See below for a list of updated country statistical profiles on www.cumorah.com. All countries and territories with data reported on the Church Newsroom site have now been updated with 2019 figures. I will next update state and province profiles for the United States and Canada.
105 comments:
Seventh Day Adventists, and in other or even the same places the Jehovah's Witnesses are doing better than many Church of Jesus Christ congregations and overall memberships.
Hopefully the righteousness caused and influenced by these non-mainstream faiths is helping the overall Millenial movement of the fulfillment of times. Any faith in Christ or Jehovah is better than none.
Speaking of "none", the nones are probably the fastest belief system growing in countries like the U.S. and Canada, Europe and elsewhere.
Youth falling away is sad and real, and plenty of adults have been doing the same.
Like California or Chile, numbers of members active and congregations contracting has been discouraging, but temples are still going forward.
And now a virus changes the way we think, live, and perhaps deeply believe, or not.
Jesus Chist is Jehovah.
Jesus Chist is Jehovah.
Jesus Chist is Jehovah.
Jesus Chist is Jehovah.
Yes, agreed, Jesus of Nazareth is Jehovah. But JWs believe He is God the Father. My point is about comparitive growth and influence for good, not doctrine or theology.
Jehovah refers to the pre-mortal spirit who was subsequently born on earth to Mary and named Jesus.
Well, I would go a bit farther than that, just to clear out some potential misunderstandings.
Jehovah was the primary creator of the Earth. Literally the God of the Old Testament. The burning bush and every other divine manifestation recorded in scripture between the fall and the baptism of Jesus (when the voice of Elohim is heard). Just limiting Jehovah to be a premortal spirit, even that of Jesus, is perhaps selling the role He had throughout the eternities a bit short.
So...how did we come up with this again?
Matt,
You show the United States as #4 in population, who is number 3? Who comes after China and India?
@Michael Mills, to answer your question :
#1 WORLD
#2 China
#3 India
#4 United States
Although I'm not sure why the entire world population is considered 1 country in this sense.
If you look at the PRC and India stats, you will see #2 and #3 respectively.
https://cumorah.com/index.php?target=countries&cnt_res=2&wid=318&cmdfind=Search
Also the total population given for world and countries, next to ranking is outdated. Matt has not updated that to 2019 numbers on the Statistics page of each country.
The 2019 total population figures are represented in the Membership charts below on each page.
Pascal: I made the original comment about comparitive growth to SDAs and JWs, somewhat positing that their growth offers some positives, too.
Colin responded with the theological difference, which I think is rather immaterial to our discussion, but yes, doctrinal differences can affect growth in individuals and groups, cultures and communities.
Note about US Virgin Islands: If we had as many members in those three islands as the SDAs (9k or so), I think it would merit a temple, probably on St. Thomas.
I have been to St. Thomas and St. John, the former being more populated. The other island is used to be more touristy and pristine. I have never visited St. Croix but I have worked with a few; I would love to see it.
Again, for me based on population, Martinique and Guadeloupe are very disappointing in growth, but other islands need better converts too. Cuba is the elephant in the room of el caribe. We need to boost things there.
https://cu.usembassy.gov/2018-report-on-international-religious-freedom-cuba/
This article from the US Embassy in Cuba gives interesting insights into the religious situation there- for now it does not look too promising, however things could change.
It's too bad that Saint Maarten does not have more than one unit, because then the people could attend in all French or all Dutch. As it is, maybe they have a smaller group in one language within the branch there. I hope that most Martians (huh?) can understand both languages. Or, maybe they use English as a neutral language.
I have heard that Belgium does that in the military. Flemish versus French gets too political, whereas English is the neutral lingua franca.
Yes. For example, the branch in Mons (which is in Walloon) is English-speaking as well. A couple families from the German-speaking part of Belgium attend the branch in Aachen, although I don't believe this is actually reflected in the boundaries.
Neutrality is an interesting concept, for sure, but I don't know if any other have applied something similar. Switzerland would be a candidate, but their congregation (and Mission) boundaries split very cleanly along the three largest official languages in the country.
This was once a major point of dispute with my brother-in-law who was raised as a Jehovah's Witness.
I think comparing current growth misses the effects of cumulative growth and the importance of locally spurred growth. Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists moved into mainly places before The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did. I had a friend whose parents had weekly Church meetings in Jamaica in 1977 without the sacrament because of the effects of the pre-1978 priesthood restriction. They named him Spencer after Spencer W. Kimball.
To get a full picture we need to also look at how many members of Caribbean origin live in New York City, London and elsewhere.
The Church in Miami has many Cuban members. Although Denise Passe-Blanco Lindbergh who as a former member of the Young Women General Board may be the highest ranking Cuban member joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York City as a result of exposure through the Church's pavilion at the New York World's Fair.
@Pascal Friedmann
The Language borders in Switzerland are more fluent than the mission borders on lds maps.
I know that the Basel Ward has sacrament meetings translated to Englisch and French. The ward has some member that live in France (technically outside of the ward boundaries), that attend there because it is a lot closer to them than the French Ward in Mulhouse.
Thr Fribourg Ward (French speaking) had a german speaking majority about 15 years ago, when it was sitll a branch. Before Biel (Bienne) had a seperate congrgation for each language they met together for many years.
In the French region of Alsace there might be a number of german speking members attending in the wards and branches there, Mulhouse, Colmar & Strassbourg.
The Brussels Grimbergen ward is English speaking, all the flemish speaking members in Brussels and surounding areas attend that ward.
When i was in YSA and we had activities together with french speaking YSA we mostly spoke English with each other, even tough most uf us could speak the others language to some extend.
Miro and Pascal: Thanks for the insight. I wonder what percentage of French speaking members in Europe are originally from sub-Saharan Africa. Also, as far as African origins, I wonder in Germany and elsewhere in Europe how many converts and members hail from North Africa, the predominant Muslim nations. Or, how many members now in Western Europe are originated from Eastern Europe or Turkey.
@John Pack Lambert
I'm glad you brought up the Cuban diaspora.
