Mission Discontinued in Wyoming, Districts Discontinued in Malaysia and the Philippines

Wyoming

The Church discontinued its only mission in Wyoming at the beginning of 2021. The Wyoming Mormon Trail Mission was discontinued and consolidated with Colorado Fort Collins Mission. The mission was organized in January 2015, but its purpose appeared primarily related to managing Church history sites in central Wyoming rather than proselytism. The mission boundaries included an extremely small geographical area in and nearby Martin's Cove. The decision to discontinue the mission was likely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic impacting public use of these Church history sites. With the closure of the mission, there are now 107 missions in the United States.

Malaysia

The Church discontinued one of its districts in Malaysia in late 2020. The Ipoh Malaysia District was consolidated with the Kuala Lumpur Malaysia District - the only remaining district in West Malaysia. The former district had only two branches: one in Ipoh and one in Penang. In contrast, the Church used to operate four branches in the district, but closed branches in Butterworth and Sitiawan in the mid-2010s. The Church has struggled for many years with very slow membership growth and continued branch consolidations. In contrast, the Church in Malaysia reports some of the most rapid growth in the worldwide Church in the late 2000s and early 2010s. However, convert retention rates were low during these period of rapid growth. Leadership development has been a major challenge, especially considering most converts come from ethnic minority groups or migrant workers from other countries. Malaysia is the country with the most members without a stake which is primarily attributed to low member activity rates nationwide combined with membership scattered in several of the most populous cities such as Bintulu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Miri, and Sibu. The decision to consolidate the two districts in West Malaysia may be in preparation to form a stake, albeit there do not appear to be any imminent plans or prospects for the district to become a stake. Most recent reports from returned missionaries suggest that Kuching is most likely to be where the first stake in Malaysia will be organized.

There are now five districts in Malaysia.

The Philippines

The Church discontinued the Burgos Philippines District in early January 2021. The Burgos Philippines District included five Ilokano-speaking branches, namely the Burgos, Calinguian, Catabban, Gamu, and Mabini Branches, prior to its closure. Four of the five branches were reassigned to the neighboring Roxas Philippines Isabela District, whereas the Gamu Branch was reassigned to the Ilagan Philippines Stake. The Burgos Philippines District and the Roxas Philippines Isabela District were originally organized in 2005 after the Burgos Philippines Stake was discontinued. Any wards in the stake were downgraded to branches and divided between the two new districts. The original Burgos Philippines Stake was organized in 2001 from the Roxas Isabela Philippines District and included eight wards and three branches. The Burgos Philippines Stake numbered among the six stakes discontinued in the early and mid-2000s following a major restructuring of the Church's congregations, stakes, and district to rectify problems with local leadership development and low numbers of active members in individual congregations. The closure of the Burgos Philippines District has been an anomaly as only two other districts in the Philippines have closed since 2007, namely the Camiling Philippines West District (2017) and the Mapandan Philippines District (2014) - both of which were discontinued and combined with a neighboring district to create a stake shortly thereafter. Thus, the consolidation of the Burgos Philippines District with the Roxas Philippines Isabela District was likely motivated to create a stake in the foreseeable future. Many, if not most, of the branches in the Roxas Philippines Isabela District appear to have enough active members to become wards. 

There are now 116 stakes and 61 districts in the Philippines.

Twelve Missions to Close, Four Missions to Open this July - Analysis

As I noted in a post last week, the Church announced plans to close twelve missions and organize four new missions in July of 2019. There will be 399 missions worldwide after these changes go into effect. Missions that will consolidate with nearby missions include:

• Argentina Posadas 
• California Irvine 
• California Long Beach 
• California Rancho Cucamonga 
• Canada Halifax 
• Florida Tallahassee 
• Georgia Macon 
• Idaho Nampa 
• Japan Sendai 
• Korea Daejeon 
• New York Utica 
• Virginia Chesapeake 

The closure of most of these twelve missions appeared likely. As I noted

in a post in December, I believed it was likely that as many as 22 missions may close this summer albeit only five of these missions I correctly predicted (six if you count California Anaheim instead of California Irvine). These mission closures appeared likely given church growth trends, the number of stakes/districts serviced by the missions, and size and receptivity of populations targeted by missionary efforts in these locations. Stabilization in the number of full-time missionaries serving worldwide appears to be a major reason why some of these missions were closed, as six of these missions were organized in 2013 to accommodate the sudden increase in the number of members serving full-time missions due to the double-cohort that resulted from a decrease in the minimum age for missionary service (e.g. Argentina Posadas, California Irvine, California Rancho Cucamonga, Georgia Macon, Idaho Nampa, Virginia Chesapeake). Furthermore many of these missions appeared to be originally organized due to better capabilities of the Church in the United States to suddenly accommodate large numbers of full-time missions serving from the United States compared to other countries given the Church's well-developed infrastructure in the country. Furthermore, although eight of the 12 mission scheduled to close this July are located in the United States, there will still be 109 missions in the United States after these changes go into effect. This is a higher number of missions in the United States than at any time prior to 2013. There were 103 missions in the United States in 2012.

