Updated Country Profile - Slovakia

Click here to access the updated Reaching the Nations country profile for Slovakia. Slovakia has one of the lowest percentages of Latter-day Saints of any European nation as there is one member per approximately 20,000 people. There are fewer than one hundred active members in the country despite a continuous Church presence since 1993. Strong Slovak ethnoreligious ties to Catholicism, delays in translating Church materials into the Slovak language, minimal mission outreach extended to Slovakia over the past two decades from the Czech/Slovak Mission, and the lack of a Slovakian Latter-day Saint community appear responsible for this lack of growth.

New Districts in Brazil and Slovakia

Brazil
The Church organized a new district in Brazil on March 15th. The Leopoldina Brazil District was organized from the Juiz de Fora Brazil Stake and the Brazil Juiz de Fora Mission. The new district includes the following five branches: the Cataguases, Leopoldina, Muriaé, Ubá, and Viçosa Branches. There are now 253 stakes and 39 districts in Brazil.

Slovakia
The Church organized its first district in Slovakia last Sunday. The Bratislava Slovakia District was organized from a division of the Brno Czech District and includes the following four branches: the Bratislava, Kosice, Trenčín, and Žilina Branches. The creation of the new district has appeared possible due to a sufficient number of active priesthood holders to staff both branch and district callings. The large number of branches in the former Brno Czech District also appeared to contribute to the decision to establish a separate district to administer Slovakia. Multiple member groups also appear to operate within the new district such as in Banska Bystrica and Nitra. Slovakia was previous the 26th country or dependency/territory with the most members without a stake or district according to year-end 2013 membership data. The statistical profile for Slovakia on cumorah.com can be found here whereas a map of branches and member groups in Slovakia can be found here. The Church published its first translation of the Book of Mormon into Slovak in early 2013.

108th Book of Mormon Translation in Slovak; Church Growth Developments in the Pacific

The Book of Mormon translated into Slovak

Missionaries report that the Slovak translation of the Book of Mormon has been completed. It is unclear when the translation will be available for distribution, but this marks the first LDS scripture ever translated into the Slovak language and a major development in missionary outreach in this lesser reached European nation. At the end of 2009, there were fewer than 200 members meeting in four branches at least one group. Legal status for the Church was recently obtained. For additional information about the Church in Slovakia and its prospects there, please refer to the Slovakia country profile on cumorah.com.

Full-time missionaries assigned to Tuvalu

For the first time in several years, full-time missionaries have been assigned to work on the small Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. With less than 13,000 inhabitants, Tuvalu has one LDS branch and 134 Latter-day Saints. Initial missionary reports indicate that there are around 65 attending meetings, many of which are not baptized members. The sole companionship assigned to the islands is learning the Tuvaluan language. Compared to other Pacific islands, few have joined the Church. There were 57 Tuvaluans who self-identified as Latter-day Saints on the New Zealand census in 2006. There are no LDS scriptures and only a handful of church materials in Tuavluan.

Second branch created on Christmas Island (Kirimati)

A second branch has been created on remote Christmas Island in eastern Kiribati. The Banana Branch has functioned as a group for at least a couple years under the Christmas Island Branch. A third branch operates just north of the island on Fanning Island. There are around 5,000 inhabitants on Christmas Island. For more information about the Church in Kiribati, please refer to the cumorah.com country profile.

Update on Church Growth

Taiwan Reaches 50,000 Church Members

The Church News reported in a recently published article about the Church's 50th anniversary in Taiwan that Church membership in the country has reached 50,000. Today there are 102 congregations throughout the country, 10 stakes and two districts. Membership grows at a rate of around 4% a year and has increased by 20,000 in the past eight years. If membership growth rates remain constant Taiwan will have a projected 81,000 members in the year 2020.

11 New Stakes Created In June and Counting

It has been over a decade since we have had so many new stakes organized in so short a time frame. So far 11 stakes have been organized in the month of June, six of which were created from member districts. So far 25 new stakes have been organized this year.

The Church in Bosnia and Macedonia

The Church News provided interesting information about the Church in these two countries where the Church still has no official presence. It appears that both countries have groups established for members to meet in, but no branches. Macedonia only has one known family who are native Macedonians and Church members. Bosnia on the other hand had no reported Bosnian Church members and Church meetings consist of foreigners meeting throughout the country. Elder D. Todd Christofferson reminded members in Bosnia that they are laying the foundation for the Church in the future.

