It’s been a while since we last invited responses to our international member survey for The Cumorah Foundation. If you’re a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please take 5–10 minutes to complete our updated survey about your congregation.
Your responses will help us improve the accuracy of our research and enhance the resources we provide at cumorah.com on global Church growth and the effectiveness of the missionary program.
Please share the survey link via social media, email, or other means to help us gather insights from Latter-day Saints around the world. Since 2014, we’ve received more than 2,000 responses—this updated version will help us better understand key trends such as:
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Annual convert baptisms
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Retention rates
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Member participation in missionary efforts
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Local growth developments
Click here to access the survey. The url is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P8VCFSL.
29 comments:
Filled out the survey, not sure how helpful it will be but hopefully someone will find it helpful.
On the survey, I forgot about a YSA group in my stake.
Are there any links available for the survey in other languages (Spanish & Portuguese) for me to share with friends and family?
I filled out the survey as well.
Has anyone heard of any new Stakes or Districts this weekend?
July I believe is supposed to be a month off for general authorities, which theoretically does not see new stakes created in July, although in the past 5 years, there were 12 stakes created in July, so perhaps not.
July is always the "recess month" for general Church leadership, which is a full-time assignment. So few if any new stakes get created, and there typically aren't any major Church announcements during that annual 31-day period. There are notable exceptions, such as the mid-July appointments of Gordon B. Hinckley to the First Presidency and Neal A. Maxwell to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1981. The Church has, however, made some major announcements during July in the recent past. And at very least, the open house for the Farmington New Mexico Temple begins with a media day next Monday, so some Church officials will be present for that.
We are also likely to see at least two temple dedications announced this month as well. But stake creations don't usually occur in July.
Keep an eye on southern Houston on September 7. 3 Stakes in the region have a special 1-day Conference on that day:
Friendswood Texas Stake (7 Wards, 1 Branch)
Houston Texas South Stake (8 Wards, 2 Branches)
Richmond Texas Stake (9 Wards, 1 Branch)
Total: 24 Wards, 4 Branches
Elder Anderson to preside over the August groundbreaking ceremony of the Tampa Florida Temple.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2025/07/07/elder-neil-l-andersen-to-preside-over-tampa-florida-temple-groundbreaking/
That announcement was first made by the Newsroom just after 2:00 PM MDT here in Utah:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/groundbreaking-announced-for-the-tampa-florida-temple
Given that the Church is also securing building permits for the Jacksonville Florida Temple, hopefully that is not too far behind Tampa. For additional analysis on this announcement, see the following post:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2025/07/breaking-temple-news-first-presidency.html
It's also worth noting that the number of temple groundbreakings set to occur this year now officially surpasses the number of temple groundbreakings held last year:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rHMtrA7FjXyg1-y_wvEZOwmt4vCzQWcEd3Vr4BymzQw/edit?usp=sharing
Hopefully, that additional context is helpful. My thanks once again to you all.
In other news, I also restructured my predictions for the upcoming October 2025 General Conference, including my list of prospective temple locations:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2025/07/updated-october-2025-general-conference.html
So far, only 2 Changes in Stakes this week,
Name Changes :
Just a couple of stakes that were renamed:
São Paulo Brazil Jaraguá Stake > São Paulo Brazil Franco da Rocha Stake
Belém Brazil Entroncamento Stake > Ananindeua Brazil Stake
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/1010646
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/1461370
The Jaraguá Ward (347329) was reassigned to the São Paulo Brazil Pirituba Stake (527211), in the realignment.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/wards/347329
And the Brasilândia Ward (438138) of the São Paulo Brazil Pirituba Stake (527211), was discontinued in the realignment.
Curious why they didn't just rename it the Franco da Rocha Brazil Stake. They have removed the "São Paulo" on some of the other stakes in the area.
Other possibilities:
São Paulo Brazil Mogi das Cruzes Stake -> Mogi das Cruzes Brazil Stake
São Paulo Brazil Itaquá Stake -> Itaquaquecetaba Brazil Stake
Another possibility: Rio de Janeiro Brazil Itaguaí Stake -> Itaguaí Brazil Stake
I could look for more, but I need to focus on the projects I'm already behind on.
One temple I am anticipating is the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple. I was talking to my grandmother who lives in Oregon, and she was wondering when I was coming to visit next. We typically visit in September/October, but I want to wait until the open house is announced so that I can take them to it. She asked if they would be allowed, and I told her the open house was for everyone.
Ryan, what an awesome opportunity for you to share with your grandmother! My current estimates indicate that the dedication of the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple may take place in March of next year, which would put the open house in February, give or take a few weeks. Let us know how things go.
Other Noah here.
I wanted to share something I learned a few days ago with you.