We taught many Cubans on my mission to Louisville, Kentucky and baptized some. The first baptisms of my mission, in fact, were a Cuban mother and her son. Another Cuban family (who I got to help teach) was baptized later on in my mission by my district leader. One of the counselors in the local Spanish Branch's Presidency was Cuban, and his family was one of the active steady ones in the branch at the time. A young man of Cuban decent went on his mission from Louisville (and was writing his grandmother back in Cuba about the Church).
Many Cuban immigrants (and refugees/immigrants from other countries: Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Bosnia, Croatia, Vietnam, Iraq (including Kurds), Haiti, Dominican Republic, India) were sent to Louisville after receiving their immigrant status and put in subsidized housing in large apartment complexes from the government. I had the privilege of serving in those areas during my time in Louisville. We'd often meet Cuban refugees who had just been in Cuba a week before, had a brief stayover in Miami, then arrived in Louisville just a day or two before. (Personal note: meeting such a diverse group of people was a bit of a culture shock at first for a country boy like me from a small mostly-Caucasian Montana town, but I grew to love the diversity and look back in fondness at my experiences).
Though the Church in Cuba may be growing at what seems like a snail's pace to those of us on the outside, many of us as missionaries on my mission 16 years ago (and our local Cuban members and investigators) were praying for the day when Cuba would open to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Seeing two branches in a district is a big step (though it may seem small right now) in the right direction, especially considering how closed off that country was for so many decades.
@JPL
"To get a full picture we need to also look at how many members of Caribbean origin live in New York City, London and elsewhere."
It's been noted here before, but many members convert to the gospel here in the US and in other more open countries with religious freedoms, only to then share the message back to the more closed-off home countries they left or fled as refugees. Cuba is no exception.
@John Pack Lambert
Sorry, I don't mean to sound like I'm preaching to the choir, here. I was trying to add a second witness of the point you were making.
BYU-Hawaii is getting an ethnically Hawaiian president. His 4th great grandfather was taught the gospel by George W. Cannon. John Keawe who is a professor of genetics and dean of the grad school at BYU.
Keawe is only 40. He was a missionary 1999-2001 in Fukuoka Japan. His wife's maiden name is Mortensen. He graduated high school in Hawai'I but may have been born on the mainland. He probably also has some non-Hawaiian ancestry.
Currently 17 temples are in operation. Next week the number will rise to 34.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is following a very restrained return plan though.
Temples currently are limited to live sealings. This means both husband and wife need to already be endowed. The lower mission age for sisters means that more couples can proceed to sealings than would have been the case under 2005 policies.
The May 2019 decision to allow couples to get sealed in the temple with no built in delays since a civil marriage is a blessing in this time.
Still I have seen some griping that none of Australias temples are among the 17 opening this week or 17 opening next week.
I am hoping to see some plan to resume sacrament meetings at least soon.
Looking briefly at a few of the various Australian state sites, it seems like both NSW and Queensland will allow groups of 10 on May 15, another on May 8, another on May 12, etc..
While I am sure I am among the many who are anxious to get to the temple, I feel like any complaining that temples aren't magically coordinated to be open exactly on the day government restrictions are lifted have missed the message that the church was going to be cautious in resuming activity in temples. It seems that a week or two after government restrictions lift, temples will move into step 1 of reopening.
The history of the church in Hawaii is very fascinating. It's one of my favorite parts of Saints vol 2. President Keahwe's great grandfather H.K. Kaleohano is mentioned in the book.
*Kauwe
Johnathan, you mentioned 2 branches in Cuba, but the records on the CDOL show 4 branches and one district there. Just thought you'd like to know.
This is a temple related topic, but I wanted to share it somewhere so here it is. With all the temples that we have currently under construction and the 18 temples that will have groundbreaking ceremonies this year, it seems highly likely that we will have 200 dedicated temples by 2025. Just to put that into perspective, it took the Church 170 years to reach 100 dedicated temples (and I am not talking about restoration era temples). It will probably take us 25 more years to get another 100! Pretty amazing!
JMR, thanks for those additional thoughts. Here are some others from me as well: If the Church does have 200 dedicated temples by 2025, that would be amazing, because it would mean that with an anticipated 300 temples total, around 100 would be under construction/announced at that same time as well. I think the Church will probably reach (and perhaps even exceed) either number by the year in question. I have commented previously that the 18 temples that will have a groundbreaking this year will be an increase of about 1.64 times the total number that had a groundbreaking last year. It's my hope the Church will keep building on that number at a similar rate of increase over the next few years, because that in turn might spped up how soon there are 200 dedicated temples, and the timing whereby the Church will reach 400-500 temples total in any phase as well.
Just one other observation: The Richmond Virginia Temple had its' groundbreaking just over a month ago, and groundbreakings will occur within the next two months or so for the Layton Utah, Alabang Philippines, Auckland New Zealand, and Feather River California Temples. I keep hoping we may soon hear about groundbreaking arrangements for temples for which that will occur in August and September, but we'll see how things move along. One thing is certain, however, and that is that we are first-hand witnesses to a truly unprecedented season of temple developments that shows no signs of slowing for the foreseeable future, which applies to every facet of temple developments (new temples being announced, consistent efforts to work through the approrpriate approvals processes, groundbreakings, construction of a higher number of temples than has been the case, and a subsequent influx of new temple events to monitor. And what a blessing it is to observe that occurring.
@Ray
4 branches?! Even better! Talk about church growth, someone just has to mention Cuba and the branches there double overnight! ;P
But thanks for the update, Ray. :)
On another note, for the information of the readers of this blog, the Church News has continued to provide articles with counsel for Church members from each member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Earlier today, a new article provided insights from Elder Andersen on ministering during the pandemic, and on how COVID-19 has impacted his and his fellow apostles' abilities to meet together in person and continue their apostolic ministries:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-05-13/covid-19-elder-andersen-compensatory-blessings-184193
And from the Church's official News and Events page comes a new article sharing the full list of temples for which a new president and matron have been called, with plans underway for most of them to begin their service within the next year or so:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/new-temple-presidents-and-matrons-called-to-serve-beginning-october-2020?lang=eng
The fact that a single article summarizes all of these previously-announced calls seems to point to the idea that the Church is not anticipating announcing any other new temple presidents this year, but I might be mistaken in that respect. Anyone who wants to do so is welcome to compare that list with the running list I have kept to track of all the new temple presidents that have been announced this year:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qcf4P9oxAlBJ7Mh20Ixy11WQ7BQGxOtgqIRwnFhSn6A/edit?usp=sharing
My thanks once again to you all.
