Sunday, September 26, 2021

New Temple Predictions Part 2 - September 2021 Edition

I have enjoyed reading through the hundreds of comments regarding temple predictions for this coming October General Conference. Something that has been apparent to me as I have reviewed recent temple announcements and the comments for my previous blog post is that the Church has placed an emphasis on building more temples in remote areas of the world or in places where there are comparatively few members regardless of recent growth trends since 2018. My traditional method to predict and identify likely temple sites has primarily been based on factors that have appeared most correlated with previous temple announcements in the past 20 years from approximately 2001 to 2017. However, it appears that it may be appropriate to provide two top 10 lists to better account for this recent change in temple announcement trends - one that uses the traditional method to identify likely locations to have a temple announced (i.e., number of stakes, age of the oldest stake, rate of church growth, proximity to the nearest temple, level of usage of the nearest temple by temple patrons) and another that predicts new temple locations based on other criteria (i.e., distance to the nearest temple, duration of a church presence in the location, at least one stake). Thus, I have provided my top 10 list for likely locations for new temple announcements based upon the latter criteria. These temples would be small temples given the small size of the Church and slow rate of growth in the area that each potential temple would serve:

  1. Glasgow, Scotland
  2. Tirana, Albania
  3. Hobart, Australia
  4. Christchurch, New Zealand
  5. Kingston, Jamaica
  6. Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
  7. Fairbanks, Alaska
  8. Augusta, Maine
  9. Rapid City, South Dakota
  10. Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain

Sunday, September 12, 2021

New Temple Predictions - September 2021 Edition

I have updated my temple prediction map in preparation for General Conference in October. Data used to identify probable locations for future temples include the size of the Church in a specific geographical area (i.e. number of stakes and districts, the number of wards and branches), the age of the oldest stake in a specific geographical area, church growth trends, distance to the nearest temple, the historical number of endowment sessions scheduled at the nearest temple, and member and missionary reports regarding member activity, temple attendance, and convert retention. Altogether, there are 156 potential temples on the map (33 more like temples, 108 less likely temples).

One Location was added to the temple prediction map in September 2021:

  • Laoag City Philippines Temple

    The following prospective temples were transferred from the less likely category to the more likely category:

    • Maceió Brazil Temple
    • Viña del Mar/Valparaíso Chile Temple

    The following 10 locations appear most likely to have temples announced this coming General Conference. You are welcome to provide your top 10 picks for temple announcements in the comments below.

    1. Monrovia, Liberia 
    2. La Paz, Bolivia
    3. Angeles or Olongapo, Philippines
    4. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 
    5. Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    6. Charlotte, North Carolina
    7. Austin, Texas
    8. Santiago/Tuguegarao Philippines
    9. Tacoma Washington
    10. Colorado Springs, Colorado 

    See below for the map of likely and less likely new temple sites:

     

    Monday, September 6, 2021

    August 2021 Monthly Newsletter

    Click here to access our August 2021 monthly newsletter for cumorah.com. Things have been slow the past couple months for Church growth developments, so I do not have much to report in the monthly newsletter.

    Sunday, September 5, 2021

    New Stake in Idaho and New District in Burundi

    Idaho

    The Church organized a new stake in Idaho. The Twin Falls Idaho East Stake was organized on August 29th from the Kimberly Idaho Stake and the Twin Falls Idaho Stake. The new stake includes the following seven wards: the Eastbrooke, Twin Falls 1st, Twin Falls 7th, Twin Falls 11th, Twin Falls 15th, Twin Falls 19th, and Twin Falls YSA 1st Wards. There are now four stakes in the immediate Twin Falls area (with two additional stakes nearby in Filer and Kimberly). 

    There are now 135 stakes in Idaho.

    Burundi 

    The Church organized its first district in Burundi. The Bujumbura Burundi District was organized on August 22nd, 2021. The new district includes all three branches in the country, namely the Bujumbura 1st, Bujumbura 2nd, and the Bujumbura 3rd Branches. Burundi ranked among the countries of the world with the most members without a stake or district prior to the creation of the new district. The Church reported 749 members at year-end 2019. Burundi pertains to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lubumbashi Mission. Burundi and Rwanda appear highly likely to become their own mission in the foreseeable future given strong receptivity to the Latter-day Saint gospel message and recent periods of rapid membership growth.