Matt, it is great to hear about the progress in such distant locations of the globe as the new member groups in 2 major cities of India and the new branches in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Thank you for the updates in your Newsletter. I was really surprised to read about the 2 young returned missionaries who call their home Iraq.
1) Deseret Peak Utah 2) Helena Montana 3) Nairobi Kenya 4) Neiafu Tonga 5) Pago Pago American Samoa 6) Phnom Penh Cambodia 7) Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 8) Salvador Brazil 9) Syracuse Utah 10) Tallahassee Florida
All of which have had an official Groundbreaking Ceremony.
Great newsletter. Mongolia should have a temple soon. I know some Mongolian expats who have fallen away, which is too bad. Some cultures more easily adopt the the faith than others. I say Baja South, Mexico needs a temple geographically, but members-wise that is still difficult.
The home group in Dehradun is an exciting development. I was thrilled when I heard about this a few months ago from an acquaintance of mine who is a member in New Delhi. Gurgaon, aka Gurugram, is not newly reached. Missionaries assigned to the Dwarka Ward have been sometimes going there since at least 2009, and a home group has been operating there for over a decade. Frankly, I am surprised/disappointed there is no branch there yet.
A new stake will be created in Rexburg on December 12. Not sure what it will be called yet, but I do know it will be pulling partially from the Rexburg East Stake. Got a tip from an old coworker with connections. You know who you are, fellow reader, and I thank you for it.
What is the student population of BYU-Idaho now? Does anyone know the numbers in the Pathways program? What percentage of Idaho State are Latter-day Saints? Idaho is such a dynamic state for Church growth. Of all Africa, I am the most impressed that Congo (DRC) has three temples announced/functioning so far. French is becoming a bigger factor in the Church all the time. Ethiopia has its Church growth struggles due to instability, but other countries will benefit from those elders or sisters moving around. Uganda should get a temple before Tanzania. How long before Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda have their own? Any news on Russia or China?
The numbers for BYUI Fall 2021 have not been released yet. They are usually released by late October. I also wonder about BYU-PW's and Ensign college's numbers. There usually seems to get good growth.
Sorry, Monsieur Todd, I know it has been tough under the policy and naming changes of President Nelson. We are all trying our best to keep up. Are more missionaries going out this year than last? Is there any help for a motherless son?
I was thinking the other day about how the Church can use the CES (the university part of it specifically) to strengthen local members and instill self-sufficiency. Pathways is nice and useful for non-traditional students especially, but I would still hope that there will be more physical BYU campuses built outside of the United States.
Physical BYU campuses have some advantages over Pathways, especially for traditional students. Students can actually bond with each other, even if they are from different wards and stakes. More of them may find spouses and start families under these circumstances. Non-members could be admitted more easily and would likely be exposed to the Church in a very immersive way. Also, from a purely academic view, it is easier to organize more specialized degree programs (including at the graduate level) on a traditional campus; for example, someone studying nursing would probably need to do labs and clinicals, and that is difficult to do online. Someone studying mechanical engineering would probably benefit from a workshop to build things in. Someone studying chemistry definitely needs a lab, as well.
BYU and BYUI are getting pretty full. The Church is growing. I think we need more physical, real university campuses around the world that can address demand and help young adults of college age have an immersive, spiritual and academic BYU experience preferably on their own continent.
Although it is in the U.S., BYU Hawaii caters mostly to the several countries of the Pacific and Asia. It is one of the most diverse universities in the country. The degrees in the Pathway program are limited even though they are offered by BYUI and Ensign College. I wonder if BYUH and BYU Provo will ever offer degrees as well. Or add even more of the other degrees into Pathway.
For years we have wanted a BYU campus in Brazil, as a way to create strong ecclesiastical leadership, bring young people from different regions together in their quest to raise families, and also to strengthen the academic training of the Saints. However, after the Church closed Church College of New Zealand and the Benemerito de Las Américas, the chance of this dream happening seems to be dwindling.
To help stabilize the membership of the Church in California, I always thought the Church could buy an existing college campus like University of LaVerne or a University of Redlands type of campus and convert it into a BYU California Campus.
Never say never. I can see the church starting another college or BYU campus in another country with how quickly it is growing internationally -especially in a nation with a lot of membership growth like Brazil, imo.
Lost my post! Chilean comp sent many letters to BYU president pleading for a campus down there. Other stuff about Californians in Provo, or wondering how many UVU students are from California.
Juan from El Bosque, Santiago sent one of at least a dozen letters with me to bring to former BYU President Rex Reed, the father of the current Utah senator. I went to the admin building in 1994, delivering the letter to his secretary. She had an exasperated look on her face. I say many in Provo, Utah, and the U.S. do not realize how many foreign Saints feel left out of the benefits of having a Church school accessible. I think Mexico and Brazil qualify for BYU campuses, and some day other countries. In the mid 90s I felt like Provo was 17 percent from California, only bigger state was Utah (at BYU) was Utah with maybe 33 percent. We joked it was BYU-California at Provo. Have things changed since? Institutes are still great to have at major schools, but more campuses worldwide would be great.
Instead of satellite BYU/Ensign campuses or other church schools, I wonder if some private investors get could join together and buy an existing school or create a new school similar to Southern Virginia University. That school is not officially affiliated with the church, but primarily caters to members and embraces church values and adjacent to it is of the largest church institutes outside the intermountain west. I bet that model could be copied elsewhere.
I would guess because Nauvoo has a population of fewer than 1100 people. Obviously the locals are used to tourism, but they probably would not be very happy about a massive influx of semi-permanent residents.
Of course as a USU student I'm biased against BYU. I can see the purposes that it fills, but at the same time I don't think having such a strictly enforced Honor Code, sharing the same religion as 98% of one's fellow students, and being shielded from ideas contrary to that religion are great preparation for the real world. I don't think having most or all members attend a BYU campus is an ideal to strive for. A few campuses outside the US would be great for the reasons discussed, but I don't think the US needs more than three.
Nauvoo had that idea as well as a place closer to Mezquite, Nevada, east of Vegas. I do not think that external factors played into those schools not going forward as much as the investors and planners themselves not following through with their commitments, which have had to do with some financial issues. All that said, I would rather see Church education centers set up in developing nations with growing memberships.
Buena Vista only has a population of 6,641 and is out in the the "boonies". However, it is not too terribly far from two other larger schools - Washington & Lee and VMI. Nevertheless, I also feel that perhaps schools in developing nations might be a better option.
I would be surprised if the church opens a new university. While there are many good reasons to open one, there is one big reason not to: money. CES is a major portion of the church's expenditures, and the church schools are a major part of CES outlays. Historically, most of the church's active membership were in the wealthiest parts of the world. That is rapidly changing, and as it changes it will become increasingly difficult to finance the church out of tithing donations. Recently, when critics of the church bring up the large savings/investments the church holds, some of the responses by the church have made it clear that those savings are intended to generate income to supplement tithing in order to keep the church afloat financially should the changing demographics of the church make that necessary. In light of those possible future financial pressures, I doubt that the church will open new campuses.
More reason I think we need to expand the BYU-Pathway-worldwide degree options. The group gatherings help with support and meeting others. Maybe even take classes together.
I have worried since moving to California in 1999 if that state is a bell weather for the rest of the United States and even the world. Does the decrease of Church units and membership bode any trends as to how things may progress or develop elsewhere? Hopefully not. Some think that poor political, economic, and other cultural factors have lead to the downfall of much of society there. Could this be the way and the future of other parts of the planet? Perhaps I am the chicken little, but California makes me wonder whither go we as a people. Perhaps I am an alarmist or over reacting. The two newer temples are great signs for good things to come, however.
Part of the reason is white flight and changing demographics. Church culture is slow adapt in its messaging to cater to a more diverse demographic, especially English-speaking Latinos. English Wards culturally are too "white" in their approach, while Spanish Wards tend to focus on recent immigrants. So English speaking Latinos feel out of place in both English and Spanish Wards.
Another reason is members who tend to be more politically conservative are moving to Red States (like Utah or Texas) even if they live in conservative areas in California.
Also a lot of members in California just jump on the bandwagon when other members in their ward move out of state, so they think the grass must be greener elsewhere, without seeing the need for members to stay in California to help build the Kingdom here.
