The Church has recently announced the creation of at least two new missions in 2022.
The Hawaii Laie Mission will be organized from the Hawaii Honolulu Mission (organized in 1850) in January 2022. The new mission will service northern Oahu, including five stakes in Laie, BYU-Hawaii, and the Polynesian Cultural Center. The decision to organize the new mission appears prompted to provide better mission leadership oversight with the Church's facilities in the Laie area given the Hawaii Honolulu Mission currently has 16 stakes. The Church in Hawaii has experienced very slow membership and congregational growth rates of approximately 0-2% for most years during the past 15 years.
The Rwanda Kigali Mission will be organized from a division of the Uganda Kampala Mission, the Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa East Mission, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lubumbashi Mission in July 2022. At most recent report, the Church in Rwanda has four branches and 755 members. All four branches operate in Kigali where the first district was organized in 2017. The Church has recently begun to translate Church materials into Kinyarwanda. Rwanda presents good opportunities for greater Church growth given little linguistic diversity among the population of Rwanda. The new mission will include neighboring Burundi where there are 749 members who meet in three branches that are organized into one district. The Church has maintained an official presence in Rwanda since the late 2000s, and the Church reestablished an official presence in Burundi in 2010. The new mission will also include areas in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where there are several significant groups of prospective members who have waited decades to join the Church. The population of the new Rwanda Kigali Mission will likely be more than 50 million.
With the creation of the new missions, there will be 409 missions worldwide.
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Kabusanga Democratic Republic of the Congo Stake (2185091)
5 Dec 2021
Contoniere Ward (1225790) Contoniere Paroisse
Kabusanga 1st Ward (410845) Kabusanga Paroisse 1
Kabusanga 2nd Ward (2131528) Kabusanga Paroisse 2
Luputa 1st Ward (343633) Luputa 1 Paroisse
Mukukuyi Ward (480274) Mukukuyi Paroisse
From the Salt Lake Tribune's interview with a former temple architect, he revealed that the church will build a replica of the original chapel and old school buildings that used to be next to the temple. So, I am assuming they are building up a historic area that will take up additional missionary resources.
https://soundcloud.com/mormonland/a-prominent-architect-examines-the-best-and-worst-of-latter-day-saint-temples-episode-210
https://laietemple100.org/ngg_tag/i-hemolele-chapel/
There is a church building on the site where the original chapel stood, so I don't know if it will be replaced or if the chapel and school will be built elsewhere.
Also recently upgraded from district to stake, the "Kossoh Town Sierra Leone District - 2023660" which was originally organized March 16th, 2014, was renamed "Kossoh Town Sierra Leone Stake - 2023660".
"Stakes Reorganized from Districts
...
13 Dec 10, 2021 Kossoh Town Sierra Leone Stake"
http://www.fullerconsideration.com/units.php
Verified on Classic Maps site,
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=8.361011,-13.085226&z=12&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=2023660&find=stake:2023660
Recently organized the "Huambo Angola District - 2188147", which includes the Bom Pastor (2188155), Cidade Alta (1992066), and Sao Joao (2161990) Branches. The 1st in Huambo Province in the interior.
"Districts Opened
...
8 Dec 10, 2021 Huambo Angola District"
http://www.fullerconsideration.com/units.php
Verified on Classic Maps :
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=-12.828701,15.946116&z=9&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&find=stake:2188147
Has anyone heard whether they plan on closing any missions next year? or will this be announced later?
I don't see a lot of change in the number of missions. It's reasonable to expect a slight uptick in missionaries serving because some may have had to delay their service due to the pandemic (or simply chose to, which I can't blame them for).
Seeing a Mission in Rwanda and Burundi, along with the northeastern DRC, is a great sign that the Church will dedicate increased resources there. Thousands of investigators may be awaiting baptism in that Mission, and they may be quite easy to reach even with limited manpower.
There is a lot of history in Lai'e. Although in the 1950s many thought what became BYU-Hawai'i should be placed closer to Honolulu.
I am crazy enough to hope both Honolulu and Maui have temple announced soon.
To be fair the Honolulu Hawai'i mission was split in the 1930s to for the Japanese speaking mission in Hawai'i. The Micronesia Guam Mission was also split out of the Hawai'ian mission.
Angola has huge potential for growth. I have to admit I do not quite understand the overall population there or how it is distributed.
On another thought, the new Rwanda mission will have 50 million inhabitants. If the US had that level of people per mission there would be 7 in the US, and all California would be in one mission.
On the other hand if India had that number per mission, there would be over 10 missions in the country instead of 2. Uttar Predesh which might have 2 units in the New Delhi stake would have 4 missions.
@Matt
"The new mission will also include areas in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where there are several significant groups of prospective members who have waited decades to join the Church."
Does anyone have more specific info regarding these groups? I'd be interested in finding out more about them.
There are many Swahili-speaking tribes on the eastern borders of the DRC, a language that perhaps gives better penetration than the dialects of the Comgo valley.
The Church has at least a few units in Lubumbashi that are Swahili speaking.
I have doubts that "Swahili speaking tribes" is quite accurate. Swahili is a costal language native to Zanzibar, Mombasa and some other areas on the cost. Tribal peoples in DR Congo do not speak it as a native language. However some minors and their families in the greater Lubumbashi region may.
However for the whole eastern half of DR Congo, or maybe eastern 3rd, Swahili is the dominant lingua franca. In the western parts of the country depending on the area Lingala, Kikongo or Luba is the dominant language franca. Also 40% of the population has some ability to read or write French, and higher education is mainly in French.
The linguistic situation in DR Congo is very different than in the US, but may be a little less confusing than in Nigeria.
The dialect of Swahili spoken in Lubumbashi and the copper belt is very different than the one spoken in the areas around Lake Nyanza and along the border with Rwanda.
The trend for global languages becoming the norm is a constant, foremost being English. French, Arabic, Portuguese, are the biggest winners across the African continent every day. While all the ethnic or tribal languages are still vital, to me it seems the future of sub-Saharan Africa is heavily invested in the those tongues, part of globalization, and the future is bright for our church, among others.
A few outliers are perhaps Gabon and Malawi, although again, English is the common glue worldwide.
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