Missions to open this July include:

• Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa East 
• Guatemala Antigua 
• Perú Limatambo 
• Philippines Antipolo 

I provided a list of 36 missions that appeared likely to be organized within the foreseeable future. All four new mission to be organized were on this list of likely predictions. Each of these four missions will be organized in nations where there has been significant increases in the number of members serving full-time missions. Thus, the decision to organize additional missions in these nations appears related to increases in the number of full-time missionaries serving in nations within these world regions.

Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa East
The Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa East Mission will likely be organized from a division of only one mission, the Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa Mission. Kinshasa will be the fourth city in Sub-Saharan Africa to have two missions headquartered within the same city (the other cities being Accra, Ghana [two missions since 2013]; Johannesburg, South Africa [two missions since approximately 2014 when the Botswana/Namibia Mission moved headquarters to Pretoria]; and Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire [two missions since 2014). The Church has reported a significant increase in the number of Congolese member who serve full-time missions, which has appeared to be a major catalyst for the decision to organize a second mission in Kinshasa. Also, there are now 10 stakes in Kinshasa with 1-2 more stakes likely to be organized in the near future. It is likely that the creation of the new mission will assist with the further development of the Church in Kisangani, as well as the probable establishment of an official Church presence in additional large cities in the northern portion of the country such as Bandundu where there are significant numbers of members who have petitioned Church leaders to establish an official branch (more information here). There are now four missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It appears likely that the Church will organize a third area in Africa, possibly called the Africa Central Area, within the near future to help better supervise the expansion of the Church in the region.

Guatemala Antigua
The Guatemala Antigua Mission will likely be organized from a division of Guatemala Retalhuleu Mission and the Guatemala City Central Mission. The new mission will be the Church's seventh mission in Guatemala. The Church has reported that the number of Central American members who serve full-time missions has nearly doubled in the past decade.

Peru Limatambo
The Peru Limatambo Mission will be the Church's sixth mission to operate within the Lima metropolitan area where the Church operates 44 stakes - the largest number of stakes of any metropolitan area outside of the United States. Local members report that the new mission will be organized from a division of the Peru Lima Central Mission although additional missions headquartered in Lima may also be involved. The Church also organized a larger-than-normal number of new wards in Lima during 2018 and most congregations in the city appear to have 80-200 active members.

With these changes, there will be 14 missions in Peru, and Peru will be the country with the fifth most missions in the world.

Philippines Antipolo
The Philippines Antipolo Mission will be the Church's 23rd mission to operate in the Philippines. The new mission will be organized from a division of three missions: Philippines Quezon City Mission, Philippines Quezon City North Mission, and the Philippines San Pablo Mission. With these changes, there will be five missions headquartered in the Metro Manila area - more missions in a single metropolitan area than any other city in Asia, Europe, or Africa. The Church has regularly organized new stakes and congregations in the Metro Manila area and surrounding cities during the past decade. Furthermore, there have been significant increases in the number of active members in the Philippines during the past decade. The Philippines has the fourth most missions of any country in the world.

Twelve Missions to Close, Four Missions to Open this July

The Church announced the discontinuation of 12 missions and the creation of four missions today. These changes will go into effect this July. Missions to close this July include:

•  Argentina Posadas
• California Irvine
• California Long Beach
• California Rancho Cucamonga
• Canada Halifax
• Florida Tallahassee
• Georgia Macon
• Idaho Nampa
• Japan Sendai
• Korea Daejeon
• New York Utica
• Virginia Chesapeake

Missions to open this July include:

•  Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa East
• Guatemala Antigua
• Perú Limatambo
• Philippines Antipolo

I'll provide more information analysis about these changes in the next couple days. The official announcement can be found here. I have been a bit behind working on the monthly newsletter as well as the top 10 most encouraging and the top 10 most discouraging Church growth developments for 2018.

Eight Missions in the United States to Close This Summer: Analysis

The Church reported on February 1st that it will discontinue eight missions within the United States as of July 2018: These missions include:

• California Modesto (organized 2015)
• California San Fernando (organized 1994)
• Illinois Chicago West (organized 2013)
• Mississippi Jackson (organized 1979)
• New York New York South (organized 1839 - New York New York North organized 1993)
• Ohio Cleveland (organized in 1977)
• Utah Logan (organized 2015)
• Washington Federal Way (organized 2013)

As a result of these mission consolidations, the number of missions headquartered within the United States (excluding US territories) will decrease from 125 to 117 - a 6.4% decrease. The average population serviced per LDS mission will slightly increase from 2.6 million people per LDS mission to 2.8 million people per LDS mission.

There are several important points to consider in regards to why the Church has decided to close these missions.

First, the number of missions in the United States will continue to be higher than the number of missions in the United States when the minimum age for missionary service was lowered. More specifically, the Church reported 103 missions in October 2012, whereas the Church will report 117 missions in July 2018 after mission consolidations go into effect. The Church organized 17 new missions in the United States in 2013 to help accommodate tens of thousands or more missionaries serving due to the reduced age for missionary service. In 2016, the Church reached an all-time high for the number of missions in the United States of 125 after five new missions were created. Thus, although the Church's resources allocated to formal proselytism in the United States will be reduced in comparison to the past five years, these resources will nevertheless be higher than what was previously allocated to the United States prior to the mission age change. The United States will continue to be the country with the most LDS missions - three times as many LDS missions as the next country with the most missions (Brazil).