BYU Idaho has pulled a lot of California YSAs to go up there for school. So they marry in Idaho or Utah, and stay there. The parents wanting to see their new grandkids pick up and move.
So there's a lack of encouragement for YSAs and other members to stay in California.
Considering that the Vienna 3rd ward was discontinued in September, the creation of the Enns ward is probably considered a wash. Like the situation in California, are more Austrians moving out of Vienna and choosing smaller cities to live in, or is it just a coincidence the ward was discontinued at nearly the same time the other was created?
@Cory According to the austrian churchofjesuschrist.org homepage the Vienna 3rd ward was discontinued to free up more capacity to run the vienna temple.
Over the past years most of the time one of the Vieanna wards was struggling. Often becaus some memers just attend the ward they want to attend. Now the 3 german speaking wards are rather large for european standards with well over a 100 active members each (according to my estimates around 450 int total). They are now more similar in sice than before. Alle Vienna wards cover large areas outside of the city. So most members moving out of Vienna move out to those areas and still remain in a Vienna ward.
The Linz ward has been a large ward for many years. There where also 2 wards in Linz till the early 2000s. Verly likly the ward was split because the space in the meetinghouse was getting tight.
Thanks for the link. I am assuming that the "free up more capacity" means that the ward leadership that would otherwise be taken up by a ward leadership will be used as temple workers and a presidency. Though I'm not sure what is needed during the construction of the temple, maybe a visitor's center trailer during the construction? I hesitate to accuse the press release of putting a positive spin on the news, but it seems odd that the temple, which is still years away, was the main impetus for the change. Like you said, the desire to strengthen the smugglings units was likely the main purpose.
The Washington DC YSA divided into two new stakes today: a north stake encompassing the DC and Maryland wards and a south stake encompassing the Virginia wards. A few wards/ branches were combined in the process, but I missed some of the particulars. The released stake president mentioned that it took ten years to organize the YSA stake and five years for it to divide into two
"Blogger Whizzbang said... They split the Winnipeg Manitoba Canada Stake, so now it's the Winnipeg West and Winnipeg East Stake now. They got rid of the Fort Frances District in order to help with the split. Plus a new ward was created, the River Heights Ward. So, now it's two Stakes attending the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, plus the two wards from Grand Forks, ND
Maybe it'll make more sense to purchase housing for larger Pathways programs-- some have hundreds of students at a location, no?-- then to pick one or two deserving locations to create an entirely new school.
I think that if BYU was to add another campus especially on the East Coast of the United States for example, then probably the best place would be in Virginia. Of course they could also buy SVU and rename it BYU Virginia but I really don't see that happening.
Very happy to see the split of the YSA stake in DC! And definitely hoping that other areas on the East Coast will follow with YSA stakes of their own. The New York YSA stake is decent-size and may split eventually. Other large metro areas (e.g., Atlanta) seem to not have any or very few YSA congregations.
There has been some very rapid growth in the YSA wards in the DC area. I was present when the DC YSA stake was organized 5 or 6 years ago, and if I remember right there were 6 wards in the stake initially. Amazing that there are now a dozen or more in that area. It seems like there are a number of other places with enough YSA wards close together to merit YSA stakes -- Seattle, San Francisco, probably a couple in LA, Denver, and Dallas-Ft Worth all seem plausible. I wonder if any of those are in the pipeline.
I am surprised there is only one YSA ward in Mexico City, and none in places like Sao Paulo or Lima. I wonder why that is.
Why Vegas had not had a YSA stake made yet absolutely mystifies me. I thought it’d be a no brainer when I was in the Robindale YSA ward almost 10 years ago.
The Scottsdale North AZ stake lost two wards yesterday....from 10 to 8. The stake went from 9 to 10 a couple years ago and some of the resulting wards have experienced quite a bit of empty-nesters leaving and families taking advantage of selling their remarkably high equity homes caused by surging home prices and moving to other lower priced areas of the Valley, mainly the NW Phx metro area (north Peoria and north Glendale), Mesa, and Gilbert.
Hal Bright, It looks like AZ is similar to The Salt Lake Valley where people move from Salt Lake City to South Jordan or other areas in the Valley. It's does not seem like shrinking membership but more like changing demographics. For example even the closure of units in California means growth in other areas of the country as people look for more affordable areas to live or for political ideals that line up with a person's beliefs.
There are 10 YSA wards in the Las Vegas Metro area, which may be enough for two stakes. They could divide it up east-west to match the mission boundaries, although the current ward boundaries don't perfectly align with the missions. There is a meetinghouse on Alta Dr. that houses two YSA wards. It could be used as a stake center for a YSA Stake.
I like the idea of one stake with 10 wards more than two stakes with five wards each. Especially for YSA where individual wards tend to have fewer active members and more transience, having this strength in numbers is going to be good.
So one thing that comes in mind when talking about dividing, is not just power in numbers but if the leadership can handle the numbers. I've lived in 2 different stakes that had 16 units each - with most wards with their own build, located about 30-45 minutes from the next closest building. This made it challenging for the stake presidency to give the individual attention serve the units and members within their stake.
There's no YSA, institute, or SA wards or branches here (they all belong to their respective family wards) so I don't know what being in an area with respective wards. I'm the stake male SA rep (31+) at my stake, and there was about 7 singles that showed up at this month's stake SA activity. There's about 1,000 SA on record in this stake.
Verified in Classic Maps today, the new "Winnipeg Manitoba West Stake - 2182157", which includes the Brandon, St James, Waverley and Wellington YSA Wards, and the Dauphin, Neepawa, Portage La Prairie, Selkirk and Thompson Branches.
After the recently organized "Kpogan Branch - 2184605", the Lome Togo Be Stake - 1177966, now has 9 wards and 2 branches. Making it that much closer to being able to reorganize a 3rd stake in the togolese capital city, Lome; in my humble opinion, after the recently organized last week of the Be-Kpota 2nd ward.
I'm not sure how they make the decisions to form a YSA stake. I don't know if the initiative come from the top or if it comes from stake presidents. Obviously membership density around universities is a factor, which explains Utah, Idaho, Lethbridge Alberta, and Buena Vista VA. Then there are the Phoenix, DC, New York, Calgary, and Edmonton Metro areas. There are a number of other metro areas that appear to theatrically be able to support YSA Stakes:
Las Vegas - 10 Wards Dallas-Fort Worth - 8 Wards, 2 branches Denver - 8 wards Seattle North - 6 Wards Seattle South - 6 Wards, 2 branches Portland - 5 Wards, 3 Branches San Diego - 7 Wards, 1 SA Ward Inland Empire - 9 Wards, 1 SA Ward Orange County - 8 Wards, 2 SA Wards Los Angeles - 8 wards, 1 Branch 1 SA ward Ventura County and North of LA - 7 Wards, 1 Branch Bay Area- 7 wards, 3 branches, 2 SA Wards Sacramento - 6 wards
Interestingly, there are still 2 student wards in USC and UCLA. These type of wards were discontinued more than a decade ago in Utah and replaced with YSA wards. However there are still a few floating around in the United States. In New York, the SA ward is part the YSA stake. This is not the case in DC. New York is the only place I can observe that this is true. But having an SA ward in a YSA stake could provide some more mature leadership in some areas. With the handbook updates, the only positions that need to be held by a married person is Bishop, Stake President, and Patriarch. So the existence of a YSA stake doesn't need to be a drain on local leadership. I'm hopeful that regional leaders will have confidence to call more single people to bishoprics, high councils, stake presidencies, and stake Relief Society presidencies. In my YSA stake in Provo, they have not yet filled these callings with single people. I would like to think this is because they don't trust the average BYU student to live in the same ward or stake for more than 8 months, creating a problem in turnover.
The argument against forming YSA stakes would be alienating YSAs and SAs and their potential leadership from the rest of the church's stakes. In California, some stakes would have to be discontinued because of the loss of these units, especially if they are taking out a lot of married people from their units. Although New York and DC are not dense with members, YSA stakes in California and other large metro areas may be less effective due to their sprawling size. A YSA stake probably needs to have a radius of an hour or less of travel.
For what it is worth the Church College of New Zealand and Benemerito were both secondary institutions, not tertiary ones like BYU.
The Church still has Liahona High School in Tonga and I believe schools in Samoa and Kiribati.
