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.

New Stakes Created in Brazil (3), Utah, and Nigeria; New Districts Created in Ghana, Tanzania, and Turkey; Stakes Discontinued in England (2) and Utah

Brazil

Three new stakes were recently created in Brazil.

The Ponta Grossa Brazil North Stake was created on July 2nd from a division of the Ponta Grossa Brazil Stake (created in 1980) and the Ponta Grossa Brazil Campos Gerais Stake (created in 1997). Two branches formerly assigned to the Brazil Curitiba Mission were also assigned to the new stake. The new stake includes the following five wards and two branches: the América, Campus, Castro, Esplanada, and Ponta Grossa 2nd Wards and the Telêmaco Borba and Tibagi Branches. The new stake is the Church's third stake in Ponta Grossa which has a population of approximately 351,000 people.

The Curitiba Brazil Campo Comprido Stake was organized on July 16th from a division of the Curitiba Brazil Iguaçu Stake (created in 1984) and the Curitiba Brazil Novo Mundo Stake (created in 1994). The new stake includes the following five wards: the Campo Comprido, Campo Largo, Ferraria, Jardim Gabineto, and the Solene Wards. The new stake is the Church's 14th stake in the Curitiba metropolitan area. The Church most recently crated a new stake in the Curitiba area in 2018.

The Jaraguá do Sul Brazil Stake was organized on July 16th from a division of the Joinville Brazil South Stake (created in 2014) and the Navegantes Brazil Stake (created in 2020). Currently, only the following three wards and one branch are assigned to the new stake per the Church's meetinghouse locator website, namely the Baependi, Jaraguá do Sul 1st, and Jaraguá do Sul 2nd Wards and the Barra Velha Branch, suggesting that the creation of additional congregations in the new stake is probably imminent or other units from nearby stakes will be reassigned to the new stake. This has been a similar trend in the Church recently to create a new stake and later have branches advance into wards or create new wards to have the stake had more units (such as recently in Nairobi, Kenya and in Lomé, Togo). 

There are now 284 stakes and 40 districts in Brazil.

Utah

Two new stakes were created in Utah on June 11th. The Saratoga Springs Utah Quailhill was organized from the Saratoga Springs Utah Mount Saratoga Stake (organized in 2016) and includes the following six wards: the Lexington Green, Quailhill 1st, Quailhill 2nd, Quailhill 3rd, Quailhill 4th, and the Talus Ridge 1st Wards. The Saratoga Springs Utah Riverside Stake was created from the Saratoga Springs Utah Mount Saratoga Stake, the Saratoga Springs Utah Saratoga Hills Stake (organized in 2017), and the Saratoga Springs Utah Springside Stake (organized in 2020) and includes the following seven wards: the Neptune Park, Riverside 1st, Riverside 2nd, Saratoga Springs 10th, Sunset Haven, Thunder Ridge, and the Wander Wards. This marks a rare instance when one stake was divided as part of creating two additional stakes (although there are a couple instances in Church history in modern times when one stake was divided to create two new stakes without any other stakes being involved in the process). 

One stake was discontinued in Utah. The Salt Lake Jordan Stake (organized in 1977) was discontinued. Of the five wards in the former stake, only the Jordan 8th Ward (Spanish) was discontinued. The remaining wards were renamed and reassigned to the Salt Lake Jordan North Stake, the Taylorsville Utah North Central Stake, and the Taylorsville Utah South Stake. 

With these changes, there are now 629 stakes and 2 districts in Utah.

Nigeria

The Church organized a new stake in Nigeria. The Nsit Ubium Nigeria Stake was created from a division of the Ukat Aran Nigeria Stake (organized in 1999 and previously called the Nsit Ubium Nigeria Stake until renamed the Ukat Aran Nigeria Stake years later) and the Uyo Nigeria South Stake (organized in 2016). The new stake includes the following eight wards: the Ekpene Ukim, Ikot Ekwere, Ikot Esen, Ikot Eyo 1st, Ikot Eyo 2nd, Ikot Eyo 3rd, Ikot Ubo, and the Ndikpo Atang Wards. The new stake operates within one of the first areas in Nigeria where an official Church presence was established, with many villages and small towns having branches organized in 1979. Rapid growth has occurred for the Church in this area of Nigeria in recent years, particularly to the north in Uyo during the past 2-4 years, with the division of both remaining Uyo stakes appearing imminent (the Uyo Nigeria Stake currently has 12 wards, whereas the Uyo Nigeria Ibiono Stake currently has 11 wards and 2 branches). 

There are now 69 stakes and 15 districts in Nigeria. Currently, there are approximately 14 stakes that appear likely to divide in the immediate future due to large numbers of wards. Thus, the number of stakes in Nigeria appears likely to surpass 80 within the next 1-2 years.