Second, the consolidation of missions in the United States is not primarily attributed to the closure of missions initially created to accommodate "the surge" in the number of missionaries serving. This supports church statements (see footnote #7) that the creation of these new missions was done in anticipation of missionary numbers after the double-cohort of missionaries ended. Only four of the eight missions to be discontinued this July were organized after the lowering of the minimum age for missionary service, namely the California Modesto Mission, the Illinois Chicago West Mission, Utah Logan Mission, and the Washington Federal Way Mission. To contrast, there will be 18 missions created since 2013 that will continue to operate in the United States after these mission consolidations occur this July. These missions include:

• Arizona Gilbert
• Arizona Scottsdale
• California Bakersfield
• California Irvine
• California Rancho Cucamonga
• Colorado Fort Collins 
• Georgia Macon 
• Idaho Idaho Falls 
• Idaho Nampa 
• Kansas Wichita 
• Ohio Cincinnati 
• Oregon Salem 
• Utah Orem
• Utah Salt Lake City East 
• Virginia Chesapeake 
• Washington Vancouver
• Washington Yakima
• Wyoming Mormon Trail

Third, the eight United States missions to be discontinued this summer are distributed across the United States and are not primarily concentrated in a specific geographic region. Four missions will closed in the eastern United States, and four missions will closed in the western United States. Missions to be closed range from locations where there is a high percentage of Latter-day Saints, such as the Utah Logan Mission, to locations where there is a small percentage of Latter-day Saints such as the Illinois Chicago West Mission and the New York New York South Mission. This finding suggests that the closure of these eight missions was largely affected by fewer missionaries assigned to serve in the United States as a whole.

Fourth, many missions scheduled to close this summer have reported few convert baptisms compared to other missions in the United States. The Mississippi Jackson Mission has operated for nearly 40 years but LDS membership in Mississippi has increased from approximately 9,000 in the early 1980s to nearly 22,000 as of year-end 2016. As a result, the percentage of Latter-day Saints in the state population has only barely increased during the past 30 years. The number of official congregations in Mississippi has increased from 46 to 52 between 1987 and 2017. Other missions such as the Ohio Cleveland Mission and the New York New York South Mission have also reported comparatively few convert baptisms.

Unprecedented Consolidation of Missions in Eastern Europe/Southeastern Europe

The Church announced last week that the following missions will be discontinued in Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe this July:

• Bulgaria Sofia
• Greece Athens
• Romania/Moldova
• Russia Samara
• Ukraine L'viv

After these missions are merged with surrounding missions in the region, the number of missions in Eastern Europe/Southeastern Europe will decrease from 20 to 15. The remaining 15 missions in the mission will include:

• Adriatic North
• Adriatic South
• Armenia/Georgia
• Baltic
• Central Eurasian
• Czeck/Slovak
• Hungary Budapest
• Poland Warsaw
• Russia Moscow
• Russia Novosibirsk
• Russia Rostov-na-Donu
• Russia St Petersburg
• Russia Yekaterinburg
• Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk
• Ukraine Kyiv

Information on which countries will pertained to realigned missions remains unavailable. However, it appears likely that the Central Eurasian Mission will include Turkey, Bulgaria, and Greece. Missionaries report that the Ukraine L'viv Mission will be consolidated with the Ukraine Kyiv Mission. Missionary activity will continue in all of the countries where mission consolidations are scheduled to occur. However, there may be fewer missionaries assigned to these countries after these changes go into effect.

As I mentioned in my post last week that announced changes to LDS missions this July, the Church in Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe has experienced some of the slowest growth in the worldwide Church during the past decade. To put things in perspective, there is a total of approximately 65,000 Latter-day Saints on church records for Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Central Asia combined after approximately 25-30 years of consistent proselytism in most countries within this region. Member activity rates for the region as a whole appear to be approximately 20-25%. Most countries in the region report annual membership growth rates of 2.0% or less. Of the 27 countries in this region that currently have at least one official ward or branch, the Church reports more than 10,000 members in only two of these countries: Russia and Ukraine. Sixteen of the 27 countries in the region report official LDS memberships of less than 1,000. In countries where the least growth has occurred such as Greece and Serbia, the number of full-time missionaries that have ever served in these countries since they opened to proselytism has exceeded the number of converts ever baptized in these countries. In areas of the world that report rapid LDS growth such as in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Church generally maintains approximately one mission per every 15,000 to 20,000 members. Areas of the world that experience slower growth report larger numbers of members per mission. For example, in 2016 the Church in South America reported an average of 42,231 members per mission, whereas the Church in the United States reported an average of 52,738 members per mission. In contrast, the Church in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Central Asia maintained approximately one mission per every 3,250 members in 2016. If the ratio of members per mission most recently reported in South America were applied to Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Central Asia, there would need to be only two missions for the entire region.