From Rick's churchofjesuschristtemples.org site today,
"Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Request to Build in Moses Lake, Washington
Church representatives recently submitted a request to the City of Moses Lake to authorize construction of the Moses Lake Washington Temple and a new stake center on unplatted land. The resolution was placed on the City Council's consent agenda for routine approval at its regular meeting last night. The recommendation from City staff was that the resolution be approved with the requirement that the property be platted within one year. The resolution will allow building permits to be pulled before the platting process is finalized."
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/news/
Chris, thanks for sharing that here. I don't know how (if at all) the fact that the land is currently not platted may tie in to the length of time it will take to get through whatever remains of the approvals process, but if city leaders can give the Church the consent its' seeking for that particular proect as is, then it may not be long at all until action is taken to break ground on that temple. I am also hopeful we may soon hear something more on the timing for the groundbreakings of the Washington County, Tooele Valley, Taylorsville, and Orem Utah temples. Based on what I can ascertain about those last four, each could have their groundbreaking ceremonies set to occur in late summer or early fall of this year.
Either way, it's abudantly clear to me that the Church has plns to do anything possible to swiftly move forward with construction on temples stateside in general, and in Utah in particular, while trying to also get through the approrpriate approvals for temples outside the United States. At some point, the scheduling of temple groundbreakings will have to accelerate somehow this year. By the time mid-July rolls around, the Church will have broken ground on only 5 of the 18 temples to which Elder Bednar referred. With 13 that will thus need to be held during the last 5 months of this year, that's roughly 2-3 temples per month for the final five months of this year, which does not seem to be out of the question, given that the Church will break ground on 3 temples in a 3-week period beginning roughly 2.5 weeks from now. With that in mind, I anticiapte that the arrangements for the groundbreakings of at least 3 other temples to be announced prior to the beginning of July, if all goes well. Thursday seems to be a key weekday for such annnouncements, and it's been roughly 2 weeks since the last temple groundbreaking was announced. Thanks.
Johnathan, not only have branches in Cuba doubled, but membership there is up over 100% from 2016 to 2018. The 2019 membership information isn't available yet, but the growth in recent years is tremendous.
Got a couple of things:
Angel Moroni - In addition to temples, it has appeared on such things as the icon for the Gospel Library app. They have recently replaced the angel statue icon, which was similar to one seen on some older pre-1980 copies of The Book of Mormon, with the new Church symbol. So that may be with it, that angel statues may appear on some but not most temples going forward.
Sunday I heard about a 20-year-old meetinghouse, saw a picture on Facebook of it, that the Church has said it will move the three wards out of it, and then bulldoze the building and not rebuild. A commenter then said where she lived in Orem, an arsonist torched theirs. That will also be bulldozed and not rebuilt.
The first location was not named, but was in an area with a good concentration of members.
Hello again, everyone! Early this morning, I put the finishing touches on a list of the 13 remaining temples for which I can reasonably conjecture the Church will plan on holding a groundbreaking this year:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12SuRKhXucFZN6qrHxIfb1E1W52mNxn-fFAskrKAOEVo/edit?usp=sharing
My thanks once again to you all.
James, strange that a building housing 3 wards will not be rebuilt. It may be that there are underused meetinghouses nearby where these wards can be relocated.
Also for anyone on this blog who may be interested, I have finished puttting together the initial version of my predictions for General Conference in October. An open commenting period is in effect until Thursday October 1 at 10:00 PM MDT, at which time will take the next 24-36 hours to fine-tune and finalize them before General Conference weekend:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2020/05/initial-predictions-for-october-2020.html
Once again, my thanks to you all.
@Ray
Right. Cuba was at 2 branches last I had checked (a couple-three years ago when they created the district). I hadn't realized they'd grown so much until you pointed it out.
@James Stokes, I see you switched Washington County Utah 3rd for Hurricane Utah. and added a new Holladay Utah prediction? any specific reasons? among other changes from last time, like removing Vilnius Lithuania from list.
I have noticed a pattern, in the Metro areas of Utah, like Salt Lake and St. George, the idea is to space them about five to ten miles apart. Salt Lake's street numbering is 6 2/3 blocks to the mile so 27th West in Taylorsville is about four miles west of ?State Street while Holladay is about three or more miles east of it.
Ditto for St. George, Hurricane is about that distance if not more from either St. George temple and while Washington County 2 is on 30th East, it is still a few miles from St. George. Temple itself.
October General Conference Predictions
- Will the choir be there this time?
- Live audience but all wearing masks.
- Large conference center vs small empty room?
Hey, Chris! As James Anderson mentioned, he provided specific feedback on another post on my blog about patterns he noticed with the Utah temples which have been announced lately, and I changed my predictions for that area after those latest exchanges with him, since my own subsequent research verified that information. For Lithuania, I haven't seen sufficient enough progress as far as Church growth in general and congregations in particular to warrant keeping that for now. Above and beyond that, further study on my part seems to point to the idea that the Church's focus in the Europe East Area will be on getting approval for the Russia temple, which will be a time-consuming process that may take a while, given the political and religious hurdles the Church will have to contend with there.
Aside from that, anyone wanting to dialogue with me further on any element of those latest predictions is more than welcome to weigh in on my blog, where I may be able to address such questions more thoroughly than time and space here will allow.
Unknown, I've done some research on those questions as part of assembling my predictions for the next General Conference. Earlier today, here in Utah, our governor ggreenlit most of the state going into the last phase of caution for COVID-19 before a full reopening and recovery. Parts of Salt Lake County, including the areas covering Church haeadquarters, have asked for and been given temporary permission to remain in the second-to-last phase of COVID-19 risk to give those areas time to recover. Above and beyond that, international regulations factor in as well to who will be allowed to assemble, under what conditions, and the prevailing guidelines.