Here in Michigan the Church owns apartments adjacent to Michigan State University but I suspect they would reject a similar offer if given the chance. The Church only has those because the Stoddard family donated all the money to build them.
The logistics of starting a BYU campus outside of the US would be different than BYU-Hawai'i. A BYU-Mexico or BYU-Brazil would have much different issues with recruiting teachers, etc.
I could see that being done. However it will take a lot of preparation.
I really doubt the Church would ever build a university in Calufornia. California seems less and less willing to allow private relugious educational institutions to abide by their own rules. There are those in California who would ban sports against any institution that tries to abide by traditional Christian understandings of sex differences and chastity.
The current push for gathering spaces seems to be trying to fill the function of institute in a broader way.
I know dating back to the 1960s there have been Periodic calls for more junior colleges operated by the Church. None have ever come about.
More likely is probably more institutions like Southern Virginia University. Run independently by Latter-day Saints.
There was an attempt to found such an institution in Nauvoo but it closed after a year. There was also one in I think Logandale, Nevada but I am not sure it ever took off.
BYU Hawai'i has a very heavily mainland US origin faculty. Keep in mind Hawai'i has the longest stable history of The Church anywhere outside the mainland US. The Honolulu Stake it almost 25 years older than any stake in Europe.
Yet at times there are tensions because the professors do not look like or come from the sane culture as the students.
President Wheelwright, a Harvard Business school man and long associate of Kim Clark, was probably the leader who fanned these tensions the most. John S. Tanner was able to move beyond them, and now John Keuawe as a Hawai'ian in most senses of the word, faces them little. Keauwe has multiple ethnic herirages, including Hawai'ian, Maori, Northern European and Portuguese. As such he is quintessentially Hawaiian. His having spent time on the mainland even is not that unusual either.
A university in Brazil or Mexuco would need to operate in Portuguese or Spanish, have largely nationals for faculty, and other such considerations.
The name is Rex Lee. Of course President Lee would have not been the one to make that decision. That decision would have fallen on the Church commissioner of education, and even more so the board, which is run mainly by apostles. Elder Holland is the current head of the Executive Commitee of the Board.
I do not believe that was the problem at all. The main problem is starting a non-profit educational institution is costly if you have a campus, and they did not have enough structure in place to succeed. Lots of colleges function in small towns so I doubt that had much to do with it.
They might, burmt what are the logistics to start such a thing. I believe there is a group called the Acorn to Oak foundation which plans to eventually start such a university somewhere in Latin America. It however has no concrete plans to do so at any given date.
California has had a huge net out migration between it and the rest of the US over the last 20 years. It population has been supplemented by immigration, but immigrants coming from areas where generally the percentage of Church members is less than in the US.
No other state has come close to losing stakes on the level of California. The only places maybe similar are Washington and Oregon.
I am not buying the Church schools explanation. Clark Gilbert and his associates built a pipeline from inner city Biston to BYU-Idaho, yet the number of stakes in Massachusetts have more than doubled.
The logistics of making YSA stakes is difficult. They did not exist at all until about 10 years ago. The first were in Ogden. Before that there had been single student stakes.
There are huge complexities of YSA units. They are not often set up to serve the needs of many of the YSAs you end up with in an inner city branch like mine. Many of our YSAs are single parents.
Even many YSA units that are not designated student units still function as such.
It does surprise me that outside of Idaho, Utah and Arizona only New York and DC have YSA stakes.
On the other hand I know that the YSA system leads to young married couples feeling more out of place in wards than they were otherwise.
When I was on my mission in Las Vegas Sunrise Stake still tried to resist its YSAs going to wards in other stakes. Sunrise now has its own YSA ward. I was there when there were only 2 YSA units on the east side of the valley, before they broke up the UNLV ward.
I am not sure there are even 5 YSA units outside the US and Canada. Taking YSAs outside normal units does limit their calling options some. It also can at times make outreach to inactive YSAs harder.
I also know some feel that throwing 30 year old men in the sane units as 19 year old women is mixing people too far apart in age.
I live in a unit that tried to abide by the complex rules on where 18-20 year Olds attend when living with their parents that were snapped in the 2010 handbook revision. It did not work because too high a percentage of active Church members went away to college. It may have worked in Salt Lake with more students at home and strong institutes, but it did not work here in Michigan.
What is happening yo the houses they sell though? Are they being converted to non-residrntial use? If not than why are the people moving in less likely to be members than those moving out?
I think they like YSA stakes to have at least 6 wards. I could see them starting with one stake with all 10 wards, even if they think they can split soon.
I have to wonder if covid disruption may have caused a delay.
That said, what exactly are the benefits to having a YSA stake as opposed to YSA wards in non-YSA stakes. The wards already have boundaries drawn in ways that transcend stake boundaries, so that is not a direct issue.
I think there are benefits but I think it would be good to enumerate them.
The USC and UCLA wards are not like the student wards discontinued about a decade ago in Utah. As I understand it these wards are open to all students at these institutions and their families regardless of marital status or residence. BYU has not had such units for about 70 years, and even then they were more residentially limited. The first BYU student units formed just after WWII, mixed single and married students, but with most of the males returning veterans, some if whom served missions before the war, the average age of males was much higher than in later student units.
The Kalamazoo University branch here in Michigan was such a married and single mixed unit at least as of roughly 2009.
I think there is more than stability at issue with the BYU stakes not changing leadership.
First off, I do not think the plan is to fill all these callings with singles. I have never seen a YSA branch fill both the counselors with singles, and technically this has been allowed for decades.
I think in general the contemplation is that a few high councilors may be singles 25-30, but it will be rare to call below that age.
The change is also this year announced, and was not one of the implement it now changes,so YSA stakes feel no urgency to implement them.
One of my wards while at BYU even the ward clerk was a married man, the others the clerk was called from the ward. That first example was an on campus ward with almost all members freshmen.
I think there is one member of the high council in my stake who has served 7 and a half years straight. I think this may not be his first time in the high council. He was my bishop. The bishop after him is now our stake president, and that bishop served a few months over 5 years and then served over a year as a high council member before he became stake president. Our stake patriarch is also my former bishop, but there were 3 bishop's between him and the high council member I mentioned.
While compared to other organizations we have high turnover in leadership, it is not so high that we can easily see the effects of a change made this year when it was not accompanied by a mandate to change immediately.
Even before the change you could call singles over 30 to high councils in YSA stakes, and singles of any age to high councils outside YSA stakes. I am not sure my stake has ever had a single member of the high council.
There is a single member of my branch who served in the district presidency when my branch was part of the Detroit District.
Make that 11. The Church also broke ground for the Casper Wyoming Temple (on the Saturday following the October General Conference.
Also, the Bacolod Philippines Temple will be #12 for 2021 on the second Saturday in December. That may be it for 2021, but there are 15 other temples likely to have groundbreaking in the first 4-6 months of next year, if all goes well.
Thanks for the clarification on the USC and UCLA student wards. I was not aware of how those function. That means I need to subtract two in my count of the Los Angeles area. Yes, you are right, there is no imperative to call singles to bishoprics, it was only a way to provide more flexibility. Although from someone I know on social media, I have seen that in Rexburg, young single men have been called to to bishopric. In Provo I have seen the trend of calling young married men to the bishopric who are still students. In one case, the stake president called both his sons-in-law to serve in different wards in the stake.
It took about 5 years or so from when I was living as a YSA in the Idaho Falls area (and we were pushing for a YSA stake) to when they actually formed one, so these things can take a while, even in areas where it seems like it's a no-brainer. The big catalyst there was EITC changing from a technical college to a 2-year college - ushering in an influx of YSA students (from what I've been told).
Updated today on Classic Maps site, the previously announced "Winnipeg Manitoba Stake - 511439 " was renamed "Winnipeg Manitoba East Stake - 511439". Which includes the Dalhousie, Gateway and London Wards, and the Bergland (ONT), Dryden (ONT), Kenora (ONT), Steinbach (MAN) and Warroad (Minnesota) Branches, from the discontinued Fort Frances Ontario District - 600717.
Also updated on Classic Maps site today as announced previously, the "Washington DC YSA Stake - 2066300" was renamed the "Washington DC YSA South Stake - 2066300". Which includes the Braddock, Bull Run, Dulles, Langley, National Landing, Pentagon City, Potomac Yard, Wolf Trap YSA Wards and the Occoquan YSA Branch.
