felt totally alone at church, and so they didn't come back/went inactive. It was a pretty hard deal asking both groups to immediately integrate with each other.

    I hope this new program makes the transition a little smoother - making it so the smaller Spanish-speaking groups can be slightly more autonomous and close knit. Hopefully new members and investigators can focus on learning the gospel first, then later integrate more into the culture (if they so desire), once they become a larger part of the stake.

    Sorry to spend a lot of space ranting about this, but I'm excited about the prospects.

    Anyone else have similar experiences on their mission/in their current wards/branches?

    (@John Pack Lambert: I know you've said many times that integration issues are a big deal in your Detroit area.)


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  17. The Torrance California Stake was discontinued last Sunday, along with several wards from that stake as well as the Palos Verdes California Stake...

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  18. The problem we face in Detroit is since the divide is cultural and racial not linguistic directly addressing it is harder. I know at times in metro Detroit there have been various Spanish-language groups. The Detroit River Branch is bilingual but I am not sure if it has ever been officially made a Spanish language unit.

    In the north suburbs we always seemed to have enough vibrant Spanish speaking members, many native Spanish speakers, to create a fellowshiping atmosphere. I did have a girl in my primary class some years ago whose family was marginally active but I don't think language had much to do with it. More like having joined the Church without having truly prioritized it like much of my wife's family.

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  19. In which stakes were the wards in Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina created?

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  20. @The Chatelain´s :

    Hillsborough Ward (2142155) - Durham North Carolina Stake
    Scenic Oaks Ward (2144719) - San Antonio Texas La Cantera Stake
    Willow Creek Ward (2142252) - Marietta Georgia East Stake

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  21. Has anyone else received an invitation from the church (or heard of others who have) asking them to participate in a survey? [through Qualtrics of course] The survey questions asked things like what is your calling, how often do you attend church, how often does your family pray together, how often does your family read scriptures together, etc.

    I've never heard of surveys like that being done, so I was curious if anyone had any intel about what that was being used for :)

    Very curious...

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  23. I got a survey a couple years ago about my testimony and church participation. I was invited to review and offer feedback on a sample chapter of the then-upcoming "Saints" book.

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  24. 1) Santiago Chile El Bosque Stake renamed "Santiago Chile Los Aviadores"

    https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=-33.576794,-70.66321&z=14&m=google.road&layers=stakecenter&find=stake:513601

    with Wards / Branches :

    1 Claudio Arrau Ward - 103179
    2 Domingo Gómez Ward - 139548
    3 José Miguel Carrera Ward - 355798
    4 Nocedal Ward (Barrio de Nocedal) - 197211
    5 Vicuña Mackenna Ward - 125598

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  25. Did not get the one on church attendance or the Saints Volume 2 (of four planned), but did get one recently on music in the church, how it has changed or not changed since the first of the year.

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  26. 2) Santiago Chile La Bandera Stake renamed "Santiago Chile Los Alerces"

    https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=-33.553083,-70.634349&z=13&m=google.road&layers=stakecenter&find=stake:523771

    with Wards / Branches :

    1 Joaquín Edward Ward - 254789
    2 Lo Martinez Ward - 236454
    3 Manuel Tovarías Ward - 283088
    4 San Francisco Ward - 239860
    5 Santa Rosa Ward - 238694
    6 Venancia Leiva Ward - 283096

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