Based on that, unless things change and/or the Church announces anything different, I'm assuming that those outside the United States, both leaders and members, are going to be restricted from coming, that conference will again originate from a small auidorium, and that the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, aside from the other leaders speaking or praying in the sessions, may be the only ones attending all sesssio, with the music being prerecorded again.
I'd love to see Church operations return completely to normal by October, and if temple work and worship services were able to resume worldwide a week or two before General Conference. But at the moment, with the precautions taken by the Church thus far, I'm not seeing that occur any sooner than early fall. But normalcy could potentially take longer. For msyelf, however, I'm personally inclined to trust that the Brethren know and will be able to determine what is best to be done when it comes to the Church returning to normalcy. If they decide to take a more cautious approach, the phased reopening of normal oprations in some parts of the world where the risk has been lowered and the curve has been crushed could occur before the end of the year, if all goes well. But that's no more and no less than my own opinion, based on observations of the current situation which are just as imperfect, I if not more so, as I myself am. Hope my thoughts on that, such as they are, are helpful.
Mission president and companion recently called to serve in Democratic Republic of the Congo
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-05-16/mission-president-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-kinshasa-184061
According to the same article, "Jean Pierre A.L. Haboko, 52, and Jolie Haboko, 10 children, Kimbwala 2nd Ward, Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Lukunga Stake: Democratic Republic of the Congo KINSHASA EAST Mission, succeeding President ALFRED KYUNGU and Sister Lucie Kyungu."
According to my research, Pres. Alfred Kyungu, had served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mbuyi-Mayi Mission 2016-2019
(https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/2016-02-18/new-mission-presidents-called-to-hawaii-canada-and-other-missions-28340)
Then he was called as Area Seventy during October 2019 Conference
(https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-10-05/general-conference-october-2019-lds-mormon-releasings-162783)
Was he then called to replace Pres. Rion B. Needs (2019-2022) of the Kinshasa East Mission?
Curacao has seen some positive growth in the last years. I would love to see a second unit opened there.
Aruba used to have three but is now down to two congregations. I wonder if the services are in Papiamento or Dutch. I could see it hard to get materials in the former.
I hope the bigger Antillean islands keep growing dynamically and their Caribbean-based missionaries can spread the word more effectively in the smaller West Indian islands.
Chris, this may be another scenario where either the Church has listed outdated information or there may be more to the story than the sources available are telling us. Insofar as I am aware, Rion B. Needs' release as mission president was never explained or acknowledged. I've not found any record of an obituary or any kind of note indicating any other circumstance that would explain why he may have been released. I haven't found anything either explaining when Elder Kyungu may have started serving as a mission president in Kinshasa. So either the Church has outdated information or is choosing not to explain what happened there. In all such cases, I wish the Church was more transparent in that respect.
No. I meant the Church has outdated information. You've mentioned inaccuracies on Classic Maps with congregational, mission, temple district, and area boundaries, and I've referred to inaccuracies noticed in Church leader bioghaphies and the list of area seventies. So what I'm saying is that unless both the Church News and Newsroom share identical information, there needs to be a balance in utilizing either or both sources in relation to ascertaining what is to be believed relating to all such questions.
When priesthood leaders have serious problems regarding sin it is difficult to air their dirty laundry, a lot because of that person's privacy.
Also, as stated in the old handbook 1, part of purpose of a bishop or branch president is to protect or safekeep the name of the Church.
Not saying sin was involved here in this case, but those are factors to consider.
He was probably but in as acting president. Where was president Needs from?
It could either be sin or health issues. In either case I do not think the rhetoric of transparency is exactly right. When a general authority was excommunicated almost three years ago that was adequately publicized.
In the case of removal of mission presidents the big question is are the missionaries are members directly affected rold enough.
Even in those cases there is a delicate balance of protecting privacy verses other considerations.
New mission leaders called to serve in Arizona, Uruguay, DR Congo, Salt Lake City and other areas around the world
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2019-05-19/new-mission-leaders-called-to-serve-in-arizona-uruguay-dr-congo-salt-lake-city-and-other-areas-around-the-world-1970
"Rion B. Needs, 57, and Charlotte Needs, five children, Draper 10th Ward, Sandy Utah Hidden Valley Stake: Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa East Mission (newly created). Brother and Sister Needs previously served together as senior missionaries in the Africa Southeast Area Office and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mbuji-Mayi Mission. Brother Needs is a former bishop, bishopric counselor, stake clerk, ward Young Men president and missionary in the Canada Montréal Mission. He was born in Salt Lake City to Charles Raymond Needs and Goldie Marie White Needs."
It's not necessarily rhetoric. Let the record show I never implied all information provided on the Church website is incorrect, just that certain pieces of information therefrom were consistently incorrect, and had remained so long-term in some cases which is not in any way the same thing. Anyone involved in regularly updating a website is prone to make mistakes at some point. My intention was merely to convey that some information has been incorrect some of the time.
Meanwhile, I wonde why that is supposed to be rhetoric, while the assumption that the information unrelated to the actual gosepl should be taken as gospel, when it is put together and maintained by people as infallible as you and I both may be at times is not rhetoric. I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea that because no one is perfect, no one source provides perfect information, and that a second witness is thus sometimes necessary. And I am sorry if anyone here does not feel that same way. If that's rhetoric, I'll wear the label proudly.
Chris, thanks for providing a second witness through the Church News. That's very helpful context based on what I laid out in my last comment.
Brother Kyungu was as of last October when he was called as an area seventy working as Church family history manager. This may be the same position Elder Mutumbo, the youngest newly called seventy, held before he became mission president in Baltimore.
Rion Needs worked as COO of a company that takes over defaulted debts for several years. The company is actually based in my mother in laws ward boundaries here in Michigan, but Needs is listed as from Utah. He and his wife were senior missionaries in the Congo Mabaye-Mbuji mission when called to preside over the Kinshasa East Mission when it was newly formed.