The Church's efforts to begin proselytism in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Central Asia during the late 1980s and the 1990s numbers among the most proactive and methodical observed within the worldwide Church during the last century. The Austria Vienna East Mission (organized in 1987) and the Finland Helsinki East Mission (organized in 1990) began proselytism efforts in the region until these missions could later be relocated to Ukraine and Russia in 1992. The number of missions headquartered in the region increased from zero in 1986 to six by 1992 and 16 in 1997. Many of the countries in the region reported moderate to rapid growth in the 1990s, especially in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Hungary, and the Baltics. For the most part, moderate or rapid growth has never occurred for the Church in several countries such as Poland, Serbia, Greece, and Moldova. Furthermore, the longer the Church has maintained a missionary presence in most Eastern European and Central Asian countries, the slower growth rates have become.

The decision to close approximately one-quarter of the missions in Eastern Europe/Southeastern Europe and Central Asia has appeared warranted for many years due to low productivity. Effective strategies for missionary work require allocation of the greatest amounts of resources to target the largest populations that exhibit the highest receptivity to the LDS Gospel message, meanwhile continuing to target less receptive populations with fewer resources. The closure of five missions in the region this summer does not indicate a "throwing in the towel" type of mentality that the Church is taking for this region after frustratingly few results, but rather a wiser appropriation of resources to the region particularly in regards to mission administration. The Church in Eastern Europe and Central Asia will likely continue to maintain a disproportionately large full-time missionary force in comparison to the number of cities with an LDS presence, number of congregations, number of converts baptized, and number of members due to the large size of target populations for proselytism, long distances between cities with an LDS presence, low activity rates, and need for outside assistance with basic church administration needs in many locations. Moreover, more mission resources are also needed to effectively proselyte individual countries in local languages and in order to avoid overwhelming logistical challenges in regards to the assignment of full-time missionaries.

The closure of additional missions in Eastern Europe appears likely within the foreseeable future, particularly in Russia. It seems likely that the Russia Moscow and Russia St Petersburg Missions may combine one day, as well as the Russia Yekaterinburg and Russia Novosibirsk Missions into one mission. However, it will be imperative that the Church continue to maintain consistent proselytism programs in local languages in order to prevent even further deceleration in growth, and in case conditions improve one day and population become more receptive to LDS proselytism efforts. Moreover, it is also possible that the Church may reestablish some of the missions discontinued in the coming years and decades if local populations become more receptive or there are large increases in the number of members serving full-time missions. Bulgaria and Romania appear the most likely countries to have a mission reestablished one day given their large populations and comparatively larger LDS memberships compared to surrounding nations.

19 Missions to Close, 5 Missions to be Created in July 2018

This morning, the Church made an official announcement regarding changes to LDS missions worldwide that will go into effect as of July 2018. Nineteen missions will close and combine with nearby missions, whereas five new missions will be created. Of the 19 missions to close in July, 16 of these missions are located in Europe and the United States. Three of the five new missions to be created will be located in Africa. As a result of these changes, the number of missions worldwide will decrease from 421 to 407. Thus, the average mission in July will have 167 missionaries if there remain 68,000 missionaries serving at that time. This number is comparable to long-term historical averages for the Church since the early 1970s of approximately 160-170 missionaries per mission.

The following missions will be closed and combined with nearby missions:

• Australia Sydney North
• Bulgaria Sofia
• California Modesto
• California San Fernando
• England London South
• Greece Athens
• Illinois Chicago West
• México Ciudad Obregón
• México Reynosa
• Mississippi Jackson
• New York New York South
• Ohio Cleveland
• Portugal Porto
• România/Moldova
• Russia Samara
• Spain Málaga
• Ukraine L’viv
• Utah Logan
• Washington Federal Way

 The following missions will be created:

• Brazil Rio de Janeiro South
• Cote d’Ivoire Yamoussoukro
• Nigeria Ibadan
• Philippines Cabanatuan
• Zimbabwe Bulawayo

Reports I had received regarding a new mission in Layton, Utah were unfounded. I apologize for the misinformation.

The decision to close so many missions in the Europe (8) and United States (8) appears attributed to several factors.

First, many of these missions have had few congregations within their geographical boundaries. For example, the Bulgaria Sofia Mission and Greece Athens Mission each report less than 10 branches within their geographical boundaries. To contrast, missions in the Church outside of the Inter-mountain West of the United States generally have between 50-150 congregations within their boundaries. As it is most effective to assign only one or two missionary companionships per congregation, missions with too few congregations, and no plans to expand outreach into previously unreached areas, often experience problems with inefficiency in resource allocation. Consequently, mission presidents and mission leadership in these missions can be often underutilized due to few missionaries assigned.

Second, most missions scheduled to close in July have reported very low rates of convert baptisms for many years or even decades. Many missions in Eastern Europe, for example, have consistently baptized fewer than 100 converts a year for 10-20 years. For example, the Greece Athens Mission has operated for approximately 25 years but there remain less than 1,000 members of the Church in Greece. Although the Church will continue to maintain a missionary presence in these nations where the only LDS mission is scheduled to close, this decision has appeared warranted due to a lack of productivity and in order to conserve resources. Moreover, mission consolidations in less productive or unproductive areas of the world can at times serve as a catalyst for future growth if there is greater member-missionary participation and leadership development in wake of fewer nonnative resources (e.g. mission leadership, full-time missionaries) to support the Church. As a result, increased self-sufficiency in leadership can result from these type of changes.