I wanted to weigh in again here. Matt, I'm grateful for your ongoing efforts to provide these monthly updates. It's been humbling for me to see the monthly growth of the Church as reflected in your reports, so thank you. I am also very much looking forward to your next analysis on the top ten nations with the strongest Church presence without a temple. Based on what I've been able to ascertain on my end, and bearing in mind that most of the relevant numbers may be outdated, I believe the top tne list will be comprised of the following nations in the following order: Uganda, Mongolia, Malaysia, Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, Jamaica, Micronesia, Guyana, and Belize.
As far as the two temples each for which opening or reopening arrangements might soon be announced, the Church seems to be taking a more cautious approach in scheduling those for the time being. It was easy to schedule the dedications for Winnipeg and Pocatello and the rededications of the Mesa and Washington D.C. Temples because the COVID-19 restrictions are not as stringent in North America as they are elsewhere. And while the arrangements for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple have been announced, in general, it's difficult to gauge the timing of announcements for the opening/reopening of temples outside the United States.
Of course, the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde and San Juan Puerto Rico Temples are smaller, and the Saratoga Springs Utah and Helena Montana Temples are in the United States, so that might play into the timing for each of those to have dedications announced. The timing on Hamilton New Zealand's and Tokyo Japan's rededications is more difficult to gauge. Additionally, the first presidents have been announced for the Guam, Cabo Verde, and Puerto Rico Temples, whereas the announcement of the first president and matron for Quito Ecuador is still pending.
So if I had to take a guess here, for the Yigo Guam Temple, I could see a dedication in April or May (before or after the dedication of the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple), with Quito following in either May or June. But it might be spring of next year before the reopening arrangements for Tokyo and Hamilton are able to be announced, based on some analysis I have done, we will probably see the number of new temple dedications starting to tick upwards by the beginning of August of next year.
As far as temple groundbreakings are concerned, the latest update on the Bahia Blanca Argentina Temple seems to be on track for a groundbreaking hopefully before the end of this year:
Additionally, a conditional use permit has been approved by the City of Elko and a special use permit has been approved by the City of Farmington Planning Commission, so I could see the Church breaking ground for either or both of those temples by the end of this year, or within the first couple of weeks in January:
I also think it's possible that groundbreakings could be set for both the Cali Colombia Temple (given its' smaller size) and the Torreon Mexico Temple (which appears to be the first temple outside the United States to utilize the modular design) could also soon have groundbreakings announced. And there are 12 others which could potentially have groundbreakings between January and June or August of next year, so I think we'll see some official announcements on some of these temples sooner rather than later.
The people buying are less likely to be members because the members that are moving out are moving to more affordable housing.
My stake went from 6 to 5 wards recently, some of it is people moving out of state, some of it is people moving to more affordable parts of the state, but a big % is people moving out of the expensive areas in our stake and spreading out to the other stakes in the area where affordable homes are available to buy.
According to an official Facebook page the Church runs for Canada, the week after Winnipeg was dedicated, the stake there was divided by Elder Neilson. The stakes are now west and east, and one took in the mission district associated with the temple district.
I think if a Los Angeles YSA stake were to be created they would realign or redefine the USC and UCLA wards in the process. This would impact 3 wards just in the LA stake, so it may require other realignment than just splitting out YSA units.
I am also thinking that it would make sense if they did YSA stakes in Southern California at all to do one in LA county, one in Orange county and maybe at least one more all at once.
I think they have a Spanish YSA unit in San Fernando Valley. I think it makes sense to move that under a YSA stake and not leave it in the Spanish stake but these things may take effort.
Cory, I had a thought on that. We know that 3 recent smaller US temples have a modular design, and we've seen with Helena how the prefabricated modules have sped up the construction progress. Since the Torreon Mexico Temple appears to be the first one outside the US to use the modular design, the specific wording on the discontinuation of the Vienna Ward has me wondering if the modular design will be used there as well. If that is the case, work on the Vienna Temple could begin in the next 3-4 months, with a dedication following 13-16 months after it starts
Additionally, the discontinuation of that Ward may lead to a reconfiguration of any other congregations in that building or region, which may allow the Church to build that temple and a new meetinghouse on the side of that temple on that spot. I may be wrong there, but time will tell.
I’m a frequent reader but infrequent commenter… just to the southeast of those stakes, in the same mission and coordinating council, the Tupelo Mississippi Stake had 12 units for a long time until the West Point Branch was closed and the Columbus Ward was added to the then-recently reorganized and renamed Tuscaloosa Alabama Stake. That stake is exactly the same — each building hosts one unit, and they’re all 30-60 minutes away from each other.
Carapicuiba Brazil Stake (2186829) Active Date: 14 Nov 2021 Ariston Ward (357154) Ala Ariston Carapicuiba Ward (2041154) Ala Carapicuiba Nova Granada Ward (175080) Ala Nova Granada Sao Camilo Ward (2164809) Ala Sao Camilo Vila Dirce Ward (210153) Ala Vila Dirce (SP)
I am very excited about Dayton getting a 3rd stake. I now predict both Cincinatti and Cleveland getting temples before the decade is out. Dayton with 3 stakes is now a potential dark horse, but I would be shocked if it gets a temple before 2030.
A rendering of the reconstructed Provo Temple has just been released: https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/2021/nov/24/renderings-of-redesign-of-provo-utah-temple-released-by-lds-church/
A rendering of the Smithfield temple has been released. https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/2021/nov/24/renderings-of-redesign-of-provo-utah-temple-released-by-lds-church/
With so many temples going up . has that made a positive impact on church growth? Critics claim the new tempmes are desperate attempts for the church to appear growing when the rate of increase is at the lowest point since 1857 is this true?
102 comments:
Matt, it is great to hear about the progress in such distant locations of the globe as the new member groups in 2 major cities of India and the new branches in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Thank you for the updates in your Newsletter. I was really surprised to read about the 2 young returned missionaries who call their home Iraq.
Also, I have found 10 Temples on the Official Church website list that need their Status updated from "Announced" to "Under Construction".
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/list?lang=eng
1) Deseret Peak Utah
2) Helena Montana
3) Nairobi Kenya
4) Neiafu Tonga
5) Pago Pago American Samoa
6) Phnom Penh Cambodia
7) Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
8) Salvador Brazil
9) Syracuse Utah
10) Tallahassee Florida
All of which have had an official Groundbreaking Ceremony.
Great newsletter. Mongolia should have a temple soon. I know some Mongolian expats who have fallen away, which is too bad. Some cultures more easily adopt the the faith than others.
I say Baja South, Mexico needs a temple geographically, but members-wise that is still difficult.
The home group in Dehradun is an exciting development. I was thrilled when I heard about this a few months ago from an acquaintance of mine who is a member in New Delhi. Gurgaon, aka Gurugram, is not newly reached. Missionaries assigned to the Dwarka Ward have been sometimes going there since at least 2009, and a home group has been operating there for over a decade. Frankly, I am surprised/disappointed there is no branch there yet.
A new stake will be created in Rexburg on December 12. Not sure what it will be called yet, but I do know it will be pulling partially from the Rexburg East Stake. Got a tip from an old coworker with connections. You know who you are, fellow reader, and I thank you for it.
What is the student population of BYU-Idaho now? Does anyone know the numbers in the Pathways program?
What percentage of Idaho State are Latter-day Saints?
Idaho is such a dynamic state for Church growth.
Of all Africa, I am the most impressed that Congo (DRC) has three temples announced/functioning so far. French is becoming a bigger factor in the Church all the time.
Ethiopia has its Church growth struggles due to instability, but other countries will benefit from those elders or sisters moving around.
Uganda should get a temple before Tanzania.
How long before Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda have their own?
Any news on Russia or China?
I think I just got whiplash.
The numbers for BYUI Fall 2021 have not been released yet. They are usually released by late October. I also wonder about BYU-PW's and Ensign college's numbers. There usually seems to get good growth.
Sorry, Monsieur Todd, I know it has been tough under the policy and naming changes of President Nelson.
We are all trying our best to keep up.
Are more missionaries going out this year than last?
Is there any help for a motherless son?
I wonder if we'll see a stake organized in Pakistan soon
I was thinking the other day about how the Church can use the CES (the university part of it specifically) to strengthen local members and instill self-sufficiency. Pathways is nice and useful for non-traditional students especially, but I would still hope that there will be more physical BYU campuses built outside of the United States.