There seems to be as assumption that all mission presidents will serve three years but I know there are some who are only called for two.
I almost wonder if the Needs were told they would complete there planned mission time running Kinshasa East and were never intended to stay a full three years.
That is the first I had heard of that one person working in the Family History department, here is a Rootstech presentation and I drew from it in some comments a few weeks back.
This is the one with the Chinese general authority seventy.
https://www.rootstech.org/video/familysearch-round-table-chat
Elder Kyungu was the first mission president in Mbaji-Mayi or however you spell it.
@Eduardo
All of the ABC island branches all meet in either English (Aruba and Curacao), Spanish (Aruba), or Dutch (Bonaire), according to the meetinghouse locator.
Papiamento is the mother tongue for the majority of islanders and is the most widely used of any language. In addition to Dutch, they are the official languages of the islands. Dutch is primarily used for legal matters, and all schoolchildren are educated in it. But only a small number of people use Dutch as their primary language. Most islanders are fluent in 4 languages, however, adding English and Spanish.
Papiamento has strong Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, African and even some English roots. So if you can speak the main three, you can communicate efficiently. English and Spanish are typically taught in 4th and 5th grades, therefore many can speak it.
Because of the nature of language on these Antillean islands, most (if not all) people can communicate well. The church has missionaries serving there that were taught and trained in English, Spanish, and Dutch.
But the language they really love and feel at home with is Papiamento. Hope this helps :)
Jehovah was a name coined by 16 century Monks just for the God of the Old testament. JW.org is way off base
President Kyungu began serving as the Kinshasa East Mission President on March 31, 2020. Rion B. Needs has been President of the Georgia Atlanta Mission since April 11, 2020. This is as per the CDOL
@ScottS, that means that Pres. Bret K. Clayton (2018-2020) was released more than a year early from Georgia Atlanta Mission.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/lds-church-news/2018-03-08/new-mission-presidents-called-to-serve-in-barbados-madagascar-denmark-and-samoa-13199
Could the release of the Needs be due to the COVID19HCOVID19 guidelines to keep keep more native missionaries in some of those countries?
L. Chris Jones, I am assuming that, per the comment by ScottS about the Needs' reassignment that the Church has indeed reassigned some (if not all) US-born mission presidents back to missions in the United States, and I assume that some of that reshuffling occurred when the Church began reassigning missionaries to their home nations.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2020-05-18/lds-temples-open-worldwide-phased-reopening-183918
Latest temple updates: A total of 52 temples in limited reopening as Church expands its by-phase efforts
Very nice! I wonder how close some of the first temples that reopened are to Phase 2. I do feel the transition from 1 to 2 will probably go faster than from 2 to 3, but we'll see what the Brethren have in mind there.
Based on governmental restrictions, my impression is that the Church will get as many temples as possible open under phse 1 before a handful or more temples transition to phase 2, but that's just based on what I can currently surmise from avaialble resources. In a smiliar manner, I'd not anticipate the dedication of the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple or the return to weekly worship services until probably mid-third quarter or early fourth quarter of this year at very earliest.
It's been interesting for me personally seeing how COVID-19 has changed things. I was one slow to recognize how quickly it would change things initially, though I was once more optimistic than I now am that things will get back to normal for the Church sonner than I now believe. But I will say that I am impressed by how well the Church has monitored conditions and been so quick to adapt to them. I've seen reports of nations, educational systems, and religious organizations that aren't doing as well to adapt with the chnaging circumstances of COVVID-19. In that sense, it's wonderful to have yet another witness (even though I techincally didn't need that personally) that revelation is alive and well in the Church. I look forward to seeing what's next.
Aside from the COVID-19 adjustments which have been announced over the last few weeks, the last major official announcement relating to temples that was confirmed by the Church's official Newsroom (and supported by the Church News) was the open house and dedication arrangements for the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple. That announcement was made on April 30. So I'm hopeful that the announcement of the arranged dates for the groundbreakings of 1-3 additional temples could be made soon.
The good news is, barring anything unexpected, the groundbreaking for the Layton Utah Temple (set for May 30) will kick off the first of 3 groundbreakings that will occur over the next 3 straight consecutive Saturdays. As I said, it's wonderful to see the Lord's work progressing in spite of COVID-19..
First Presidency announces the creation of 4 additional quorums of Area Seventies
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-05-19/area-seventies-four-more-quorums-geographic-realignment-184407
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued guidelines on reopening. They are not all that specific, but have lots of details worth considering. They do not have any dates.
The members of the Quorum of the 12 and Presidency of the 70 will meet with Area Presidencies to come up with specific plans for the area. However the ultimate decision to resume meetings will be left to stake presidents. Those will consult with their councilors, branch presidents, high councilors, and bishops, and there is nothing that says all meetings have to resume at once.
Phase 1 will involve meetings of no more than 99, "shortened" Sunday meetings, with discouragement of choir practice, but nothing says "do not sing." Emphasis is most on resuming meetings involving ordinances.
How to deal with a ward with more than 99 regular attendees is left up to others. Possible options are multiple meetings on Sunday (how you would sort them out is a decision that will be made later), alternate Sunday meetings allowing home sacrament for those with an off Sunday, or there is a suggestion some large wards may not resume meetings till phase 2. Weather to hold nursey and junior primary is said to be optional. Weather primary involves both calss and singing time is also optional. How long the "shortened" meetings should last is unclear.
There is advice that in cases of multi unit buildings schedules should be adjusted to not overlap. There is a mandate for total sanitation between meetings.
Social distancing between households is encouraged. I love the pictures, especially the one of the white guy with his 3 black kids. I asked "where is his wife", and I think she is visible just on the ege of the picture. I still go Ega schnerga at the photographer for missing a biracial couple being in full view, but with last weeks BYU-Idaho devotional being Peter and Stephanie Johnson bombarding viewers with their biracial family, no one can complain the Church is trying to hide biracial couples, otherwise we would not have an African-American general authority allowed to collectively do a devotional with his white wife.
Although my branch I think has never had 99 people present, not even for branch conference when we were inundated with stake visitors, we may not be able to meet guidelines. We will have to open the overflow for sure. Our chapel is fairly small.
