Below is an updated list of stakes that may split within the near
future. Previous lists are available for December 2012, January 2014, December 2014, November 2015, November 2016, December 2017, and November 2019.
Many of these stakes do not have the adequate number of congregations
to divide on their own to create a second stake. However, the Church
often organizes new wards immediately before or after the organization
of a new stake. Also, the Church often creates stakes from the division
of two or more stakes in an specific area. Moreover, there is also a significant number of large stakes that appear ready to divide in Africa, especially in the DR Congo and Nigeria. It is unclear why the creation of additional stakes in Africa has been postponed, but the COVID-19 pandemic appears a likely culprit.
AFRICA
- Aba Nigeria North (13 wards, 1 branches)
- Abak Nigeria (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire Niangon North (11 wards)
- Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire Niangon South (10 wards)
- Accra Ghana Kasoa (9 wards)
- Antananarivo Madagascar Ivandry (9 wards, 3 branches)
- Bedfordview South Africa (9 wards)
- Benin City Nigeria Ugbowo (10 wards, 3 branches)
- Benin City Nigeria New Benin (8 wards, 5 branches)
- Benin City Nigeria Oregbeni (9 wards, 2 branches)
- Bo Sierra Leone North (9 wards)
- Bo Sierra Leone East (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Calabar Nigeria North (9 wards)
- Cocody Cote d'Ivoire (13 wards)
- Dokui Cote d'Ivoire (11 wards)
- Durban South Africa (10 wards, 3 branches)
- Eket Nigeria (10 wards, 4 branches)
- Enugu Nigeria (8 wards, 5 branches)
- Gaborone Botswana (9 wards, 2 branches)
- Ikot Ekpene Nigeria (11 wards, 1 branch)
- Kananga DR Congo (10 wards)
- Katuba DR Congo (11 wards)
- Kinshasa DR Congo (10 wards)
- Kinshasa DR Congo Binza (10 wards)
- Kinshasa DR Congo Kimbanseke (10 wards)
- Kinshasa DR Congo Lukunga (9 wards)
- Kinshasa DR Congo Mont Ngafula (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Kinshasa DR Congo Mpasa (10 wards, 1 branch)
- Kinshasa DR Congo N'Djili (9 wards, 2 branches)
- Kolwezi DR Congo (9 wards)
- Kumasi Ghana Bantama (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Lagos Nigeria Agege (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Lagos Nigeria Egbeda (13 wards)
- Lagos Nigeria Ojodu (10 wards, 1 branch)
- Lagos Nigeria Yaba (11 wards)
- Lubumbashi DR Congo (11 wards, 1 branch)
- Mbuji-Mayi DR Congo (13 wards)
- Monrovia Liberia (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Monrovia Liberia Bushrod Island (11 wards, 1 branch)
- Mwene-Ditu DR Congo (9 wards)
- Port-Bouet Cote d'Ivoire (10 wards, 2 branches)
- Port Harcourt Nigeria North (8 wards, 6 branches)
- Port Harcourt Nigeria West (8 wards, 5 branches)
- Port Elizabeth South Africa (9 wards, 3 branches)
- Ruashi DR Congo (10 wards)
- Soweto South Africa (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Ukat Aran Nigeria (11 wards, 2 branches)
- Umuahia Nigeria (8 wards, 7 branches)
- Uyo Nigeria (10 wards)
- Uyo Nigeria South (9 wads, 3 branches)
- Yamoussoukro Cote d'Ivoire (10 wards, 1 branch)
- Binalbagan Philippines (10 wards, 2 branches)
- Butuan Philippines (10 wards, 1 branch)
- General Santos Philippines (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Goa Philippines (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Iloilo Philippines North (10 wards, 1 branch)
- Jakarta Indonesia (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Mandaue Philippines (10 wards)
- Naga Philippines (10 wards, 2 branches)
- Tarlac Philippines (9 wards, 2 branches)
- Valenzuela Philippines (9 wards)
- Mazatenango Guatemala (11 wards, 1 branch)
- Apia Samoa Central (10 wards)
- Ha'apai Tonga (9 wards, 5 branches)
- Pago Pago Samoa (9 wards, 3 branches)
- Savaii Samoa Pu'apu'a (9 wards)
