Europe Central Turkic and Persian-Speaking Mission to be Created in July 2025

New Mission Created for Turkish and Persian Speakers in Europe

Today, Church News published an article announcing the calling of a mission president and his wife to lead the new Europe Central Turkic and Persian-Speaking Mission. This appears to be a newly created mission, as no mission currently operates under this name. However, it essentially represents a reinstatement of the former Central Eurasian Mission, which operated beginning in 2015.

The Church previously organized the Central Eurasian Mission with headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, although the mission was later relocated to Bulgaria. From 2012 to 2018, foreign missionaries served in Turkey as volunteers who taught by referral. In 2018, the mission headquarters were relocated to Sofia, Bulgaria, and the mission was consolidated with the Bulgaria Sofia Mission. In 2023, the Church organized the Europe Central Area District, which currently includes branches in Turkey and Azerbaijan and provides ecclesiastical support to isolated members and groups in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—none of which have officially organized branches (but all have had a member group in the past and may still have member groups today). As of year-end 2024, there were fewer than 1,000 Latter-day Saints in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Central Asian Turkic republics combined.

Importantly, the creation of the new mission appears primarily motivated by the need to better coordinate missionary efforts among the millions of Turkish and Persian speakers living in Central Europe, particularly in countries such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Although the headquarters of the new mission have not been announced, they are likely to be located in this region. It is unclear how many European nations will be serviced by the new mission.

The Church has experienced its greatest missionary success with Persian-speakers among peoples from the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asia. There may be as many as 10,000 Persian Latter-day Saints worldwide. Several Persian-language branches now operate in the United States and Turkey, in addition to multiple member groups in other countries such as Canada.

It is also worth noting that the creation of this new mission does not appear to be connected to the recent outbreak of war between Israel and Iran. Rather, it reflects the steady increase in convert baptisms among Persian and Turkish-speaking populations in Europe over the past decade. The sustained growth in this demographic has reached a point where a dedicated, multinational mission is now warranted to better serve their needs.

Outlook and Future Developments

Prospects appear favorable for the creation of additional member groups—and potentially the first Persian- or Turkish-speaking branches in Central Europe—in the coming months and years. In some congregations, Persian or Turkic members already constitute a significant minority of active membership.

However, the outlook for missionary activity in Turkey, Iran, and Central Asia remains poor for the foreseeable future due to longstanding restrictions on religious freedom, war, and the transient nature of many converts, which limits the development of stable local leadership.

Updated Country Profile - Iran

Click here to access our updated Reaching the Nations country profile for Iran. Iran is one of only two homogeneously Muslim countries to have had an LDS mission during the past 60 years (the other country being Turkey) as the Iran Tehran Mission operated for a few years in the mid to late 1970s. Iranians have been uniquely receptive to the LDS gospel message among peoples in the Middle East and Southwestern Asia. Today, there are more than one thousand Iranian Latter-day Saints who primarily reside in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia. Furthermore, the Church organized its first Iranian Persian (Farsi) branch in late 2017 in Del Mar, California. Nevertheless, the size of the Church among Iranians abroad remains significantly smaller than some proselytism-focused faiths. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses operate hundreds of congregations or congregation groups that hold worship services in Iranian Persian, particularly in Europe, according to the Jehovah's Witness meetinghouse locator https://apps.jw.org/ui/E/meeting-search.html#/dashboard.

Persian (Farsi) Speaking Branch Organized in California

Last Sunday, the Church organized a Persian (Farsi) speaking branch in Del Mar, California. The new branch is the Church's only Persian-speaking branch in the worldwide Church and may be the first branch to ever conduct meetings solely in the Persian language. The Church established several branches in Iran during the 1970s and operated the Iran Tehran Mission to service members in Iran between 1975 and 1979.

Iranians have been uniquely receptive to the LDS Gospel message among peoples in the Middle East. Thousands of Iranian members have joined the Church worldwide during the past four decades and rates of convert baptisms among Iranians have appeared to increase during the past decade. Comparatively few Arabs have joined the Church. Today, Persian-speaking members have joined the Church in sizable numbers in the United States, Canada, Turkey, Sweden, Germany, and several additional European countries. The creation of a Persian-speaking branch is a significant milestone as there appear to be sufficient leadership for Persian members to maintain their own congregation. Prospects appear favorable for the organization of additional Persian-speaking branches, member groups, and Sunday School classes in several countries and locations, especially in Los Angeles, California and Toronto, Canada.

Complete Translation of the Book of Mormon into Farsi (Persian) Completed

I received a report from my stake president yesterday in stake conference that the Church has completed the Farsi (Persian) translation of the entire Book of Mormon. The Church initially translated select passages of the Book of Mormon into Farsi in 1983. Although it is unclear when the translation will be published, it appears that it will likely be available by the end of 2015. My stake president also noted that the Church has begun to translate the Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price into Farsi.

Farsi is spoken by over 47 million people worldwide and is the national statutory language of Iran according to ethnologue.com. The Church briefly operated a mission headquartered in Tehran, Iran during the mid to late 1970s. Currently there are thousands of Iranian Latter-day Saints worldwide primarily scattered across Europe and North America. Iranians have been unique among traditionally Muslim peoples in the Middle East as they have exhibited significantly higher receptivity to LDS outreach compared to other ethnolinguistic groups in the region. Currently Farsi-speaking missionaries are assigned to areas of California and Ontario, Canada.

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.  

The Most Populous Metropolitan Areas Without a Reported LDS Church Presence

Cities almost always offer greater proselytism opportunity for the LDS Church than rural areas. Large populations concentrated in small geographic areas allow for high mission efficiency with even a small missionary force and few church resources. Cities are generally easily accessible. Rural areas, which tend to be sparsely populated, often require a large number of mission outreach centers to administer a small population and in many areas are difficult to access. Large cities often attract people throughout the region, country, or world to visit, temporarily work, obtain education, or become permanent residents. Latter-day Saint converts from these temporary visitors or residents have many times in the past facilitated the spread of the Church to other unreached areas or even rural communities when they return to their hometowns. The Church has taken advantage of the benefits of city-focused church growth outreach as manifest by the Church generally establishing congregations in the largest cities prior to expanding into smaller cities or rural areas.

There remain many large cities which do not have LDS congregations established. Below is a list of the 14 cities which rank among the world's 100 most populous cities which do not have a reported LDS congregation. Some of these cities likely have groups of foreign or native members, especially in nations with a restricted Latter-day Saint presence like China. Population data was taken from www.citypopulation.de

1. Tehran, Iran (12.8 million)
2. Wuhan, China (8.95 million)
3. Shenyang, China (6.8 million)
4. Chongqing, China (6.4 million)
5. Ahmadabad, India (5.95 million)
6. Chengdu, China (5.7 million)
7. Khartoum, Sudan (4.975 million)
8. Pune, India (4.85 million)
9. Chittagong, Bangladesh (4.625 million)
10. Shantou, China (4.6 million)
11. Alexandria, Egypt (4.575 million)
12. Harbin, China (4.4 million)
13. Surat, India (4.225 million)
14. Kanpur, India (3.675 million)

With the exception of English-speaking branches or small congregations for native members in China, none of the above listed cities appear likely to have LDS congregations created in the near future. Iran, Sudan, and Egypt have heavy restrictions and widespread abuse or religious freedom whereas cities listed above in India are located in areas with few Christians and generally strong anti-Christian sentiments. Bangladesh offers considerable religious freedom for Christians, but the small Bangladeshi Latter-day Saint community concentrated in Dhaka may delay any gains in national outreach for many more years.