The other issue though is there is a recomendation for people only on every other bench so that sacrament passing can be done directly instead of having to pass trays.
The guidelines say those passing and blessing the saramwent can wear masks. They should wash their hands 20 seconds with soap and water before preparation and not touch anyone else after doing so.
The guidelines say that masks can be required, but do not mandate such. Meeting sizes should follow local regulations. Current Michigan ones say 0, with a rise to 10 on May 28th at earliest. That makes any return to meetings unlikely for a while.
Confirmations can continue for new convets at baptism until meetings resume. baby blessings can be done at home or in sacrament meeting. Baptisms can be broadcast.
The guidelines seem to suggest you would only at most use half the rows of benches in the chapel.
There are also strong encoragements of all who are sick to stay home, as well as those under quarantine orders, and a general understanding that home sacrement for those can be continued.
We are not asked to actually check temperatures as people come in. However through between meeting sanitation is required. Funerals and weddings can resume, as well as other non-Sunday meetings.
I hope this is a good summary of the letter contents. I am sure that stake presidents if not area presidents will give more specific and specified guidelines on implementation.
It might have helped if I had paid more attention to the caption and not tried as hard to see the children's black mother in the caption. I still say the picture angle was odd.
The picture is actually trying to illustrate the second tray. Luckily that dad has his daughter on his lap, she may need extra guideance on the second tray at that age, both because it is new and because she is young. The idea is you take the cup, drink the water, and then put the cup back in a different, empty tray for gathering used cups.
That is possible Brother Jones, but I doubt it. It would be the only example of such. It might be due to Brother or Sister Needs or both having health conditions that put them at high risk. I don't know and wish I did but probably never will.
Elder Wong was the first general authority to give a talk in general conference not in English.
Very interesting. What happened to the last mission president in Georgia?
Actually the best evidence I have is that the Needs were the ok only couple so reassigned. Statements were there were no plans to move mission leadership couples.
The number will not actually be that high until next week.
@JPL
Perhaps you'll like the headline photo from this article better:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-05-19/covid-19-worship-services-meetings-activities-resume-first-presidency-184416
@JPL
Sorry to here about the dam bursting in Edenville, MI. Hope your friends and relatives are safe (if you have any over there).
Question? What is the software program do you use for creating the Church (i.e. wards and stake boundaries) for mapping the sites on Cumorah.com
JPL, just another reminder: Those of us who use multiple devices to access this blog may not always be able to tell just by looking at these threads to whom you may be replying each time you comment. Case in point: when I use my phone, I can see your replies directly under the comment to which you are replying, which is easy. But at other times like now, when I am using my laptop, there's not really a way for me to follow to whom you are directing those replies. And unfortunately, I am not always able to read this blog from my phone. So for those of us using multiple devices who try to follow these conversations, it can get tricky sometimes. Any help you may be able to render on this issue would be much appreciated by me personally, which I gather is also true for others who want to follow your comments. And I'd extend that advice to anyone commenting here. That way, no matter how any of us view these threads on any device at any time, the conversation threads are easier to follow along with.
That said, I happened to catch both major developments of the day not long after they were reported. Matt, I hope I'm not the only one, but I'm looking forward to any insights you have as a Church growth expert on the 4 additional Quorums of Area Seventies, particularly since the Church made the announcement less than two weeks prior to when the new Quorum affiliations will take place. My personal theory is that the Church subdivided them the way they have been subdivided in preparation for the day when each of the now-ten Quorums of Area Seventies are going to be almost full. That might happen sooner than any of us suspect because, as President Nelson said, things are going to be moving at an accelerated pace.
I very much also appreciate the announcement about Church services resuming. It's wonderful that the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are wanting to move the Church towards normalcy as far as worship services are concerned, and I love the measured approach to do that as outlined in today's news release. I was especially grateful to see the recognition that, as has been true with the phased temple reopenings, not all locations will all be ready to be on the same phase at the same periods of time. Governmental regulations in some areas will almost surely make resuming normal worship services more difficult than in other places.
It will be interesting to see what each area presidency recommends for approval in that respect to their corresponding supervisors in the Presidency of the Seventy and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And it will be interesting to see how those recommendations are implemented at the local level. I know for myself personally, as I have previously stated, I'm technically classified as being among the more vulnerable population that could be more susceptible to COVID-19 in large gatherings. With that in mind, depending on what is recommended at the stake and ward level for my area, my wife and I may need to ask for continued permission to worship at home until conditions normalize a little further. But that will be a decision for another time.
With the Church's additional efforts towards normalization which have been announced thus far this week, I'm also wondering if I may need to readjust my General Conference predictions once again. Based on the current trajectory towards normalcy in other respects, it may be more likely than I thought, just less than a week ago, that the October 2020 General Conference may again be open to the public, with international members and leaders in attendance, held at the Conference Center with reasonably-accommodated social distancing for attendees and leaders. I'll have to do more studying in the days ahead and make further adjustments as I learn more in that respect.
In the meantime, with one major announcement yesterday, and the two today, I'm hoping that the next major announcement or two will be coming down the pike later this week, and that at least one or two of the next several major announcements will relate to temple construction. With the month of May winding down, we'll have the 3 temple groundbreakings (one per week) between May 30 and June 13, with one more planned 5 weeks after the last of those prior 3. If groundbreakings are planned for August and September, hopefully those arrangements will be publicly confirmed soon.
Note from Cumorah.com article about Australia:
The dates for formation of the Perth and Adelaide stakes are not correct.
12 Quorums of 70? That's one for each Apostle, now (minus the First Presidency). It's interesting that President Kimball created the modern Quorums of Seventy out of the Assistants to the Quorum of the 12 back in 1985. It's almost like each Apostle now has his own whole Quorum of Assistants to help in the ministry. Perhaps we'll see 3 more Quorums created at some point to match the 1st Presidency as well?