Recently Created Branches and Groups In Eastern Europe

A little over a year ago I reported on how the Church was aggressively opening new cities to the preaching of the Gospel in Eastern Europe. Only Mission branches or groups recently created are listed below. Meetinghouse locations and times are only available for both branches and groups on the country websites for Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Branches

Kaposvár, Hungary
Khmel'nyts'kyy, Ukraine
Kremenchung, Ukraine
Pärnu, Estonia
Szczecin, Poland
Zhytomyr, Ukraine

Groups/Dependent Branches

Shkoder, Albania
Pula, Croatia
Békéscsaba, Hungary
Szolnok, Hungary
Tatabánya, Hungary
Jelgava, Latvia
Gorlitz, Poland
Kielce, Poland
Torun, Poland
Zamosc, Poland
Craiova, Romania
Novo Mesto, Slovenia
Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Pavlohrad, Ukraine

City Opens for Missionary Work In Slovakia

According to the Czech Prague Mission website, the city of Banská Bystrica has recently opened to missionary work. With 81,300 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica sits in the center of the country. I do not believe a branch has been established, but this continues a trend of cities opening in Slovakia. I cannot recall an instance in the past 10 years where so many cities were opened in a country with so few members (less than 200 at the end of 2006). This is likely the result of the recent registration of the Church in Slovakia.

Slovakia and the Czech Republic

Slovakia

A new branch has recently been opened in the city of Martin, Slovakia. This is the fifth branch in the country. Furthermore, other cities are likely to open to missionary work in the coming months. Membership in Slovakia is only around 130 as of 2006. Hopefully membership will increase in this Eastern European nation, especially after being dedicated by Elder Uchtdorf back in 2006. Over 30,000 signatures were collected to get the Church officially registered with the government. If you subscribe to the Church News, you can look up the story in the achieves.

There is still no district of the Church in Slovakia, but I imagine a district forming in the next couple years once more leadership develops.

Czech Republic

The Church grew fairly rapidly once it began missionary work back in the early 1990s, growing from nine branches with 600 members in 1992 to 19 branches with over 1,600 members in 2000. Since 2000 growth has slowed, with a little over 2,000 members today in 14 branches. I have not heard anything about a stake being established anytime soon. There are two districts in the country. One is in Prague and the other in Brno.

On the above maps, branches are indicated with green squares.

The Church in Eastern Europe

I wanted to take some time and write about the Church and Eastern Europe. The majority of the countries considered to be in Eastern Europe were opened for missionary work most recently in the early 1990s. Since that time, the Church's presence and spread into most of the largest cities, but with relatively few members. For instance, the country in Eastern Europe with the highest membership is Ukraine with around 10,200 members (out of 46 million people). However, the countries in Eastern Europe with the lowest Church membership (among countries with a Church presence) are Serbia with fewer than 300 members in three branches and Moldova with around the same number of members in two branches. There is a strong potential for future growth of the Church in Eastern Europe, especially because unlike many other places in the world, there are branches organized through these countries. If conditions change and people become more interested in religion, the Church is mobilized to need such a demand.

Below is a map of Bulgaria; a country which provides the best example of this phenomenon. Click on the map in order to see it more clearly. Each green square is a branch.

Notice how the largest city, Sofia, has several branches organized in it and that branches are scattered fairly evenly throughout the country.

Romania is another good example, and here's a map below.

Here are some exciting recent developments of the Church in Eastern Europe.

New Branches in the Baltic States, Eastern Europe and Georgia

Branches have recently (last 12 months or so) been estabished in the following cities.

• Jelgava, Latvia
• Parnu, Estonia
• Shkoder, Albania (see earlier post)
• Kosice, Slovakia
• Tbilisi, Georgia (second branch in city, the Avlabari Branch)
• Alexandria, Romania (last June)
• Pula, Croatia
• Subotica, Serbia
• Kremenchuk, Ukraine
  

Church Launches New Latvian Website

In the past week or so, the Church has launched a country website for Latvia. It is in Russian and Latvian, and is found at http://www.jezuskristusbaznica.lv/ .

Lastly, I wanted to conclude that the activity rate in these nations are actually not as low as you might think. The LDS Church News stated in the Church Almanac that there are over 1,000 temple recommend holders in Ukraine and the temple has been under construction in Kyiv for the past six months. Furthermore, there are two stakes in Eastern Europe: One in Ukraine and the other in Hungary. The Church is close to organizing stakes in St. Petersburg, Russia ; Kharkiv, Ukraine ; and Donetsk, Ukraine. As for Future missions, Serbia, Romania and Ukraine seem most likely. It will be interesting how soon missionaries will be placed in newly independent Kosovo. I imagine that Kosovo will be included with the mission in Albania, since the majority of the population is Albanian.