- Savaii Samoa South (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Upolu Samoa East (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Upolu Samoa Nu'umau (9 wards)
- Upolu Samoa Saleilua (12 wards)
- Belém Brazil (9 wards)
- Belém Brazil Icoaraci (10 wards)
- Curitiba Brazil Boa Vista (10 wards, 1 branch)
- Curitiba Brazil Jardim do Sol (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Curitiba Brazil Luz (9 wards, 1 branch)
- Curitiba Brazil Novo Mundo (9 wards)
- Diadema Brazil (9 wards)
- Esmeraldas Ecuador (12 wards, 1 branch)
- Gravataí Brazil (9 wards)
- Guarujá Brazil (9 wards)
- Joao Pessoa Brazil Rangel (10 wards, 1 branch)
- Olinda Brazil (10 wards)
- Ponta Grossa Brazil Campos Gerais (9 wards)
- Praia Grande Brazil (12 wards)
- Pucallpa Peru (10 wards, 1 branch)
- Quito Ecuador Calderon (10 wads, 1 branch)
- Rio Branco Brazil (10 wards, 1 branch)
- Santa Maria Brazil (10 wards, 1 branch)
- São Paulo Brazil Casa Grande (9 wards)
- São Paulo Brazil Guarapiranga (10 wards)
- Sao Paulo Brazil Sao Miguel Paulista (9 wards)
57 comments:
excellent work! thank you for your diligence and dedication
http://www.fullerconsideration.com/units.php?year=2021
I think the fullerconsideration site is a little confused. The last count I made, there are 170 dedicated temples, including the new Winnipeg Manitoba and Pocatello Idaho Temples; not the 168 posted on this page of 2021 year end stats.
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/statistics/
Chtistopher, you are correct. The site in question did not account correctly for Pocatllo and Winnipeg's dedications. I sent the webmaster an email about that, but did not ever heat back about it. Thanks.
James, I think part of the issue of the total numbers of "Dedicated Temples" on that website may be the fact the Temple Department has not, as of yet, after 2 months following the dedications updated both the "Temples Maps (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/map?lang=eng)" and the "Classic Maps" websites with the last 3 dedications/rededications. Specifically on the Temple Maps site both the Winnipeg and Pocatello Temples are shown with the reddish pink icon under construction and not updated to the blue icon in service. Same as the "Classic Maps" site :
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=49.801082,-97.194666&z=18&m=google.hybrid&layers=temple,temple.construction,temple.renovated,stakecenter&q=1642170&find=temple.construction:1642170
and
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=42.914516,-112.40717&z=18&m=google.hybrid&layers=temple,temple.construction,temple.renovated,stakecenter&q=2101653&find=temple.construction:2101653
as link suggests "temple.construction" in grey icon, instead of standard white marker.
Also the Mesa Arizona Temple still shows the yellow marker under renovations, instead of white.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=33.412867,-111.819569&z=18&m=google.hybrid&layers=temple,temple.construction,temple.renovated,stakecenter&q=790303&find=temple.renovated:790303
The Church has also failed to update its' list of temples. None of the temples that had a groundbreaking last year have been moved from "Announced" to "Under construction". Not sure why, but I do know that, foe whatever reason, the Temple Department has not yet made those updates to that list,
@james could the COB be on holiday fot Christmas and NYE?
What about North America? Canada, United States and Mexico?
Boy, there sure are a lot of things that need to be updated here. :/
I’m guessing the temple department has been very very busy with all the temple building.
Maybe the temple department is not in charge of updating the website? They tend to be very thorough on news reports; it seems to be just the list on the website.
Unknown, in response to my online feedback about the outdated information on the temple list, I was told on two different occasions that the temple department maintains that list. So I have no reason to doubt that fact.