Ghana

A new district was created in Ghana on the border with Togo. The Dzodze Ghana District was created from four mission branches in the Ghana Accra West Mission. The new district includes the Aflao, Akatsi, Dzodze, and Penyi Branches - all of which have been organized since 2015. This area of Ghana on the border with Togo and in the southern Volta Region has long been a lesser-reached area of the country by the Church notwithstanding relatively close proximity to Accra.

Tanzania

A new district was created in Tanzania, marking the third new district created in Tanzania during the past 12 months. The Mwanza Tanzania District was created from three mission branches located in the Mwanza area, including the Buhongwa, Mwanza, and the Nyegezi Branches. There are now four districts in Tanzania.

Turkey 

The Church recently unassigned Turkey from what was previously known as the Central Eurasian/Bulgaria Mission to the Europe Central Area. Branches in Turkey are now organized into a district called the Europe Central Area District. The district includes the following seven non-sensitive branches: the Adana Military (English), Ankara, Antalya, Isparta (Persian), Istanbul 1st, Istanbul 2nd (English), and Izmir Branches. The Church previously operated a branch in Gaziantep which closed in early 2023 and appears now to function as a group. Reports from local members indicate that no full-time missionaries have been permitted to serve in the country for multiple consecutive years, and that Turkish-speaking missionaries in Germany now teach and prepare prospective converts via online teaching. This appears to mark the first time a district has ever been organized in Turkey. There were 658 members in Turkey as of year-end 2022. Some of Turkey outside of the new district is assigned to the Europe Central Area Branch.

England

Two stakes were discontinued in the London area in June, namely the London England Wandsworth Stake (organized in 1978) and the Maidstone England Stake (organized in 1978). One ward in the Maidstone England Stake (Selsdon) was reassigned to the Crawley England Stake, whereas the remainder of the wards in the former Maidstone England Stake were reassigned to the Canterbury England Stake (which now has 11 wards). However, three of the wards in the former London England Wandsworth Stake were discontinued. 

There are now 41 stakes in the United Kingdom.

Updated Country Profile - Turkey

Click here to access the updated Reaching the Nations country profile for Turkey. The Church originally opened its Turkish Mission in 1884 and intermittent missionary efforts occurred among Armenians and Arabs in the mission until its headquarters were transferred to Syria in the 1930s. Although branches were organized in several cities during the 1970s for American military and foreigners who lived in the country, it was not until the 1980s when Turks began to join the Church in larger numbers. Nevertheless, Turks have been largely unreceptive to the Latter-day Saint gospel message albeit foreign groups, such as Iranians and Iraqis, have been receptive and join the Church regularly. Today, Iranians outnumber other ethnic groups in multiple branches, and the branch in one city (Isparta) is an Iranian Persian-speaking congregation. The Church first assigned proselytizing missionaries to Turkey in 2012, but their presence was periodically interrupted by visa renewal problems or political instability. Finally, the Church withdrew these missionaries in 2018 after greater safety threats were evident following the government's suspicions of the Church's involvement in the failed political coup. See below for the Future Prospects section of this article:

The assignment of proselytizing, full-time missionaries in the past decade was a significant development for not only the Church in Turkey but the Church’s efforts to reach Muslim-majority nations. The proactive efforts of the Church to also organize a mission headquartered in Istanbul and expand missionary activity into previously unreached cities is highly commendable in an era where the Church has been very conservative in its outreach expansion efforts in neighboring nations. These efforts led to quick tangible results, such as increases in church attendance, membership totals, and the number of congregations. The high receptivity among Iranians in Turkey has been one of the most noteworthy developments which has resulted in Iranians outnumbering all other ethnic groups in multiple congregations, and the organization of the first-ever Iranian Persian-speaking branch in Turkey in the city of Isparta. The withdrawal of foreign, full-time missionaries has come at a most unfortunate time in which the Church has achieved significant headway in establishing a Latter-day Saint community that is not predominantly comprised of Western expatriates. The ongoing absence of foreign full-time missionaries will be an important period to test the durability of new converts and whether the Church can achieve greater self-sufficiency in its functioning with little-to-no outsourced leadership resources.

Central Eurasian Mission to be Created in July

Today the Church announced that a new mission will be organized this July from a division of the Bulgaria Sofia and Russia Novosibirsk Missions. The Central Eurasian Mission will be headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey and include the following nations within its boundaries: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Although the Church did not explicitly state that Turkmenistan will be included in the Central Eurasian Mission, a graphic supplied in an LDS Church News article suggests that this nation will also be included within the new mission. The realigned Bulgaria Sofia Mission will subsequently only administer Bulgaria whereas the realigned Russia Novosibirsk Mission will solely administer central Siberia. The Church currently reports four branches in Turkey, two branches in Kazakhstan, and one branch for expatriate members in Azerbaijan. Full-time missionaries have served in Kazakhstan since 2004 and Turkey since 2012.