Recently, a young man from the Sincelejo district came to the mission offices in Medellin to be set apart by Mission President Lythgoe and go to one of the Sao Paulo Brazil missions. He comes from a tiny rural community south of Magangué, Bolivar, and met the missionaries while studying in Sincelejo during the 2020 lockdowns.
He shared with our ward that he plans to be a great missionary, and also to preach the gospel back in his little village once he comes back.
It's amazing to see how the gospel changes lives, and the interesting ways it spreads.
That's it. Thank you for reading.
Here is a very interesting article on the Church in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. It looks like a place with quite a few difficulties (even by African standards) but that is poised for future growth. The number of members in the branch has increased from 5 to 31 in the first few months of its existence: https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2025/07/08/kakuma-refugee-camp-latter-day-saint-branch-organized/
Hey, Pascal. The David Sturt mentioned in that article is the "adopted uncle" to whom I've previously referred here. His homecoming was two Sundays ago, and so it was good to see the Church News highlight one of the last things he signed off on as mission president. Thanks for sharing that here.
I wonder if there are any other branches in refugee camps. That one has 300,000 residents.
I believe the new mission president over that mission is from Zimbabwe. He at one point in the past for a time lived in South Africa while searching for better employment, but was then impressed to go home to Zimbabwe to be with his family.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-of-jesus-christ-record-global-growth
Newsroom article following up on Elder Cook's comments about the past 12 month period (June 1st, 2024 - May 30, 2025) being the highest number of convert baptisms in the history of the Church.
Interestingly, it states that the same was true in the 12 month period of July 1st, 2024 - June 30, 2025, indicating that baptisms in June 2025 were higher than the already high baptisms of June 2024. Exciting news! Truly, the work is going forth boldly to visit every clime, sweep every country, and sound in every ear.
I find it fascinating that the Newsroom article frames that extremely good news in the context of a more general trend in favour of faith. It keeps things in perspective. I know that in some areas of the world, particularly Africa, our church is growing a lot slower than others, or at least is much smaller than others, even as our growth in Africa is astounding. Ultimately, as the article says, watching how people change as they become active members and covenant keepers shows the fruit of church growth more than the impressive numbers.
In Africa in particular, I think both the Covenants and BYU Pathway offer something really unique to those who join the church.
All that said, I love watching the numbers grow and very much hope they keep growing.
In Africa, the fact that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fully embraces a belief in visions and miracles makes it very different than many other Christian Churches that originate outside of Africa.
Margaret Blair Young has written a little bit on how this influences things in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Otherwise the literature of the matter has largely attacked The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as one of the least adaptive Churches in Africa. The fact thst outer Church is not about to break apart because of having a large African presence, is very different from at least one of the other US headquartered Churches with significant membership in Africa. The United Methodis Church has shattered in large part because the American minority in it wanted to run things a certain way, and thry could not pass those due to opposition from the majority of Church members who lived in Africa. So thry broke the church up and took all the money with them.
To be fair the Catholic Church while it has disagreements seems unlikely to break apart, so there are lots of issues involved. The Anglican Communion has essentially broken up, but they were never close to begin with.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is still not a big time player in Africa, but we may be about to start to see more impact.
There is a project at notbybreadalinefilm that is chronicling the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints primarily in DR Congo, but they will also cover Rwanda and maybe beyond. The narrator of the films is Junior Bonza, who was the first person baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in what was then Zaire. His parents earlier had joined the Church while students in Switzerland, and his parents were 2 of the needed 3 petitioning resident citizen members who were key to the Church gaining recognition in Zaire in 1986.
Earlier either the first or second full length film directed by a Congolese director was "Heart of Africa", which was directed by a director who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, telling the vaguely based on real events story of a former revolutionary serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is not an easy film to watch if for no other reason than that thry mention the horrors of the wars in the mid-1990s as well as of Belgian colonialism. It also has dialogue that is a mix of French, English, Swahili and Lingala.
I am also tempted to think the mission president in the film might be loosely based in Elder Afred Kyungu, but I may be totally wrong in that thought.
I have to admit I hope we will end up with the new hymnbook having Hymns written by Nigerian and Congolese Latter-day Saints, not just Anerican, Dutch and Mexican, but I tell myself there is good yo order.
I know I should appreciate how far we have come with what the Tabernacle Choir is doing today, performing for tens of thousands in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Lima and Nexico Coty. It is far different than performing for hundreds in various places in the US and Northern Europe. Especially going from paid tickets to free ones, and also doing luve internet broadcasts.
Still I wish they would tour to Kinshasa, Lagos and Nairobi. That day may come, but it might not be for a little bit.
I know I should be glad that on President Nelson's 100th birthday the Tabernacle Choir performed at Morehouse College with the Glee Clubs of Morehouse and Spellman College. And then did a public concert for 16,000 at an arena two days later, with an African-American general authority conducting the opening of the meeting. But there is still more that could be done.
That's a cool story, Noah.
Thanks for sharing. :)
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