My dad worked for the Church at the JSMB, so I know that Church leaders and employees are given one day each off for Christmas and New Year's. This year in the US, since Christmas and New Year's Day were on Saturday, the national days of observation for those holidays in the US were the days before each. Hope that answers your questions.
I know Family Services took today off for New Years.
I think the problem is that the lists get lower priority to the actual planning and operation of temples. Also I am guessing a lot of temple department respects in its online connectivity side have been consumed in making sure the online scheduling operations are kept up to date.
I would say year end vacation craming even without planned holidays might cause some disruption, but Winnipeg was dedicated at the end of October, so I think these particular updates are just low priority.
It might also be interesting to see a list of districts likely to become stakes. That is very hard to gage though. There are districts unlikely to become stakes, such as ones that have 3 or fewer branches. However districts sometimes have groups. It is also hard to judge if a district with 7 branches has several that could become wards or not.
For the US I probably would have put Traverse City District on that list for the last several years. A year ago I would have predicted that if 2021 saw Michigan go to having 9 stakes it would be because Traverse City District became a stake. That is not what happened, we got Farmington Hills Stake from all stakes in greater Metro Detroit being realigned.
I have to admit at this point I am surprised there are not more stakes in Papua New Guinea. I am also surprised Malaysia still does not have a stake.
I am hoping to see several of the districts in Ivory Coast made into stakes this year.
The Pacific Area faces some of the toughest travel constraints due to Covid, so not until the numbers are truly crashing worldwide will I actually have hope for much progress on that front.
In the Malaysia case I am not sure I expect stakes before the Singapore Temple is completed. I could be wrong, as I have been on many other things, but it still would not surprise me.
Here in my stake we have 6 wards and 3 branches. I live in the Bloomfield Hills Michigan stake. We lost 2 wards to the new stake last year. The new stake has 6 wards. The stake to our north has 7 wards and 1 branch. I do not see south-east Michigan getting another stake before 2025, and like not 2030. I could be wrong.
I do see Traverse City getting a stake before that.
Central and West Michigan is another story. I think the Lansing Stake has 7 wards and 4 branches. In theory if they could move to having more wards they could split with maybe taking 1 or 2 units from surrounding stakes. On the other hand my brother is in the Lansing Ward, and that unit is barely bigger than my branch.
Another think in the US is will we see more YSA stakes. Right now those only exist in Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Virginia, the DC area and the New York City area.
There might be potential for such stakes in Las Vegas, parts of California, parts of Texas, Chicago area (I am less than certain on that one), maybe Denver area, and maybe a few other large metro areas in the US. Actually Boston might have potential.
The first YSA unit in Latin America was just formed. We may see more developments on these fronts.
I know the Church has a new idea for YSA gathering places. I am not sure they have been much implemented with covid disruption.
@John Pack Lambert, the Cheyenne Wyoming area just organized a new Cheyenne YSA Branch recently.
199 Dec 31, 2021 Cheyenne YSA Branch Cheyenne, Wyoming
Although it could be years before becoming a Ward and subsequently a Stake.
Just a thought.
There are only two YSA units in all of Chicagoland, one ward in the Naperville stake and one ward in the Wilmette stake, so a Chicago YSA stake is simply not in the cards. A SF Bay Area YSA stake could in theory be created right now with one current YSA ward in each stake: Antioch, Walnut Creek, Livermore, Oakland, Saratoga and Menlo Park, a YSA branch in the Concord stake (and one SA ward each in the Oakland and Menlo Park stakes).
The new "Hawaii Laie Mission - 2080532" has been added to the Classic Maps site today.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=20.584819,-157.679809&z=7&m=google.hybrid&layers=temple,temple.construction,temple.renovated,stakecenter,mission,area&find=mission:2080532
Which includes the :
Laie Hawaii Stake - 501212
Laie Hawaii Married Student Stake - 514934
Laie Hawaii North Stake - 516023
Laie Hawaii YSA 1st Stake - 508942
Laie Hawaii YSA 2nd Stake - 462853
My in-laws live in Naperville. Though not members of the church. There is a YSA ward there. I was wondering what other YSA wards are in the region and if a stake could be formed.