Third, many of the missions affected by mission closures this July were organized to help accommodate tens of thousands of more missionaries serving as a result of a temporary, artificial surge in full-time missionary numbers due to the reduced age on missionary service. For example, several of the missions created in the United States five years ago will be closed or involved in the consolidation of missions this summer. Nevertheless, most of the 58 missions created in 2013 will continue to operate. However, the number of missionaries serving in 2018 has appeared 5,000-10,000 less than what church leadership initially predicted.

Fourth, nearly all missions scheduled to close this July strongly depend, or almost entirely depend, on North American full-time missionaries to staff their ranks. Thus, the decision to close many of these missions is related to the number of full-time missionaries serving from North America. Moreover, all five of the new missions to be created this July are located in nations or regions of the world where there have been significant increases in the number of members serving full-time missions within recent years.

I will provide more analysis in the coming days.

Mission Consolidations/Creations - 46 Missions to be Affected

I have received a report that 46 missions will be affected by mission consolidations and the creation of new missions this July.

At most recent report, the following missions will be discontinued this July:

• Australia Sydney (two missions to be consolidated into one)
• Bulgaria Sofia (to be combined with the Central Eurasian Mission)
• Mississippi Jackson (to be combined with Louisiana Baton Rouge and Texas Dallas)
• New York New York (two missions to be consolidated into one)
• Ohio Cleveland (to be combined with three surrounding missions)
• Russia Samara (to be combined with Russia Rostov-Na-Donu)
• Ukraine L'viv (to be combined with Ukraine Kyiv)
• Washington Federal Way (to be combined with surrounding missions)

The consolidation of these missions has appeared needed for many years due to historically low numbers of convert baptisms, and often few missionaries assigned to these missions and other nearby missions. For example, missions in Bulgaria and L'viv have had few missionaries assigned for many years and report extremely few convert baptisms. Also, it appears that many of the missions created to accommodate "the surge" of missionaries serving in the mid-2010s due to the lowering of the age of full-time missionary service may be consolidated - especially in the United States. These missions primarily created in 2013 represented a quick-fix to accommodate tens of thousands of more missionaries serving, most of which were from the United States, within a short period of time. As the Church in the United States has the greatest infrastructure to accommodate such a rapid and temporary increase in the number of full-time missionaries, it is unsurprising that these mission consolidations have occurred now that the double-cohort of missionaries has passed. Moreover, the decision to close these missions will likely indicate a shift in resource allocation from less productive areas of the world (e.g. North America, Europe, industrialized nations in Asia and Oceania) to more productive ones (e.g. Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, industrializing nations in Asia).

At most recent report, I have received reports of the following missions to be created this July:

• Philippines Cabanatuan
• Utah Layton
• Zimbabwe Harare

If you have any information about new mission creations or mission consolidations, please comment.

Russia Vladivostok Mission to Close This Summer

The Church announced on May 20th that the Russia Vladivostok Mission will close and that volunteers (missionaries) and branches within the mission will be reassigned to the Russia Novosibirsk Mission. Although the official announcement indicates that this mission consolidation will occur on July 1st, the mission president and his wife have already appeared to have been released. This decision appears primarily influenced by fewer volunteers called to serve in Russia due to visa problems and increasing government restrictions on religious freedom.

The decision to close the Russia Vladivostok Mission has appear long overdue. It is likely that additional mission consolidations in Russia will occur as the Church has for many years operated missions with a minimal number of missionaries. Furthermore, Russian missions baptize few converts and administer an average of 14 congregations. To contrast, most missions in the Church service between 50 and 150 congregations within their geographical boundaries. Russia's enormous geographical size, large population, and lack of church leaders have all appeared to play a significant roll in the significant LDS missionary presence in the country despite the small size of the Church.

New Mission in Oceania; Mission to be Closed in Russia

Oceania

Missionaries report that the Fiji Suva and Papua New Guinea Port Moresby Missions will split to create a third mission to service New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.  Steady membership and congregational growth have occurred in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in the past few years whereas stagnant growth has occurred in New Caledonia.  The organization of the new mission will allocate more mission resources in areas which have a favorable outlook for future growth that at present are under-serviced. The first stake may be organized in Vanuatu in the coming years.

Russia

Missionaries report that the Russia Moscow and Russia Moscow West Missions will consolidate into a single mission.  More information will be provided once available regarding the assignment of Belarus and Kazakhstan to other missions.

Five New Missions to be organized and Five Mission to be Consolidated this July

New missions will be organized in the following locations:

• Benin Cotonou
• Mexico Mexico City Southeast
• Peru Chiclayo
• Philippines Quezon City North
• Zambia Lusaka

Missions to be consolidated are as follows:

• Connecticut Hartford 
• Georgia Macon
• Portugal Porto
• Switzerland Geneva and France Toulouse to create the France Lyon
• Toronto Canada East and Toronto Canada West to create Toronto Canada

Georgia Macon Mission to consolidate with surrounding missions this July; New Mission Rumors

Full-time missionaries serving in the Georgia Macon Mission report that the mission will be consolidated with three neighboring missions this July.  Missions headquartered in Georgia and surrounding states tend to service few stakes, but receptivity has been higher in this area than many other regions on the United States in recent years.