Hello again, everyone! Several significant developments have been reported on a few different fronts today.The Newsroom has covered more responses from Church members living in the Middle East as a result of the announcement of a temple for Dubai UAE:
https://news-middleeast.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saints-celebrate-the-announcement-of-a-temple-in-dubai
The temple in Dubai is anticipated to serve, at minimum, those in the following nations: Bahrain, Jordan, Kurdistan-Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, in addition to the United Arab Emirates. The temple may also serve Saints in parts of Europe and Asia who would be closer to the Dubai UAE temple than they are to their currently-assigned temples.
And KSL has provided breaking news coverage of guidance from the Utah Area Presidency relative to Church services resuming in the Utah Area:
https://www.ksl.com/article/46755370/utah-area-presidency-approves-utah-latter-day-saint-wards-to-meet-again
The recommendations are to temporarily suspend the use of sacrament meeting programs and meetinghouse hymnbooks, confine meeting substance to a focus on partaking of the Sacrament and necessary ward and stake business, to only hold Sacrament Meeting for now, to ensure proper social distancing prevails between families, and to focus on measures that may be necessary to particularly protect those in the vulnerable demographic of the population who are more susceptible to the possible contraction of COVID-19.
And new information received today indicates that a building permit has been submitted for the Feather River California Temple, which will have a groundbreaking in less than two months. In addition, less than a month after the location of the Bentonville Arkansas Temple was confirmed, yesterday night, a conditional use permit was approved by the City of Bentonville Planning Commission. I am in the process of reevaluating the information I have on temples for which a groundbreaking may be safely anticipated in the near future, and will have any updates to those estimates published on my blog ASAP after I finish making them. My thanks once again to you all.
Johnathan Whiting, I had not thought of the Seventies' Quorums in terms of there being one per apostle, but it's a fair point. I honestly don't think there will be a need to create any additional Quorums for the foreseeable future. The announcements of the first 6 Quorumss of area seventies came at varying intervals and for various reasons between 1997 and 2005. And there was then a 15-year hiatus (give or take 1-3 months) before yesterday's announcement of the four newest Quorums. There may be a two-fold reason for the latest changes that was not detailed. First, with the work of the Church beginning to move at an accelerated pace, additional area seventies will likely be needed to help administer the work. Secondly, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic affecting normal Church functions on a worldwide scale, it would likely be some time before the Quorums as previously constituted would be able to have Quorum meetings safely again. The reduced numbers in each Quorum will now allow meetings as needed with the appropriate social distancing measures in place. Of course, that's just my own ballpark guess at a couple of other reasons the change was logical.
Secondly, with the Quorum of the Twelve working alongside both the First Presidency and Presidency of the Seventy to help the work of the Church to progress, the instruction to the Twelve to call upon the Seventy for assistance in the work will be more easily done with additional area seventies Quorums that can be sent out. As far as additional Quorums being created, that might not happen unless and until other divisions of current areas make it less feasible for each Quorum to meet together. And even if other additional Quorums are created in the future, I don't necessarily see the First Presidency taking on the supervision of any of those Quorums directly. A lot of what we have seen President Nelson do in his major announcements thus far is to bring the organization of the Church on all levels in compliance with scriptural directives.
And when it comes to those directives, the scriptures specifically instruct the First Presidency members on what needs to be delegated to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, including the utilization of and supervision for however many Quorums of the Seventy the work requires. Aside from responsibilities that are directly theirs (including the doctrinal directives about things that can't be delegated), they have the Twelve assist them with everything else, and the Twelve in turn are assisted by the Seventy.
I hope this comment doesn't come across in a negative manner. It's not intended to be taken that way at all. But I do think that the reasoning behind creating four new Quorums with changes that will go into effect on June 1 of this year is to prepare the Church for a time when each of the current areas may be divided into two or three others. Something else here: I know that the biographies of the members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles do not contain much (if anything) about their current assignments at headquarters. I know that information pulled from the biographies of members of the Presidency of the Seventy does shed some light on which apostles have oversight for which areas, but the details there can also be scant in certain ways. It's my hope that the Church may be moving towards more transparency about the assignments of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Presidency of the Seventy, in addition to the assignments of the General Officers of the Church, about which we also don't know very much.
But getting back on the subject of the Quorums of the Seventy, it is interesting to me that the Church stopped publicly identifying which GA Seventies were assigned specifically to the First or Second Quorums in 2016, since we know the affiliations of the other Quorums of the Seventy. I assume the reason that changed is so there would be less public assumption or conjecture about the scope of the authority of those in either or both Quorums, but I for one would be interested to find out who is assigned to each of the two GA Seventies Quorums, if only to have some idea of how those Quorums break down.
That information may be less relevant to the rest of what I'm trying to say here, but just felt a need to mention that here as well. Hope these thoughts, such as they are, are helpful to all who may read them.
I'm guessing with church meetings depending on the size of the building they'll probably open up the cultural hall like they do on stake conference
My parents ward always opens the cultural hall. Of course it does not have a non-cultual hall overflow. It is a 1990s carpeted cultural hall building built to save on building costs by making it more fully useable for Sunday meetings than a hardwood floor is.
Their chaple also has a parking lot too small for 2 wards to be in session at once.
My branch even sometimes opens the cultural hall when I doubt we ever hit 90 in attendance. However we are a much smaller building than some.
President Kimball died in 1985. The expansion beyond the 7 member council of 70 was in 1975 with the assistants to the twelve made seventy in 1976. In about 1984 or 1985 the start of time limited calls to the seventy began. A few years later Ezra Taft Benson made multiple general authority quorums of 70.
The origins of Area Seventy in some ways go back to 1967 and the start of regional representatives. However a few years before that for about 6 months before his call to the Twelve Thomas S. Monson had a call that was basically a proto-region as l representative.
In April 1995 a shift from regional representatives to Area Authorities was announced. These became area seventies in 1997.
I have seen lots of misinformed writing about the whole nature of Church units between the stake and the whole Church. The history of thus level is complex.
All the more so because at present there is no general publication of Area Coordinating councils. While stakes are all the same membership size within a certain margin, coordinating councils and areas varry a huge amount in size.
@JPL
Thanks for catching my error. I switched my 7 for an 8.