There is a YSA branch in Champaign-Urbana, but it's rather small and very transient (probably more so than the Chicago area wards). Lafayette IN could be a candidate; not sure if they have a YSA congregation there, but I know there are definitely a lot of YSA at Purdue. I also believe there used to be a YSA branch in Rockford, but I don't know if it's still a thing. Really, I don't know the Church around Chicago that well, but probably don't count on a YSA stake there unless things change drastically and some serious help comes from downstate IL, northern IN, and the Milwaukee area.
The problem in Illinois is that our YSA don't stay local. Over the holidays, we had about 40 young single adults visiting their families in our ward (basically our attendance went up by 50%). They all go to BYU and BYU-I. Now, if they stuck around and instead attended the great university we have nearby (academically at least on par with BYUI), we could probably pull off a YSA branch in Charleston.
I know places like Carbondale (home of SIU) have the same issues. Now, of course neither we nor them would realistically be in a Chicago YSA stake (and Champaign-Urbana is a stretch). But it just illustrates the problems we have with YSA flight in this state.
Yes, at one point or another, the Rockford, Schaumburg and Buffalo Grove stakes all had YSA branches, also Hyde Park in Chicago. All were discontinued over the years. For whatever reasons, Chicago doesn't have the similar draw for YSAs that Washington DC and New York City apparently have.
JPL, in reply to your comment on the previous post (I decided to post here instead of that post since it is about stakes dividing), I would be shocked if the New Delhi stake split. It currently only has 5 wards and 2 branches (along with 2 home groups in Delhi, though possibly the home group in Dehradun is also assigned to the New Delhi stake). In order to split the stake, at a minimum both the Noida and Pitampura branches would need to become wards, as well as the Gurgaon and Rajendra Nagar home groups, which have yet to become branches after nearly a decade of existence.
Karnataka (the state Bangalore is in) has proposed laws targeting Christians that will make missionary work much more difficult if passed, and missionary work in Bangalore has often lagged the rest of India for a long time already, so I doubt almost doubling the number of wards in that stake (which would be necessary for the stake to split) is in the cards.
The Hyderabad Stake only has 6 wards, and while I think (though do not know for sure) that it has experienced better growth than Bangalore, a split still seems a long way off (needing at least 4 more wards for that to work).
The next stakes in India will almost certainly be the Coimbatore District and Chennai district becoming stakes. They have shown better growth than most of the existing stakes in India.
Speaking of the subcontinent, I would not be surprised to see the Lahore District become a stake in the next few years. It has generally been the strongest district in Pakistan, although the Karachi District has had some periods of impressive growth.
The Sri Lanka District has also shown good growth over the past few years, going from 2 or 3 branches at the beginning of the last decade (and no missionaries at that time) to 5 branches now, which is enough to form a stake once each of those branches is large enough to become a ward.
The Holland Michigan Stake will be created on January 16, 2022. It will be formed of units taken from the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo Stakes.
Has anyone heard if there is a backlog of issuing mission calls from the missionary department? I understand that the Quorum of 12 will always issue calls every week and send it to the missionary department so that there is nothing left for that week. My son submitted his papers on Dec 9th and haven't heard anything as today, Jan 4th. My other son in 2019 got his in 10 days so we are surprised it has been almost 30 days.
Are you certain that the Stake Clerk submitted it?
@Matt, just a reminder the final list for 2021 new stakes is missing #42 + #43 from December 2021.
"Stakes and Districts Organized in 2021
Stakes
...
40. Dayton Ohio North - Nov. 21st, 2021
41. Kabusanga DR Congo Dec. 5th, 2021"
42. Kossoh Town Sierra Leone (2023660) - 2014-03-16 (D), 2021-12-05 (S)
43. Rexburg Idaho West (2184389) - 2021-12-12
Thank you for all your hard work in keeping us informed of all the great news of Church growth.