Physical BYU campuses have some advantages over Pathways, especially for traditional students. Students can actually bond with each other, even if they are from different wards and stakes. More of them may find spouses and start families under these circumstances. Non-members could be admitted more easily and would likely be exposed to the Church in a very immersive way. Also, from a purely academic view, it is easier to organize more specialized degree programs (including at the graduate level) on a traditional campus; for example, someone studying nursing would probably need to do labs and clinicals, and that is difficult to do online. Someone studying mechanical engineering would probably benefit from a workshop to build things in. Someone studying chemistry definitely needs a lab, as well.
BYU and BYUI are getting pretty full. The Church is growing. I think we need more physical, real university campuses around the world that can address demand and help young adults of college age have an immersive, spiritual and academic BYU experience preferably on their own continent.
Although it is in the U.S., BYU Hawaii caters mostly to the several countries of the Pacific and Asia. It is one of the most diverse universities in the country. The degrees in the Pathway program are limited even though they are offered by BYUI and Ensign College. I wonder if BYUH and BYU Provo will ever offer degrees as well. Or add even more of the other degrees into Pathway.
For years we have wanted a BYU campus in Brazil, as a way to create strong ecclesiastical leadership, bring young people from different regions together in their quest to raise families, and also to strengthen the academic training of the Saints. However, after the Church closed Church College of New Zealand and the Benemerito de Las Américas, the chance of this dream happening seems to be dwindling.
To help stabilize the membership of the Church in California, I always thought the Church could buy an existing college campus like University of LaVerne or a University of Redlands type of campus and convert it into a BYU California Campus.
Never say never. I can see the church starting another college or BYU campus in another country with how quickly it is growing internationally -especially in a nation with a lot of membership growth like Brazil, imo.
Lost my post!
Chilean comp sent many letters to BYU president pleading for a campus down there.
Other stuff about Californians in Provo, or wondering how many UVU students are from California.
Reason I don’t see that happening is the ever increasing regulation the State imposed on schools regarding students and teachers.
Recently organized "Smithfield Utah West Stake - 2178834"
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=41.829211,-111.823444&z=14&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=Smithfield%20Utah%20West%20Stake&find=stake:2178834
25 Nov 09, 2021 Smithfield Utah West Stake
Which includes the Smithfield 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th, 9th, 16th and 25th Wards.
Juan from El Bosque, Santiago sent one of at least a dozen letters with me to bring to former BYU President Rex Reed, the father of the current Utah senator. I went to the admin building in 1994, delivering the letter to his secretary. She had an exasperated look on her face.
I say many in Provo, Utah, and the U.S. do not realize how many foreign Saints feel left out of the benefits of having a Church school accessible. I think Mexico and Brazil qualify for BYU campuses, and some day other countries.
In the mid 90s I felt like Provo was 17 percent from California, only bigger state was Utah (at BYU) was Utah with maybe 33 percent. We joked it was BYU-California at Provo.
Have things changed since?
Institutes are still great to have at major schools, but more campuses worldwide would be great.
Instead of satellite BYU/Ensign campuses or other church schools, I wonder if some private investors get could join together and buy an existing school or create a new school similar to Southern Virginia University. That school is not officially affiliated with the church, but primarily caters to members and embraces church values and adjacent to it is of the largest church institutes outside the intermountain west. I bet that model could be copied elsewhere.
I believe a similar model to Southern Virginia University was attempted in Nauvoo not long ago, but was unsuccessful. Does anyone know why?
I would guess because Nauvoo has a population of fewer than 1100 people. Obviously the locals are used to tourism, but they probably would not be very happy about a massive influx of semi-permanent residents.
Of course as a USU student I'm biased against BYU. I can see the purposes that it fills, but at the same time I don't think having such a strictly enforced Honor Code, sharing the same religion as 98% of one's fellow students, and being shielded from ideas contrary to that religion are great preparation for the real world. I don't think having most or all members attend a BYU campus is an ideal to strive for. A few campuses outside the US would be great for the reasons discussed, but I don't think the US needs more than three.
Nauvoo had that idea as well as a place closer to Mezquite, Nevada, east of Vegas. I do not think that external factors played into those schools not going forward as much as the investors and planners themselves not following through with their commitments, which have had to do with some financial issues.
All that said, I would rather see Church education centers set up in developing nations with growing memberships.
Buena Vista only has a population of 6,641 and is out in the the "boonies". However, it is not too terribly far from two other larger schools - Washington & Lee and VMI. Nevertheless, I also feel that perhaps schools in developing nations might be a better option.
I would be surprised if the church opens a new university. While there are many good reasons to open one, there is one big reason not to: money. CES is a major portion of the church's expenditures, and the church schools are a major part of CES outlays. Historically, most of the church's active membership were in the wealthiest parts of the world. That is rapidly changing, and as it changes it will become increasingly difficult to finance the church out of tithing donations. Recently, when critics of the church bring up the large savings/investments the church holds, some of the responses by the church have made it clear that those savings are intended to generate income to supplement tithing in order to keep the church afloat financially should the changing demographics of the church make that necessary. In light of those possible future financial pressures, I doubt that the church will open new campuses.
More reason I think we need to expand the BYU-Pathway-worldwide degree options. The group gatherings help with support and meeting others. Maybe even take classes together.
Sadly, Jurupa California Stake was dissolved, with parts of it going to the Corona, Riverside, and Ontario Stakes.
I have worried since moving to California in 1999 if that state is a bell weather for the rest of the United States and even the world.
Does the decrease of Church units and membership bode any trends as to how things may progress or develop elsewhere? Hopefully not.
Some think that poor political, economic, and other cultural factors have lead to the downfall of much of society there.
Could this be the way and the future of other parts of the planet? Perhaps I am the chicken little, but California makes me wonder whither go we as a people. Perhaps I am an alarmist or over reacting.
The two newer temples are great signs for good things to come, however.
Good news from central Europe, which does not happen often.
The Linz Ward in the Salzburg Austria Stake was recently split to organize the new "Enns Ward - 2184478"
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=48.198274,14.482301&z=11&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=Enns%20Ward&find=stake:526525
175 Nov 09, 2021 Enns Ward Linz, Austria
Wunderbar!
Part of the reason is white flight and changing demographics. Church culture is slow adapt in its messaging to cater to a more diverse demographic, especially English-speaking Latinos.
English Wards culturally are too "white" in their approach, while Spanish Wards tend to focus on recent immigrants. So English speaking Latinos feel out of place in both English and Spanish Wards.
Another reason is members who tend to be more politically conservative are moving to Red States (like Utah or Texas) even if they live in conservative areas in California.
Also a lot of members in California just jump on the bandwagon when other members in their ward move out of state, so they think the grass must be greener elsewhere, without seeing the need for members to stay in California to help build the Kingdom here.
BYU Idaho has pulled a lot of California YSAs to go up there for school. So they marry in Idaho or Utah, and stay there. The parents wanting to see their new grandkids pick up and move.
So there's a lack of encouragement for YSAs and other members to stay in California.
Considering that the Vienna 3rd ward was discontinued in September, the creation of the Enns ward is probably considered a wash. Like the situation in California, are more Austrians moving out of Vienna and choosing smaller cities to live in, or is it just a coincidence the ward was discontinued at nearly the same time the other was created?
@Cory
According to the austrian churchofjesuschrist.org homepage the Vienna 3rd ward was discontinued to free up more capacity to run the vienna temple.
https://news-at.kirchejesuchristi.org/artikel/neuorganisation-der-wiener-gemeinden
Over the past years most of the time one of the Vieanna wards was struggling. Often becaus some memers just attend the ward they want to attend. Now the 3 german speaking wards are rather large for european standards with well over a 100 active members each (according to my estimates around 450 int total). They are now more similar in sice than before. Alle Vienna wards cover large areas outside of the city. So most members moving out of Vienna move out to those areas and still remain in a Vienna ward.
The Linz ward has been a large ward for many years. There where also 2 wards in Linz till the early 2000s. Verly likly the ward was split because the space in the meetinghouse was getting tight.