Missionaries serving in the Fiji Suva Mission report that the mission may divide to create a separate mission for New Caledonia and Vanuatu.  I will provide more information when it becomes available.

France Toulouse and Switzerland Geneva Missions to consolidate into the France Lyon Mission this July

Missionaries report that the France Toulouse Mission and Switzerland Geneva Mission will combine into a single mission this July.  The mission will be renamed the France Lyon Mission and administer LDS missionary work throughout southern France and Francophone Switzerland.  Some areas will also reportedly be transferred over to the France Paris Mission as part of the consolidation.

This mission consolidation as well as others that will occur this July are part of a redistribution of mission resources from less productive, more self-reliant areas to more receptive, less self-sufficient areas and also represents the challenge of expanding mission outreach worldwide with a finite number of LDS missionaries.  The consolidation of missions in less productive nations often does not significantly affect the number of convert baptisms and often convert retention rates remain constant or improve as a result of greater involvement of local members in mission activity.  Consequently, we are most likely to see additional mission consolidations in North America and Europe in the coming years.  The primary reasons for the limited number of LDS missionaries include a decline in LDS birth rates in the United States, consistently low rates of North American members serving full-time missions (where the bulk of the LDS missionary force originates), and the failure of developing totally self-sufficient missionary manpower in the nations which draw the greatest numbers of missionary resources.  In 2010, all new missions that were organized were created in nations which have seen increasing numbers of full-time missionaries serve or supply a large number of full-time missionaries, such as Guatemala, Mexico, the DR Congo, and Nicaragua.  Below are a list of some potential new missions we may see organized in the coming years.

• Angola Luanda
• Brazil Fortaleza South
• Cameroon Yaounde
• Ethiopia Addis Ababa
• Ghana Kumasi
• Mexico Toluca
• Peru Iquitos
• Tanzania Dar Es Salaam
• Togo Lome

Additional Mission Consolidations in Portugal and New England

Missionaries and members report that the Portugal Porto and Portugal Lisbon Missions will consolidate into a single mission and the Connecticut Hartford Mission will combine with the Massachusetts Boston Mission this July.  Both these areas report low levels of convert baptisms and are generally self-sustaining in local leadership for established congregations, albeit there has been very little congregational growth or congregational decline for many years.  I will provide more analysis when more details become available.

Canada Toronto East and Canada Toronto West Missions to consolidate into a single mission this July

Missionaries report that the the two LDS missions in Toronto will consolidate into the Canada Toronto Mission this summer.  The decision to consolidate the two missions is likely due to low receptivity of the Church in eastern Canada for many years; slow to stagnant membership and congregational growth; limited numbers of full-time missionaries and expanding opportunities in more receptive nations; and the large missionary force operating in Canada today (eight missions serving 34 million as of early 2011).  Once combined, the Canada Toronto Mission will likely service most of Ontario's 13 million inhabitants and include eight stakes and one district; a much smaller number of stakes and districts than included in most North American missions. 

While on the topic of Toronto, full-time missionaries report that Farsi-speaking full-time missionaries have been called to work among the large Iranian population in eastern Toronto.  

Ireland Dublin Mission to be Discontinued

The Ireland Dublin Mission will combine with the Scotland Edinburgh Mission to create the Scotland/Ireland Mission. The mission will be headquartered in Edinburgh and serve members in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland in seven stakes, one district and several mission branches in northern Scotland. Since 2000 membership has increased from 2,333 to 2,772 in 2008 and there has been no change in the number of congregations.

Member activity may have increased substantially in the past decade. Those who identify themselves as LDS on the census increased by 48.5% between 2002 and 2006 whereas total membership rose by 3.8% during this time period. Greater numbers of active members lessen the role missionaries serve in countries with a small Church presence. The Ireland Dublin Mission has only served members in two stakes and one district. Most missions generally have five to 15 stakes. Missions in areas where the Church has recently arrived, experience high member inactivity, and an expanding Church outreach can have only a couple districts and no stakes within their boundaries. The Greece Athens Mission had no stakes or districts within its boundaries until 2007 when the Nicosia Cyprus District was created. The Russia Vladivostok is the only regular proselyting mission without a stake or district.

In addition to the small LDS membership and population, low growth rates, and increasing independence of Irish membership, the Scotland Edinburgh Mission also experiences slow growth and has had the number of congregations drop by seven during the 2000s. Membership grew by only 1.7% between 2000 and 2008. The consolidation of the two missions will likely not decrease the few numbers of converts the Church gains in Ireland and Scotland and allow for greater mission resources to be utilized in more needy areas of the world.

Japan Hiroshima Mission to be Discontinued

This July the Japan Hiroshima Mission will be discontinued, bringing the number of missions in Japan to six. The Okayama Japan Stake and the Takamatsu Japan and Matsuyama Japan Districts will fall under the jurisdiction of the Japan Kobe Mission. The Hiroshima Japan Stake and Yamaguchi Japan District will join the Japan Fukuoka Mission.