@anonymous. Yes the missionary department even texted the stake president a week after it was submitted that is was still being reviewed. just strange it is taking so long based on all the others in the ward receiving it within two weeks o being submitted.
Holidays delaying it? Special calling? Or other delay?
I helped found the FamilySearch Research Wiki on FamilySearch after they decided to have one, the idea was to create an updateable version of the old paper 'research guides', they seeded it with the about 4k pages of those and today it is over 90k pages, including many things they could not have possibly covered with the paper guides. Another thing is that a change in a big resource mentioned in a guide would render that obsolete and that happened within six months of a printing or revision more than once.
During the first three years, I went up every Tuesday to a live, in-person meeting somewhere in the JSMB, at first it was a classroom behind that center east of the Salt Lake Temple that was a 'starting point' for visitors interested in family history, then it was a third-floor office area that had some meeting spaces.
Twice I had something to do during the holiday break like the one just passed, almost no one was there besides a skeleton crew to make sure things ran smoothly otherwise. They largely took the two weeks around Christmas and New Years off, it was not so evident during the summer as they could stagger that among those that worked there. Worked with at least two previous and future Family History Library heads (one died only two weeks after his doctor told him what would kill him, went to the funeral, that's how I knew).
@The Opinion
Must be a super special assignment, then. Maybe he's being sent to Vatican City. ;)
@Jim Anderson
Sorry to hear about your family history friend dying. :(
Thanks for your work on the FamilySearchWiki. I've been using it more recently.
Just did some research for my Swedish line. Used this article on Swedish family words:
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Swedish_Genealogical_Word_List
The Opinion, the Church has had to adjust a lot when it comes to missionary work as a direct result of COVID-19. Myoc understanding is that there have been new protocols in place when it comes ro the process of determining fields of labor. There is also the fact that the Christmas and New Year's holidays and the new strains of COVID-19 are impacting people in a lot of unexpected ways, which may have left some or all Church departments shoet-staffed in recent weeks. With all of that in mind, having no mission call for your son less than a month after the submittal of papers may not be a cause for concern. That bring said, I believe I heard at one bepoint that prospective missionaries can check the status of the calls through the missionary portal, so you may want to have your son check there. Also, I know that the Church Commmunications Library includes notices available to all members. Some of the ones to which I have access includes the telephone numbers of the deaprtments that send them out. If your son wanted to use the contact information from the notice to reach out to the Missionary Department himself, I'm sure that someone there could check and see what the holdup is. And I'm recommding things your son can do because I'm not sure what the Church's policy isrelative to having someone other than a priesthood leader or the missionary themselves access and use that information. Hopefully that helps.
We're talking double digit stakes every week. Every week of our lives!
James (that last comment was not posted by me), how do you figure that? This list shows the stakes most likely to split in the near future, not just this year alone. Not all of these stakes are guaranteed to split, or even to split this year, it's just a list of those most likely to split. There are also some weeks in each calendar year when new stakes are not created, due to global or national holidays around the world. No new stakes will be created on the weekends of General Conference. There are 52 Sundays this year. No new stakes will be created on April 3 or October 2 of this year (in view of General Conference). July marks both the assignment transition preparation month for General Authorities, and the annual recess month for General Authorities, so no stakes are likely to be created on those 5 weeks. Christams Day is on a Sunday this year, and the Church will just hold Sacrament Meeting then. April 17 is Easter Sunday, so we can probably eliminate that as well. That brings the number of Sundays for stake creations down to 43.
The Church has typically not created more than 3-4 stakes per week, so if we assume 4 per week on each of those Sundays, that would be less than 200 stakes per year on an average year. There is not yet an established precedent for stakes to be created in double-digit numbers even 1 or 2 weeks per year, so what leads you to believe that that many stakes will be created every week? Thanks.
I am from the Mazatenango, Guatemala stake and I can tell you, the leaders and members are working really hard to split :)
The Opinion: This happened to me too, back in 1992. Don't worry too much about it, the Brethren want to be sure every assignment is correct, as much as possible.
