Click
here to access the updated Reaching the Nations country profile for the Republic of Ireland. See below for the Future Prospects section of this article:
Accelerated membership growth rates in the 2010s were achieved despite the consolidation of the Ireland Dublin Mission with the Scotland Edinburgh Mission and the subsequent decrease in the number of missionaries assigned to Ireland. This finding indicates that the Irish population remains more receptive to the Latter-day Saint gospel message than the populations of many other Western European countries. However, the lack of a commensurate increase in the number of self-affiliated Latter-day Saints on the government censuses, combined with no increase in the number of congregations in the country for nearly thirty years, point to significant problems with member retention and member inactivity. Greater member and recent convert involvement in finding, teaching, and fellowshipping investigators will be necessary to achieve greater long term growth. The Limerick Ireland District may become a stake within the next decade although the district at present appears to have the minimum number of members to become stake, if this threshold has even been reached yet at all, and only two branches have enough members to become wards given the most recent data provided by returned missionaries. Consideration to organize congregations that hold services in common immigrant languages appears greatly needed to help improve outreach and foster a sense of community among more receptive immigrant people groups. Furthermore, holding cottage meetings and organizing member groups in the most populous cities without a Church presence also appears needed to expand outreach before greater secularization of Irish society likely results in even lower receptivity in the coming years. A future small temple in Dublin appears likely in the foreseeable future given distance to temples in England.
6 comments:
Ireland is certainly the hottest candidate for the next temple in Europe, given announcements in places like Okinawa. Generally, I believe that if you have a stake and you need to fly to get to the temple now, you will likely have a temple announced or operating within the next 10 years.
Brazilians living in the greater Dublin area account for probably 70-80% of overall growth. Something that may deter a temple announcement is the very small number of fully active native families in the Church. Most native members, at least in the greater Dublin area wards that I'm most familiar with, are probably over 60. And given that younger working people with at least some career aspiration are fleeing western Ireland in droves, I find it hard to believe that things would be much better out west.
Also, if you've ever been literally anywhere west of Dublin, you'll notice rather quickly that most of Ireland is thinly populated. In terms of settlement structure and landscape, western Ireland reminds me a lot of places like southern Alaska or the more rural parts of British Columbia. There are very few high-paying jobs, and at least within the Gaeltacht, you will likely get quite a bit of opposition when conducting finding or Church meetings in English. The only two remaining cities that I believe would warrant the assignment of missionaries by having a somewhat decent size are Kilkenny and Athlone. Everything else is probably too small or geographically isolated.
I can see why many consider a temple likely in Dublin sooner rather than later, and I wouldn't be shocked if one is built there at some point. But I received word several years ago from a few different sources that one of the next most likely locations for a temple in the Europe Area is Edinburgh Scotland. Of course, that was before President Nelson became Church President and introduced his variation on the "smaller temple" concept which included multipurpose spaces. And I've been wrong before about the imminence of prospects in the past. If it wasn't for the information I received related to Edinburgh a few years ago, I could easily support the idea of a temple for Dublin. On the other hand, as I myself have said, the Nelsonian temple announcements thus far offer no guarantees that once-certain prospects are now as imminent, nor that prospects once seen as less likely remain so now. I'll be interested to see what happens in terms of temples in Europe either way.
For the information of all who read this blog and its' threads, last night, I found an article from LDS Living indicating that, except in a few cases where the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has granted an exception, or where stake business is able to be handled remotely, a new letter from President M. Russell Ballard announced the cancelation of all stake conferences Churchwide through at least November 1. Anyone interested can find that article at the following web address:
https://www.ldsliving.com/Stake-conferences-canceled-through-November-1-exceptions-can-be-requested/s/93018
Hope this information is helpful.
With the advent of more use of online methods we may be able to justify rethinking how we assign missionaries. This may be able to lead to opening assignments that cover larger areas with strategic uses of technology to augment in person connections.
Hi all I will do jesus christ photo or video with your family and kid or yours in 2hr
Pls check- https://bit.ly/3hXCelF
Post a Comment