This is where I got the info:
"The Prophet Joseph Smith called the first Seventies in this dispensation in 1834, with President Spencer W. Kimball reconstituting the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1975 and filling that quorum the next year with the 21 men who had been Assistants to the Twelve and subsequently ordained Seventies."
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-05-19/area-seventies-four-more-quorums-geographic-realignment-184407
Hello again, everyone! Just wanted to mention here that a biographical article has been published to introduce Elder Thierry K. Mutombo, who is the first GA Seventy born in the DR Congo:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-05-21/new-general-authority-elder-mutombo-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-184389
My thanks once again to you all.
22 May 2020 - Salt Lake City News Release
Latter-day Saints Around the World: Country Newsroom Websites, May 22, 2020
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saints-around-the-world-country-newsroom-websites-may-22-2020
While continuing to update my Stakes/Districts Classic Maps links, I discovered another recent name change. Possibly after the Puyallup Washington South Stake was renamed South Hill Washington Stake (515663).
The Puyallup Washington Stake (505978) since 01/14/1974, originally Mount Rainier Stake (01/17/1971), has been recently renamed "Sumner Washington Stake - 505978". Unknown name change date.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=47.089761,-122.098274&z=11&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=505978&find=stake:505978
Any ideas of the Name Change date? (Those of you who have the CDOL list access?)
@Chris-
Looking at the CDOL's information page for the Sumner Washington Stake, I noticed that it said it was last updated August 26, 2019. Not sure by whom, but this could possibly indicate when the name change took place. Have you looked in the Church News for this as well? Although neither the South Hill or Sumner stakes have had stake presidencies reorganized since 2012/2013 (according to the CDOL), they may have some info listed. It's worth a check
@Luke, Thank you for the prompt response. The 26th of August, 2019 was a Monday. So I have changed to the day before, Sunday the 25th for my notes. Also I could not find a Stake Presidency change since 2013 for the old Puyallup Washington Stake.
Small-scale groundbreaking for Layton Utah Temple conducted a week early as a COVID pandemic precaution
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2020-05-23/groundbreaking-layton-utah-temple-small-scale-covid-pandemic-precaution-184892
Hello again, everyone! Late tonight, the Newsroom reported that the First Presidency had directed the Utah Area Presidency to do a small-scale private groundbreaking with limited attendence and no remote viewing for the Layton Utah Temple earlier today. The Newsroom reports that pictures and videos of the scaled-down ceremony will be available within the next week. I was surprised to see this occur a week before it was originally scheduled, but I am hopeful that means that other temples we know about and some we do not may have a similar small-scale ceremony, whether as scheduled or unexpectedly. Here is the Newsroom release about this development:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/layton-temple-groundbreaking-statement
My thanks once again to you all.
Oops, Chris! Sorry. I didn't see you had posted about the Layton Utah Temple groundbreaking before I posted my comment. Sorry. That said, I'm assuming that the dedication of that temple will likely occur in mid-to-late 2023, but I'm hopeful we may find out more about the completion window when the video of the small ceremony is made available within the next week. I guess it's better to post such news twice in a row than not at all.
@James, "By the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses...". As you said better twice then not at all. I am sure that you were writing your insights while i just posted the article title and link. Your comments were more insightful. Thank you. No harm done.
Most of Puyallup Stake is not in Puyallup proper, and covers only the northern part of Puyallup, along with Sunmer, Edgewood, and parts of Bonney Lake. So renaming the stake to Sumner Stake makes sense since Sumner is more centrally located.
South Hill is a growing community with parts of it in the city of Puyallup and other parts still in unincorporated Pierce County. Since South Hill has its own identity, that spawned the name change from Puyallup South Stake to South Hill
Stake.
Chris, thanks for your gracious response. That sounds correct, that I may have been working on my comment as you posted yourss with the URL of the news release. I will be interested to see if/how the earlier groundbreaking impacts the construction timetable for the Layton Temple. But I am also hopeful, as I may or may not have noted in my last comment, that perhaps many other temples, both those which have groundbreaking arrangements announced, and those that are at various points in the queue, could likewise have a groundbreaking with unexpected timing.
A couple other thoughts, if I might offer them: First, based on new information I have received, it looks as though full-scale efforts could begin on that temple within the next week or less. Secondly, if that occurs, then that would ptentially put the Layton temple ahaead in the construction queue than both the Puebla Mexico Temple and the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple, which both have full-scale efforts pending and/or delayed. It may also be possible that the Layton temple could, in very quick order, move ahead of the Bangkok Thailand Temple as well. The latter temple, which had a groundbreaking in January of last year, has not yet seen full-scale work begin on the temple proper, as work is still underway on the substructure thereof.
A couple more observations, if I may offer them: In the Philippines, as we know, a government-enforced quarantine has resulted in the postponement of the gorundbreaking for the Alabang Philippines Temple (it was originally scheduled to occur on May 2, but was pushed back to early June, tentatively Saturday June 6, if governmental regulations allow that to occur on that date).
In the interim, it has been noted in some sources, both a short while ago, and again at the present time, that construction on the Urdaneta Philippines Temple has been stalled/halted due to those recommendations and enforced guidelines. As a result, I anticipate taht there may be additional delays for the time being on the construction process for that temple, and it's also possible that the groundbreaking for the Alabang temple may take place on a different date than June 6.
I also know that Elder D. Todd Christofferson had been originally assigned to preside at that temple's groundbreaking, but if governmental regulations prohibit non-natives from entering that nation for the time being, Elder Evan A. Schmutz, as the current president of the Philippines Area, may be assigned to oversee that groundbreaking if it is able to occur on that rescheduled date, or at any other time within the next 3-6 weeks. It wwould make sense to me if Elder Schmutz did wind up overseeing that groundbreaking anyways, especially since he has served as a member of the Philippines Area Presidency since August 2016 (and as area president since August 2018). And since Elder Schmutz will be released from that area assignment and will return to Church headquarters within 2 months after the ajdusted date for that temple's groundbreaking, overseeing that might be a perfect capstone to his service in that area.
Hope these additional thoughts, such as they may be, are helpful to all who read them.
Post a Comment