It is unfortunate to see that Chile does not grow in baptisms, retention and in recovering the inactive. We have been stagnant for decades, it is sad to see how the Church cannot take off, we just set the pace. We felt so happy the day we had 100 stakes and we managed to be an area, everything was superficial, since there is no true spiritual maturity and commitment to the gospel.
Part of the stagnation has to do with the error of leadership, bad decisions, little love, lack of service and above all, not judging, but serving all people.
The church has challenges all over the world, there is no perfect country, even UTHA, which is the headquarters of the Church, has much to improve.
Every time I see the announcement of a temple, or the creation of new stakes or missions, I am happy, so I also meditate that we are failing as part of the Church, without a doubt, there is much to improve.
Something that helped a lot in the country, was when there were LDS schools, a big mistake that the Church closes them, the apostles can still make better decisions, they are not infallible.
Thank you for sharing your feelings, greetings to all of Santiago de Chile.
From Santiago de Chile, thanks for sharing.
James,
What the other James is referring to is a comments by Jeffery Holland in April 2016. It was discussed on this blog:
http://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com/2016/04/10-new-stakes-to-be-created-each-week.html
Here is the video clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrYpRzi6xtY&t=3215s
Looking on the list of stakes on this blog, 2016 was a higher year than normal. There was 100 new stakes and 8 discontinued. During most years in the 2010s, the amount was 50-80 new stakes per year.
In his remarks, he said they created 15 stakes one week and 12 the week before. At the time Matt commented that he believed that he was referring to a meeting where they may have approved the new stakes for the coming months. But is obvious that he was exaggerating the claim that this occurred "Every week of our lives."
Thinking back on the comments, I wonder if he had confused the meeting with the number of stakes that were having their leadership reorganized every week. The number of new stake presidencies reported in the Church News hovers around these numbers:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/category/callings
Elder Holland may have a history of confusing/exaggerating numbers in order to emphasis the growth of the church. In 2011, he remarked that the 10,000 members in Mongolia represented "1 in 10" people in UlaanBaatar.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2011-06-0007-elder-holland-counsels-mongolian-saints?lang=eng&collectionId=1de31c8b9cf047549078ba152b06e1f6
The city is over 1 million people, making the % members in the city less than 1%. The Newsroom statistics says that 1 in 264 or 0.38% of the population is a member of the church.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/mongolia
The post-war church grew accustomed to connecting truth claims of the church to the growth of the church. The growth rates were pretty fantastic for those decades. In 1984, a famous sociologist modeled the growth of the church at current rates would reach 280 million by 2080. Like most long term modeling, it failed to take into account many variables and the church is not on track to reach anything near that.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43045065?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
In the past 5 years, I've been hearing more at general conference that the church membership will likely only be a small portion of the population at the time of the second coming. I recall this from Christofferson or Anderson (sorry I can't find the citation right now.)
Apostles are not statisticians or demographers, it's not part of their calling. When they make claims like this off the teleprompter, take it with a grain of salt. When you hear claims about membership data, do your own research and compare t to what the church has already released. It is disappointing when the church doesn't release certain datasets because we are left having to fill in the gaps and unable to check certain claims. It's too bad there isn't a more open database of the weekly unit changes. TempleRick used to have a great one until he was asked to take it down. This is why I enjoy this blog and talking to everybody here.
Cory, thanks for contextualizing the possible basis on which the other James shared his last comment. I do think that both you and Matt have mischaracterized Elder Hollad's remarks. Other Church leaders have been known for exaggeration (most notably Elder Paul H. Dunn), but in general, if the details provided by an apostle are incorrect when presented in a public setting, the record is eventually set straight by the apostle. A few years ago, Elder Holland, in speaking at the Christmas devotional, shared details of a story he later found out were incorrect and exaggerated, and he wasted no time releasing a statement with that correction after he was notified about that. It seems more likely that, with the apostles being older men, in public settings where such information has been presented, it was the result of an unplanned aside that was added in the moment, whivh would result in the apostles presenting information that may not have been quite accurate. Based on the efforts Elder Holland made to set the record straight once he was informed of the misinformation, it seems more likely that in the setting to which you refer, there was a parenthetical note added off-the-cuff by Elder Holland in the moment, or that he was referring to the authorization to create the new stakes, which, I believe, is discussed routinely every week in the traditional meeting od the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Thanks again.