Japan has seen slow membership growth since 2001 and congregations have fallen by 30 since 2000. A large number of the congregations discontinued were small branches. The decision to discontinue the Japan Hiroshima Mission was likely in part was due to low productivity for the large number of missionaries in this region of Japan over the past decade. However the mission president of the Japan Kobe Mission points out that his mission nearly tripled the number of convert baptisms in 2009 compared to 2008. Nationwide there was an increase in convert baptisms in 2009 compared to 2008. 2008 ranks slightly above several other years in the past decade for membership increase, growing at a rate of 0.66% (years with lower membership growth rates include 2003, 2006, and 2007 -- the lowest rate was 0.55% in 2007). Initial reports on membership growth and convert retention in 2009 may indicate that the Church has begun to see a small reverse in the declining trend of membership growth.

President McIntyre of the Japan Kobe Mission further points out that the reduction in the missionary force in Japan has already occurred and will likely not continue. Other missions to consolidate this summer have also reported that their missionary forces have already been reduced and may not continue to see additional reductions. The Church continues to mature and slowly grow in Japan as manifest by the recent temple announcement for Sapporo and two operating temples in Tokyo and Fukuoka. Japan also sends out many local missionaries with some Japanese missions having local missionaries in the dozens. When I served my mission in South Korea, we had one of the larger missions in terms of missionaries serving and only had around a dozen Korean missionaries.

Lastly the mission consolidation also reflects continued emphasis for local members to find and prepare investigators to have missionaries teach and baptize.

10 New Missions to be Created, 14 to be Discontinued

I do not have the names of all the missions to be created or discontiued, but I have learned that the Ireland Dublin Mission, one of the missions in Chicago, and a mission or two in Australia will be discontinued. Additional new missions to be created include Peru Cuzco and Democratic Republic of Congo Lubumbashi. The mission in St George will stretch all the way to Farmington, New Mexico. I will provide more information once it becomes available. The total number of missions worldwide will fall by four from 344 to 340.

More New Missions and Missions to be Discontinued

New Missions in Mexico

Missionaries report that at least two new missions will be organized in Mexico this summer.

The sixth mission in the Mexico City area will be created from a division of the Mexico Mexico City North and Mexico Mexico East Missions and will be named the Mexico Mexico City Northwest Mission. The new mission will include 10 stakes. Mexico City experiences some of the highest numbers of baptisms in the Church and regularly sees additional congregations created. The highest baptizing mission in Mexico last year was the Mexico Mexico City East Mission with over 3,000 converts. Retention has been a persisting problem in this area for decades and appears to have only slightly improved as congregational growth is less than membership growth. An additional mission will allow for greater focus on retention and increasing member activity by more frequent visits and training from mission leadership to local leadership. The new mission may increase the likelihood of a future temple in Pachuca in the coming years.

The Mexico Villahermosa Mission will be created by a division of the Mexico Tuxtla Gutierrez Mission. An additional mission in southern Mexico will provide greater missionary resources to open additional small cities and towns. These areas also have many Amerindian groups who have received increasing outreach such as in the San Cristobal de las Casas area. Several stakes in the Villahermosa area may split as they have added several new congregations over the past couple years.

Missions to be Discontinued in Europe

A member in Central Europe reported that the Switzerland Zurich and Germany Hamburg Missions will be discontinued. Central Europe has seen a trend of decreasing mission outreach over the past two decades. I will provide additional information once it becomes available. Like other areas experiencing mission consolidations, the number of missionaries serving in these areas have likely already been reduced over the years to prepare for consolidation. Many areas in Central Europe have seen small increases in convert baptisms with fewer missionaries through outreach to young adults. The Central European country which experienced the greatest increase in growth in 2009 was the Czech Republic.

A full report on which missions will be discontinued and created this summer will be included in the Church News this weekend.

Another Mission to be Discontinued

Missionaries report that this July the Korea Seoul West Mission will be discontinued. I am a returned missionary from the Korea Seoul West Mission and it does not surprise me that the mission will be absorbed into the Korea Seoul Mission not because the mission has been unproductive but rather because of the small number of missionaries serving in the Korea Seoul Mission and the few baptisms they have had over the years. The Korea Seoul Mission will also include stakes formally covered by the Korea Seoul West Mission with the exception of the Suwon Korea Stake which will go to the Korea Daejon Mission. The Seoul West Mission typically has around 300 baptisms a year while the Seoul Mission has had around 100 to 200 a year.

Furthermore missionaries report that as many as 16 missions may be discontinued this summer. As noted by the mission president in the Spain Malaga Mission, reasons for the large number of missions to be discontinued include the decreasing number of men mission-aged in North America and realigning missions in less productive areas to shift resources to more productive areas. It appears that the decision to discontinue so many missions this year was a decision that has been considered for many years and linked to the 2002 announcement of the discontinuation of stake missions and missionary programs with a ward and branch mission focus. Areas experiencing mission consolidations have so far been ones which have or will soon have stakes established, indicating that one of the purposes of missions is to not only teach and baptize converts but to also mentor local members in order to become self-sustaining. Once members become more self sustaining in less productive areas the number of missionaries and resources are reduced.