Miro,
Thanks for the link. I am assuming that the "free up more capacity" means that the ward leadership that would otherwise be taken up by a ward leadership will be used as temple workers and a presidency. Though I'm not sure what is needed during the construction of the temple, maybe a visitor's center trailer during the construction? I hesitate to accuse the press release of putting a positive spin on the news, but it seems odd that the temple, which is still years away, was the main impetus for the change. Like you said, the desire to strengthen the smugglings units was likely the main purpose.
The Washington DC YSA divided into two new stakes today: a north stake encompassing the DC and Maryland wards and a south stake encompassing the Virginia wards. A few wards/ branches were combined in the process, but I missed some of the particulars. The released stake president mentioned that it took ten years to organize the YSA stake and five years for it to divide into two
And hopefully 2.5 years until they divide again! ;)
From previous post feed earlier today :
"Blogger Whizzbang said...
They split the Winnipeg Manitoba Canada Stake, so now it's the Winnipeg West and Winnipeg East Stake now. They got rid of the Fort Frances District in order to help with the split. Plus a new ward was created, the River Heights Ward. So, now it's two Stakes attending the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, plus the two wards from Grand Forks, ND
November 14, 2021 at 12:18 PM"
I hope we get the "10 Countries/Territories with most members without a Temple" post soon. I always look forward to that one. :)
Maybe it'll make more sense to purchase housing for larger Pathways programs-- some have hundreds of students at a location, no?-- then to pick one or two deserving locations to create an entirely new school.
I think that if BYU was to add another campus especially on the East Coast of the United States for example, then probably the best place would be in Virginia. Of course they could also buy SVU and rename it BYU Virginia but I really don't see that happening.
Yea verily! I believe their official names are the Washington DC YSA South Stake and the Washington DC YSA North Stake
Very happy to see the split of the YSA stake in DC! And definitely hoping that other areas on the East Coast will follow with YSA stakes of their own. The New York YSA stake is decent-size and may split eventually. Other large metro areas (e.g., Atlanta) seem to not have any or very few YSA congregations.
Sounds awesome 👍 ...let's get the 2021 list updated. 👍
There has been some very rapid growth in the YSA wards in the DC area. I was present when the DC YSA stake was organized 5 or 6 years ago, and if I remember right there were 6 wards in the stake initially. Amazing that there are now a dozen or more in that area. It seems like there are a number of other places with enough YSA wards close together to merit YSA stakes -- Seattle, San Francisco, probably a couple in LA, Denver, and Dallas-Ft Worth all seem plausible. I wonder if any of those are in the pipeline.
I am surprised there is only one YSA ward in Mexico City, and none in places like Sao Paulo or Lima. I wonder why that is.
Las Vegas also would be another seemingly obvious location for a YSA stake.
Why Vegas had not had a YSA stake made yet absolutely mystifies me. I thought it’d be a no brainer when I was in the Robindale YSA ward almost 10 years ago.
The Scottsdale North AZ stake lost two wards yesterday....from 10 to 8. The stake went from 9 to 10 a couple years ago and some of the resulting wards have experienced quite a bit of empty-nesters leaving and families taking advantage of selling their remarkably high equity homes caused by surging home prices and moving to other lower priced areas of the Valley, mainly the NW Phx metro area (north Peoria and north Glendale), Mesa, and Gilbert.
Hal Bright, It looks like AZ is similar to The Salt Lake Valley where people move from Salt Lake City to South Jordan or other areas in the Valley. It's does not seem like shrinking membership but more like changing demographics. For example even the closure of units in California means growth in other areas of the country as people look for more affordable areas to live or for political ideals that line up with a person's beliefs.
How many YSA units are in the Vegas area? Are there enough to form a stake?
There are 10 YSA wards in the Las Vegas Metro area, which may be enough for two stakes. They could divide it up east-west to match the mission boundaries, although the current ward boundaries don't perfectly align with the missions. There is a meetinghouse on Alta Dr. that houses two YSA wards. It could be used as a stake center for a YSA Stake.
Robindale
Royal Mesa
Foothills
Heritage
Temple View
Spanish Trail
Willow Springs
Red Rock
Centennial Hills
North Star
That’s 10 wards, would make a very powerful stake in the Las Vegas Valley.
I like the idea of one stake with 10 wards more than two stakes with five wards each. Especially for YSA where individual wards tend to have fewer active members and more transience, having this strength in numbers is going to be good.
Pascal,
So one thing that comes in mind when talking about dividing, is not just power in numbers but if the leadership can handle the numbers. I've lived in 2 different stakes that had 16 units each - with most wards with their own build, located about 30-45 minutes from the next closest building. This made it challenging for the stake presidency to give the individual attention serve the units and members within their stake.
There's no YSA, institute, or SA wards or branches here (they all belong to their respective family wards) so I don't know what being in an area with respective wards. I'm the stake male SA rep (31+) at my stake, and there was about 7 singles that showed up at this month's stake SA activity. There's about 1,000 SA on record in this stake.
16 units? That is pretty big. Too much, I say.
Where is that?
Stakes are tending to get smaller, I think.
Verified in Classic Maps today, the new "Winnipeg Manitoba West Stake - 2182157", which includes the Brandon, St James, Waverley and Wellington YSA Wards, and the Dauphin, Neepawa, Portage La Prairie, Selkirk and Thompson Branches.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=51.082804,-98.669395&z=7&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=Winnipeg%20Manitoba%20West%20Stake&find=stake:2182157
Leaving the Dalhousie, Gateway, London Wards and Steinbach Branch with as of yet not renamed original "Winnipeg Manitoba Stake - 511439"
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=51.082804,-98.669395&z=7&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=Winnipeg%20Manitoba%20Stake&find=stake:511439
After the recently organized "Kpogan Branch - 2184605", the Lome Togo Be Stake - 1177966, now has 9 wards and 2 branches. Making it that much closer to being able to reorganize a 3rd stake in the togolese capital city, Lome; in my humble opinion, after the recently organized last week of the Be-Kpota 2nd ward.
171 Nov 16, 2021 Kpogan Branch
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=6.158191,1.301149&z=12&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&find=stake:1177966
I'm not sure how they make the decisions to form a YSA stake. I don't know if the initiative come from the top or if it comes from stake presidents. Obviously membership density around universities is a factor, which explains Utah, Idaho, Lethbridge Alberta, and Buena Vista VA. Then there are the Phoenix, DC, New York, Calgary, and Edmonton Metro areas. There are a number of other metro areas that appear to theatrically be able to support YSA Stakes:
Las Vegas - 10 Wards
Dallas-Fort Worth - 8 Wards, 2 branches
Denver - 8 wards
Seattle North - 6 Wards
Seattle South - 6 Wards, 2 branches
Portland - 5 Wards, 3 Branches
San Diego - 7 Wards, 1 SA Ward
Inland Empire - 9 Wards, 1 SA Ward
Orange County - 8 Wards, 2 SA Wards
Los Angeles - 8 wards, 1 Branch 1 SA ward
Ventura County and North of LA - 7 Wards, 1 Branch
Bay Area- 7 wards, 3 branches, 2 SA Wards
Sacramento - 6 wards
Interestingly, there are still 2 student wards in USC and UCLA. These type of wards were discontinued more than a decade ago in Utah and replaced with YSA wards. However there are still a few floating around in the United States. In New York, the SA ward is part the YSA stake. This is not the case in DC. New York is the only place I can observe that this is true. But having an SA ward in a YSA stake could provide some more mature leadership in some areas. With the handbook updates, the only positions that need to be held by a married person is Bishop, Stake President, and Patriarch. So the existence of a YSA stake doesn't need to be a drain on local leadership. I'm hopeful that regional leaders will have confidence to call more single people to bishoprics, high councils, stake presidencies, and stake Relief Society presidencies. In my YSA stake in Provo, they have not yet filled these callings with single people. I would like to think this is because they don't trust the average BYU student to live in the same ward or stake for more than 8 months, creating a problem in turnover.
The argument against forming YSA stakes would be alienating YSAs and SAs and their potential leadership from the rest of the church's stakes. In California, some stakes would have to be discontinued because of the loss of these units, especially if they are taking out a lot of married people from their units. Although New York and DC are not dense with members, YSA stakes in California and other large metro areas may be less effective due to their sprawling size. A YSA stake probably needs to have a radius of an hour or less of travel.
For what it is worth the Church College of New Zealand and Benemerito were both secondary institutions, not tertiary ones like BYU.