Also, I meant to report this here: Last month, Elder Kevin S. Hamilton, who serves as the Executive Director of the Family History Department, presided at my stake conference. As a member of the Temple and Family History Executive Council, he mentioned that the Church has over 300 temples operating, under constreuction, announced, or in planning stages. That suggests that a double-digit number of new temples will be anounced in April and may be under active consideration. Interestingly enough, although we just had a stake conference last month, we will have another this month. I'm assuming that's because, even though there has been at least a couple of changes in the first counselor in our stake presidency, and a few more changes in the second counselor, our vurrent stake president has actively served since December 2013 (almost 9 years) and has overseen the creation of two new wards, the consolidation of one other, and the creation of another one. Otherwise, I'm unsure why else we'd have two stake conferences in two consecutive months.
After having just announced 34 temples last year (the most in a single year), it would be amazing to see that record broken the following year. With 300+ temples total, that would likely mean that at least 35 temples would be announced this year.
I am hoping that this year a temple will finally be announced for Mongolia and Maracaibo, Venezuela.
I think Rodney Stark, or something Stark, was the sociologist with the big growth claims.
I think Elder Packer was conjecturing about Brazil growth in a book around 1997. It was bolder than has turned out so far.
Things like same gender marriage has changed many of the world’s perceptions towards our faith, but faith in general has taken many blows.
I think that the pandemic and its' variants would be the single biggest deterrent to Church developments this year. That being said, if pandemic precautions can allow a limited attendance, the spring months of this year (March-June) are anticipated to see action taken to break ground for a majority of the US temples currently in the queue. My understanding is that there are a few factors delaying potential action on other temples in line for a groundbreaking, particularly those in the Pacific.
Likewise, the first quarter, third or even half of 2022 may only see the dedication of the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple and the rededication for the Washington D.C. Temple. Beginning in the final third or quarter of 2022, we could see up to 3 temples dedicated roughly every 2 weeks going forward for the immediate future.
It was wonderful that 34 temples were announced at general conferences last year. The only thing that I don't like very much is that there are super small temples, I understand that there are places with few baptized and active, even so, there are other parts with few baptized and they have incredible temples. I know what is important is what is done inside, but in such small spaces it is very complex.
I think we all like to hear about announcements of new temples. In Chile, a country so long and distant between one extreme and another, more temples are needed, no matter how small, it is true that there are not so many active, but the Church could lead married couples and singles to live in those areas, we all know Since there are closer temples, the baptized are encouraged to go more often, it is expensive to go to the temple when it is very far away.
Regarding the statistics provided by the church, in a general and not so specific way, we are clear that the numbers are altered, it is not the first time that I see that the reports and statistics of the Church do not match, and not only the LDS church, happens in all kinds of churches or organizations.
I hope that this 2022, they advance with the list of temples, which still do not have a groundbreaking, the list is long and time consuming.
With all the money that the church has, it can advertise temples everywhere, regardless of whether there are few baptized and faithful, those of us who love family history and temples are willing to collaborate, only that the Church is very bureaucratic, it is not accessible to all.
The apostles and the professed, and even the area presidencies, live a parallel reality, not the real one, they do not live or go through the same thing as a baptized person in their day-to-day life.
More empathy and commitment are needed in the work.
Greetings from Santiago de Chile
A second stake conference within a month may also mean the stake may be split, especially given the growth in that area.
Also those leadership changes indicate the rpid turnover due to Vineyard being mostly apartments and few single-family homes so that turnover may well be an ongoing thing for some time, also the construction there is the reason for the ward changes mentioned.