With so many missions to be discontinued we may see a few more missions organized. Likely candidates include Africa and Central and South America as these regions have many areas which experience rapid growth and rely on foreign missionaries. I also wanted to stress that many areas of the world with high retention and rapid growth do not have foreign full-time missionaries, suggesting that oftentimes members grow too dependent on foreign missionaries to run the Church.

Two More Missions to be Discontinued in Spain and Italy

Italy

Missionaries serving in the Italy Catania Mission report that the mission will be discontinued this July. The mission will be absorbed into the Italy Rome Mission. Missionaries were notified that this consolidation will occur in part due to preparing members for the building of the Rome Italy Temple. The decision to consolidate the two missions was also likely influenced by the consolidation of the two districts on Sicily last year in preparation to create the first stake on the island. The Palermo Italy District may become a stake prior to the combining of the missions but no announcement has been made. Once the consolidation occurs there will be around 120 missionaries in the Italy Rome Mission. This consolidation will allow for greater missionary resources to be utilized in areas with more rapid growth and increase the responsibilities for local members in sharing the Gospel with others.

Spain

The Spain Bilbao Mission will be discontinued this July and a massive realignment of the three remaining Spanish missions will occur. Districts in Leon and Vigo will transfer to the Spain Madrid Mission and the Vitoria Spain Stake will become part of the Spain Barcelona Mission. The Canary Islands will become part of the Spain Madrid Mission and the Elche Spain Stake, La Mancha Spain District, and a couple mission branches will belong to the Spain Malaga Mission. Missionaries were very surprised about this change considering that the Spain Bilbao Mission had its most successful year in 20 years as the first stake within the mission was created and convert baptisms were up 81% from 2008 in 2009. The Spain Barcelona Mission also had a very successful year as measured by convert baptisms with 402 baptisms. The missions in Madrid and Malaga have also seen good success in the past year. The decision to combine the decision is an inspired one which has come as a result of greater leadership development and maturity among the local members. The establishment of the first stake in northern Spain was a result of local members taking greater responsibility in conducting the Church.

Below I have the letter from the mission president of the Spain Malaga Mission informing missionaries concerning the changes.

The First Presidency has determined that on 1 July 2010 the Spain Bilbao Mission will be dissolved and the boundaries of the Spain Barcelona and Spain Madrid Missions will be realigned to include the areas now served by the Spain Bilbao Mission. President Richard R. Clegg (from the Bilbao Mission) will be the new mission president of the Spain Málaga Mission. In conjunction with these changes, the Elche Stake (from the Barcelona Mission) and La Mancha district (from the Madrid Mission) will be associated with the Spain Málaga Mission. The Canary Islands (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Spain District) will be associated with the Spain Madrid Mission presided over by President Watkins.

This consolidation, together with many others, will be announced in the Church News on 13 February 2010. While these changes will impact certain missionaries this summer, the move will not affect our role as missionaries to baptize worthy converts. Rather, it is a reflection of the great success which we are experiencing in the growth of the Church in Spain.

This is an exciting and positive move as the Church continues to expand throughout the earth and as ward and stake leaders and members take a more active role in missionary work and the growth and development of the Church in Spain. It is an inspired response to a number of important changes in the work in Spain.

First of all, as you well know, the number of missionaries worldwide and the number of missionaries serving in Spain has been decreasing. This decrease is driven largely by a reduction in the total number of 18 and 19-year-olds in the population throughout North America and Europe. We started our mission with 120 missionaries and by July will have 74. Other missions are going through similar reductions. Overall, the number of missionaries serving in Spain will be less than 300 this year. This is a dramatic decrease from several years ago when we had nearly 800 missionaries in five missions in Spain.

Second, the growth of the stakes in Spain has reduced the amount of Church administration done by the missions. Before the creation of the Madrid Stake in 1982, mission presidents served as the ecclesiastical leaders of all members of the Church in Spain. With the recent creation of the 10th stake in the country - the Spain Vitoria Stake, created out of the Bilbao District of the Spain Bilbao Mission - most Church members now live in stakes led by local stake presidents, and missions have responsibility for fewer mission districts.

Finally, in 2002 the First Presidency announced certain changes which gave stake presidents and bishops the responsibility for missionary work in their stakes and wards. The stake presidents and bishops in Spain have taken on that new responsibility in a very effective way, so that even with the reduction in full-time missionaries, the work of baptizing worthy converts has increased dramatically.

We are excited about this coming change and what it says about the growth of the Church in Spain. While we look forward to welcoming into our mission the great missionaries and members of the La Mancha District and Elche Stake, we will deeply miss the wonderful missionaries and members of the Canary Islands. We know that this inspired change will help the work move forward in a country which we all love deeply. I have had the tender privilege of knowing and working alongside Presidents and Sisters Clegg and Watkins. I am confident those of you who will share that privilege will be greatly blessed by their dedication and love. I invite you to include them in your prayers now as they anticipate and prepare for these new assignments.

May God bless each of you with continued success in this great work of gathering the children of our Father in Heaven into His Kingdom through the waters of baptism.