The Church still has Liahona High School in Tonga and I believe schools in Samoa and Kiribati.
Here in Michigan the Church owns apartments adjacent to Michigan State University but I suspect they would reject a similar offer if given the chance. The Church only has those because the Stoddard family donated all the money to build them.
The logistics of starting a BYU campus outside of the US would be different than BYU-Hawai'i. A BYU-Mexico or BYU-Brazil would have much different issues with recruiting teachers, etc.
I could see that being done. However it will take a lot of preparation.
I really doubt the Church would ever build a university in Calufornia. California seems less and less willing to allow private relugious educational institutions to abide by their own rules. There are those in California who would ban sports against any institution that tries to abide by traditional Christian understandings of sex differences and chastity.
The current push for gathering spaces seems to be trying to fill the function of institute in a broader way.
I know dating back to the 1960s there have been Periodic calls for more junior colleges operated by the Church. None have ever come about.
More likely is probably more institutions like Southern Virginia University. Run independently by Latter-day Saints.
There was an attempt to found such an institution in Nauvoo but it closed after a year. There was also one in I think Logandale, Nevada but I am not sure it ever took off.
BYU Hawai'i has a very heavily mainland US origin faculty. Keep in mind Hawai'i has the longest stable history of The Church anywhere outside the mainland US. The Honolulu Stake it almost 25 years older than any stake in Europe.
Yet at times there are tensions because the professors do not look like or come from the sane culture as the students.
President Wheelwright, a Harvard Business school man and long associate of Kim Clark, was probably the leader who fanned these tensions the most. John S. Tanner was able to move beyond them, and now John Keuawe as a Hawai'ian in most senses of the word, faces them little. Keauwe has multiple ethnic herirages, including Hawai'ian, Maori, Northern European and Portuguese. As such he is quintessentially Hawaiian. His having spent time on the mainland even is not that unusual either.
A university in Brazil or Mexuco would need to operate in Portuguese or Spanish, have largely nationals for faculty, and other such considerations.
The name is Rex Lee. Of course President Lee would have not been the one to make that decision. That decision would have fallen on the Church commissioner of education, and even more so the board, which is run mainly by apostles. Elder Holland is the current head of the Executive Commitee of the Board.
I do not believe that was the problem at all. The main problem is starting a non-profit educational institution is costly if you have a campus, and they did not have enough structure in place to succeed. Lots of colleges function in small towns so I doubt that had much to do with it.
The purpose of BYU is to create touch notch scholarship that defends the Church.
Having attended both BYU and state schools I think BYU is way better in almost all ways.
They might, burmt what are the logistics to start such a thing. I believe there is a group called the Acorn to Oak foundation which plans to eventually start such a university somewhere in Latin America. It however has no concrete plans to do so at any given date.
Starting a university is no easy task.
California has had a huge net out migration between it and the rest of the US over the last 20 years. It population has been supplemented by immigration, but immigrants coming from areas where generally the percentage of Church members is less than in the US.
No other state has come close to losing stakes on the level of California. The only places maybe similar are Washington and Oregon.
I am not buying the Church schools explanation. Clark Gilbert and his associates built a pipeline from inner city Biston to BYU-Idaho, yet the number of stakes in Massachusetts have more than doubled.
The logistics of making YSA stakes is difficult. They did not exist at all until about 10 years ago. The first were in Ogden. Before that there had been single student stakes.
There are huge complexities of YSA units. They are not often set up to serve the needs of many of the YSAs you end up with in an inner city branch like mine. Many of our YSAs are single parents.
Even many YSA units that are not designated student units still function as such.
It does surprise me that outside of Idaho, Utah and Arizona only New York and DC have YSA stakes.
On the other hand I know that the YSA system leads to young married couples feeling more out of place in wards than they were otherwise.
When I was on my mission in Las Vegas Sunrise Stake still tried to resist its YSAs going to wards in other stakes. Sunrise now has its own YSA ward. I was there when there were only 2 YSA units on the east side of the valley, before they broke up the UNLV ward.
I am not sure there are even 5 YSA units outside the US and Canada. Taking YSAs outside normal units does limit their calling options some. It also can at times make outreach to inactive YSAs harder.
I also know some feel that throwing 30 year old men in the sane units as 19 year old women is mixing people too far apart in age.
I live in a unit that tried to abide by the complex rules on where 18-20 year Olds attend when living with their parents that were snapped in the 2010 handbook revision. It did not work because too high a percentage of active Church members went away to college. It may have worked in Salt Lake with more students at home and strong institutes, but it did not work here in Michigan.
What is happening yo the houses they sell though? Are they being converted to non-residrntial use? If not than why are the people moving in less likely to be members than those moving out?
I think they like YSA stakes to have at least 6 wards. I could see them starting with one stake with all 10 wards, even if they think they can split soon.
I have to wonder if covid disruption may have caused a delay.
That said, what exactly are the benefits to having a YSA stake as opposed to YSA wards in non-YSA stakes. The wards already have boundaries drawn in ways that transcend stake boundaries, so that is not a direct issue.
I think there are benefits but I think it would be good to enumerate them.
YSA wards tend to have more active adults than non-YSA wards. They have higher active membership guidelines for creation.
Many YSA stakes have 11 or 12 wards, so I suspect if a YSA stake is made in Las Vegas soon it will be all 10 wards.
The USC and UCLA wards are not like the student wards discontinued about a decade ago in Utah. As I understand it these wards are open to all students at these institutions and their families regardless of marital status or residence. BYU has not had such units for about 70 years, and even then they were more residentially limited. The first BYU student units formed just after WWII, mixed single and married students, but with most of the males returning veterans, some if whom served missions before the war, the average age of males was much higher than in later student units.
The Kalamazoo University branch here in Michigan was such a married and single mixed unit at least as of roughly 2009.
The New York SA ward Aldo at one point started at 27, which is younger than the normal case. I am not sure if this is still true.
In Provo are the Tongan YSA units in the Tongan stake or the YSA stake?
I think there is more than stability at issue with the BYU stakes not changing leadership.
First off, I do not think the plan is to fill all these callings with singles. I have never seen a YSA branch fill both the counselors with singles, and technically this has been allowed for decades.
I think in general the contemplation is that a few high councilors may be singles 25-30, but it will be rare to call below that age.
The change is also this year announced, and was not one of the implement it now changes,so YSA stakes feel no urgency to implement them.
One of my wards while at BYU even the ward clerk was a married man, the others the clerk was called from the ward. That first example was an on campus ward with almost all members freshmen.
I think there is one member of the high council in my stake who has served 7 and a half years straight. I think this may not be his first time in the high council. He was my bishop. The bishop after him is now our stake president, and that bishop served a few months over 5 years and then served over a year as a high council member before he became stake president. Our stake patriarch is also my former bishop, but there were 3 bishop's between him and the high council member I mentioned.
While compared to other organizations we have high turnover in leadership, it is not so high that we can easily see the effects of a change made this year when it was not accompanied by a mandate to change immediately.
Even before the change you could call singles over 30 to high councils in YSA stakes, and singles of any age to high councils outside YSA stakes. I am not sure my stake has ever had a single member of the high council.
There is a single member of my branch who served in the district presidency when my branch was part of the Detroit District.
Make that 11. The Church also broke ground for the Casper Wyoming Temple (on the Saturday following the October General Conference.
Also, the Bacolod Philippines Temple will be #12 for 2021 on the second Saturday in December. That may be it for 2021, but there are 15 other temples likely to have groundbreaking in the first 4-6 months of next year, if all goes well.
John,
Thanks for the clarification on the USC and UCLA student wards. I was not aware of how those function. That means I need to subtract two in my count of the Los Angeles area. Yes, you are right, there is no imperative to call singles to bishoprics, it was only a way to provide more flexibility. Although from someone I know on social media, I have seen that in Rexburg, young single men have been called to to bishopric. In Provo I have seen the trend of calling young married men to the bishopric who are still students. In one case, the stake president called both his sons-in-law to serve in different wards in the stake.
It took about 5 years or so from when I was living as a YSA in the Idaho Falls area (and we were pushing for a YSA stake) to when they actually formed one, so these things can take a while, even in areas where it seems like it's a no-brainer. The big catalyst there was EITC changing from a technical college to a 2-year college - ushering in an influx of YSA students (from what I've been told).