Jim Anderson, anything is possible, but I would think if the stake is getting split that other stakes would be involved. Insofar as I am aware, the conference is only for the Orem Utah Geneva Heights Stake. Additionally, the Vineyard stake is separate from the Geneva Heights Stake. The main reasons for the changes in counselors in the stake presidency are as follows:
The original First Counselor was released to take on a key role with the Stake Auditing Committee, in addition to having familial obligations that necessitated his release.
The original Second Counselor who became the new First Counselor was released due to getting a new job that took him out of the stake. And two of the most recent Second Counselors were released for similar job-related reasons, with the most recent Second Counselor released last month as a result of his plans to return to his native Brazil.
That being said, the three wards were created due to additional housing units being
built and occupied, while the one ward was discontinued due to insufficent membership within its' boundaries to fully staff that ward. Hope that helps.
So none of that was directly due to turnover in rental units.
I love to see larger temples built, but I’d much rather see a small temple built now rather than a smaller temple built later or never :-)
Now that the whole endowment is performed in one ordinance room (in new temples), more sessions can be held each day.
I do hope that new temples, especially smaller ones, start being designed in such a way that endowment rooms could be enlarged and/or added in the future if needed.
I love to see larger temples built, but I’d much rather see a small temple built now rather than a *larger* temple built later or never :-)
Saludos Eduardo
De qué parte del país eres?
Soy de la estaca República, de cual eres ?
There is also a factor of whether YSAs are best integrated in separate units or in home units. Leaving YSAs in local units may make sense if you have largely local YSAs. There are lots of issues.
The problem is multi-fold. BYU-Idaho 8s very inexpensive. I also cannot fault people for wanting the experience.
I think realistically a YSA stake would never take in Milwaukie. Nor would it take as far as Lafayette or Champaign. Greater Chicago and Northerst Indiana is what you will get. Probably no time soon.
My crazy notion of a Chicago City Center Temple will probably happen soon. Champaign and Madison will probably get temples first though.
I am hoping Iowa and Wisconsin both get temple announced this year.
This is good news. I hope Mazatenango has a temple announced before the decade is out. If Ephraim, Okinawa and Winnipeg can get temples there is no place with 2 stakes I will absolutely Ryle out.
James, I was very interested in your comment about turnover in your stake presidency counselors. I've noticed the same thing in my stake, where the stake president has been serving just over 4 years and has already lost both of his original counselors. We've also had turnover in our bishopric- my bishop was called just under 4 years ago, and kept the same counselors as his predecessor who had served for 18 months. One of those two counselors was released due to moving in November 2020, and the other a year later, just before this past Christmas.
Anyway, here is a small-world comment. The original counselor who left the Orem Utah Geneva Heights stake for employment moved into my ward in Colorado in the fall of 2020. Last April he was called to be Elders' Quorum president, and a month later he extended the call for me to become quorum secretary. (I just checked the original announcement from 2013 for his name, since I wasn't positive it was your stake he had come from.)
Glad to hear that Brad Burr is your EQ President now. Not sure he'd remember me, as I only interacted with him a couple of times. He and my uncle Lynn worked together at BYU-Provo PD, where he also knew my sister, who had worked as a dispatcher for that department. I knew he had relocated, and I'm glad he's now your EQ President. Thanks for sharing that.
Our entire ward bishopric has never been entirely changed at the same time. The 2-3 most recent bishops of the ward have statistically retained the most recent counselors of their predecessors for a couple of years, then new ones are called about halfway through the bishop's term of service. In this way, at least the bishop or his counselors know the ropes when the new counselors or bishops are called.
The last 4 times I have had a new Bishop called he didn't retain either of his predecessor's counselors. My current Bishop has been serving for about 15 months and has lost both of his original counselors, and his new 2nd Counselor will be moving out of the Ward in 6 months.
ScottS,
That last part doesn't surprise me too much- my dad was called as a bishopric counselor at a time when he was getting ready to move in 6 or 7 months, and he made that clear to the stake presidency member who set him apart. They still wanted him, so he filled that position as requested.
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