Updated today on Classic Maps site, the previously announced "Winnipeg Manitoba Stake - 511439 " was renamed "Winnipeg Manitoba East Stake - 511439". Which includes the Dalhousie, Gateway and London Wards, and the Bergland (ONT), Dryden (ONT), Kenora (ONT), Steinbach (MAN) and Warroad (Minnesota) Branches, from the discontinued Fort Frances Ontario District - 600717.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=49.219068,-95.789091&z=8&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=511439&find=stake:511439
It is unclear what happened to the Fort Frances (ONT) and Atitokan (ONT) Branches from the discontinued Fort Frances Ontario District - 600717.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=48.701053,-92.057178&z=8&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&id=stakecenter:600717&q=600717&find=stake:600717
Also updated on Classic Maps site today as announced previously, the "Washington DC YSA Stake - 2066300" was renamed the "Washington DC YSA South Stake - 2066300". Which includes the Braddock, Bull Run, Dulles, Langley, National Landing, Pentagon City, Potomac Yard, Wolf Trap YSA Wards and the Occoquan YSA Branch.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=38.609245,-77.266846&z=9&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&find=stake.ysa:2066300
And the new "Washington DC YSA North Stake - 2190370" was organized with the Eastern Market, Friendship Heights, Strathmore and Waldorf YSA Wards.
I wanted to weigh in again here. Matt, I'm grateful for your ongoing efforts to provide these monthly updates. It's been humbling for me to see the monthly growth of the Church as reflected in your reports, so thank you. I am also very much looking forward to your next analysis on the top ten nations with the strongest Church presence without a temple. Based on what I've been able to ascertain on my end, and bearing in mind that most of the relevant numbers may be outdated, I believe the top tne list will be comprised of the following nations in the following order: Uganda, Mongolia, Malaysia, Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, Jamaica, Micronesia, Guyana, and Belize.
As far as the two temples each for which opening or reopening arrangements might soon be announced, the Church seems to be taking a more cautious approach in scheduling those for the time being. It was easy to schedule the dedications for Winnipeg and Pocatello and the rededications of the Mesa and Washington D.C. Temples because the COVID-19 restrictions are not as stringent in North America as they are elsewhere. And while the arrangements for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple have been announced, in general, it's difficult to gauge the timing of announcements for the opening/reopening of temples outside the United States.
Of course, the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde and San Juan Puerto Rico Temples are smaller, and the Saratoga Springs Utah and Helena Montana Temples are in the United States, so that might play into the timing for each of those to have dedications announced. The timing on Hamilton New Zealand's and Tokyo Japan's rededications is more difficult to gauge. Additionally, the first presidents have been announced for the Guam, Cabo Verde, and Puerto Rico Temples, whereas the announcement of the first president and matron for Quito Ecuador is still pending.
So if I had to take a guess here, for the Yigo Guam Temple, I could see a dedication in April or May (before or after the dedication of the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple), with Quito following in either May or June. But it might be spring of next year before the reopening arrangements for Tokyo and Hamilton are able to be announced, based on some analysis I have done, we will probably see the number of new temple dedications starting to tick upwards by the beginning of August of next year.
As far as temple groundbreakings are concerned, the latest update on the Bahia Blanca Argentina Temple seems to be on track for a groundbreaking hopefully before the end of this year:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/bahia-blanca-argentina-temple/
Additionally, a conditional use permit has been approved by the City of Elko and a special use permit has been approved by the City of Farmington Planning Commission, so I could see the Church breaking ground for either or both of those temples by the end of this year, or within the first couple of weeks in January:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/elko-nevada-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/farmington-new-mexico-temple/
I also think it's possible that groundbreakings could be set for both the Cali Colombia Temple (given its' smaller size) and the Torreon Mexico Temple (which appears to be the first temple outside the United States to utilize the modular design) could also soon have groundbreakings announced. And there are 12 others which could potentially have groundbreakings between January and June or August of next year, so I think we'll see some official announcements on some of these temples sooner rather than later.
The people buying are less likely to be members because the members that are moving out are moving to more affordable housing.
My stake went from 6 to 5 wards recently, some of it is people moving out of state, some of it is people moving to more affordable parts of the state, but a big % is people moving out of the expensive areas in our stake and spreading out to the other stakes in the area where affordable homes are available to buy.
According to an official Facebook page the Church runs for Canada, the week after Winnipeg was dedicated, the stake there was divided by Elder Neilson. The stakes are now west and east, and one took in the mission district associated with the temple district.
I think if a Los Angeles YSA stake were to be created they would realign or redefine the USC and UCLA wards in the process. This would impact 3 wards just in the LA stake, so it may require other realignment than just splitting out YSA units.
I am also thinking that it would make sense if they did YSA stakes in Southern California at all to do one in LA county, one in Orange county and maybe at least one more all at once.
I think they have a Spanish YSA unit in San Fernando Valley. I think it makes sense to move that under a YSA stake and not leave it in the Spanish stake but these things may take effort.
Cory, I had a thought on that. We know that 3 recent smaller US temples have a modular design, and we've seen with Helena how the prefabricated modules have sped up the construction progress. Since the Torreon Mexico Temple appears to be the first one outside the US to use the modular design, the specific wording on the discontinuation of the Vienna Ward has me wondering if the modular design will be used there as well. If that is the case, work on the Vienna Temple could begin in the next 3-4 months, with a dedication following 13-16 months after it starts
Additionally, the discontinuation of that Ward may lead to a reconfiguration of any other congregations in that building or region, which may allow the Church to build that temple and a new meetinghouse on the side of that temple on that spot. I may be wrong there, but time will tell.
Eduardo, 16 units were North Little Rock and Memphis North Stakes. The Searcy Stake was created as a result. roughly half the units were branches.
I’m a frequent reader but infrequent commenter… just to the southeast of those stakes, in the same mission and coordinating council, the Tupelo Mississippi Stake had 12 units for a long time until the West Point Branch was closed and the Columbus Ward was added to the then-recently reorganized and renamed Tuscaloosa Alabama Stake. That stake is exactly the same — each building hosts one unit, and they’re all 30-60 minutes away from each other.
Friends in Ohio tell me they created a new Dayton stake today.
Dayton Ohio North Stake (2182882)
Active Date: 21 Nov 2021
Greenville Branch (141569)
St Marys Branch (370312)
Bellefontaine Ward (45713)
Huber Heights Ward (170062)
Lima Ward (48461)
Piqua Ward (85472)
Springfield Ward (48496)
Tipp City Ward (2177412)
Carapicuiba Brazil Stake (2186829)
Active Date: 14 Nov 2021
Ariston Ward (357154) Ala Ariston
Carapicuiba Ward (2041154) Ala Carapicuiba
Nova Granada Ward (175080) Ala Nova Granada
Sao Camilo Ward (2164809) Ala Sao Camilo
Vila Dirce Ward (210153) Ala Vila Dirce (SP)
Smithfield Utah West Stake (2178834)
7 Nov 2021
Smithfield 1st Ward (8508)
Smithfield 2nd Ward (8516)
Smithfield 4th Ward (9172)
Smithfield 8th Ward (103705)
Smithfield 9th Ward (121088)
Smithfield 16th Ward (278580)
Smithfield 25th Ward (1993380)
Winnipeg Manitoba West Stake (2182157)
14 Nov 2021
Dauphin Branch (148172)
Neepawa Branch (2151898)
Portage La Prairie Branch (188727)
Selkirk Branch (118052)
Thompson Branch (145807)
Brandon Ward (51497)
St James Ward (50296)
Waverley Ward (118079)
Wellington YSA Ward (230456)
I am very excited about Dayton getting a 3rd stake. I now predict both Cincinatti and Cleveland getting temples before the decade is out. Dayton with 3 stakes is now a potential dark horse, but I would be shocked if it gets a temple before 2030.
A rendering of the reconstructed Provo Temple has just been released: https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/2021/nov/24/renderings-of-redesign-of-provo-utah-temple-released-by-lds-church/
A rendering of the Smithfield temple has been released. https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/2021/nov/24/renderings-of-redesign-of-provo-utah-temple-released-by-lds-church/
With so many temples going up . has that made a positive impact on church growth? Critics claim the new tempmes are desperate attempts for the church to appear growing when the rate of increase is at the lowest point since 1857 is this true?
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