The announcement of the new mission came as a complete shock to me. All but two of the countries (Kazakhstan and Turkey) have never been assigned to an LDS mission before. All of these nations experience governmental and/or societal restrictions on religious freedom. Governmental restrictions on religious freedom have intensified within Central Asia during the past two decades as a result of the resurgence of Islamic identify following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, political efforts to curb the emergence of radical Islamist groups in the region, and concern that nontraditional Christian groups pose threats to local cultures and national identities. The Church missed its window of opportunity to establish a presence in most Central Asian republics and Azerbaijan during the 1990s when conditions were more favorable to missionary-focused Christian denominations. Consequently efforts to establish the Church in Kyrgyzstan were unsuccessful in the mid-2000s. There have not appeared to be any recent efforts to establish the Church in additional nations in the region such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, or Uzbekistan.

The decision to organize the new mission stands as the most audacious and proactive initiative by the LDS Church to expand its outreach into vast unreached areas of the world since the 1990s. The Church has organized no new missions within an area with as few members and congregations since the organization of the Russia Vladivostok Mission in 1999. No LDS scriptures have been translated into languages indigenous to Central Asia or Azerbaijan and only the Book of Mormon has been translated into Turkish.  Many of the most commonly spoken languages have no translations of LDS materials available such as Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Tajiki, Turkmen, and Uzbek. The organization of the new mission will provide the Church an exciting frontier to pioneer Muslim-specific outreach if determined by mission and area leadership as the percentage of Muslims in the population range from as low as 70% in Kazakhstan to as high as 99.8% in Turkey.

The new Central Eurasian Mission will have over 150 million people within its boundaries. The mission will tie with the Uganda Kampala Mission as the mission with the fourth largest population in the world after the India New Delhi, Indonesia Jakarta, and India Bangalore Missions.

Case studies on cumorah.com pertaining to the nations within the new Central Eurasian Mission can be found below.

• Beginning LDS Missionary Work in Turkey
• Missed Opportunities for LDS Outreach in Azerbaijan
• Missed Opportunities for LDS Outreach in Kyrgyzstan
• Missed Opportunities for LDS Outreach in Tajikistan
• Missed Opportunities for LDS Outreach in Turkmenistan
• Missed Opportunities for LDS Outreach in Uzbekistan
• Recent LDS Church Growth Developments in Kazakhstan

I will write a case study on cumorah.com in the coming month or two providing further analysis of this exciting and unprecedented development.

Cities Opening for Missionary Work around the World

The current surge in the worldwide LDS missionary force resulting from a combination of reducing the minimum age of missionary service and a reversal of stagnant growth in the number of members serving missions has appeared to influence the acceleration of outreach expansion in several areas of the world.  Many missions will receive 50 to 100 more missionaries than previously assigned due to these massive increases. 

Below is a list of cities recently opened by missionaries or soon to be opened by missionaries.

• Coari, Amazonas, Brazil
• Rorainopolis, Roraima, Brazil
• Nakuru, Kenya
• Gjakove, Kosovo
• Izmir, Turkey

In Turkey, a senior missionary couple providing member and leadership support will be assigned to Izmir in the near future to prepare for the arrival of full-time proselytizing missionaries.  One branch operates in Izmir that reportedly has no active members at present and was likely going to close due to activity challenges.  The assignment of missionaries will permit the continued operation of the branch.  There are less than 300 members in Turkey and four branches.  The first proselytizing missionaries arrived in early 2012.

In Kenya, the opening of Nakuru to missionary work is a major development considering the city is the country's third most populous.  One group operates with approximately 14 active members.  There are currently 41 wards and branches and over 10,000 members in Kenya.

In Kosovo, the opening of Gjakove is a significant milestone as it is the second city in Kosovo to have an LDS presence establish.  The Church remains very small in Kosovo and likely has fewer than 50 members on church records.

In Brazil, the opening of two cities to missionary activity in the Amazon Basin is a major development as the Church has not opened additional cities in this region for many years.  Coari was previously the most populous city in the Amazon Basin without an LDS presence.

In the coming months, we will likely see large numbers of additional cities open to missionaries for the first time.  This has potential to accelerate membership and congregational growth, especially in locations where populations exhibit high receptivity to the Church.

Turkey Opening For Missionary Work

Missionaries serving in the Bulgaria Sofia Mission report that four elders will be assigned to Istanbul, Turkey in mid-February and begin active missionary work in Turkey.  This development appears to have occurred on the heals of the Church receiving government recognition within the past year.  In accordance with societal attitudes regarding Christian proselytism, all missionary activity will occur through member referral.  Reports indicate that missionaries will learn the Turkish language by attending university classes for a portion of the day once transferred to Istanbul.  Turkey previously pertained to no mission but was assigned to the Bulgaria Sofia Mission within the past year.

The Church has operated four branches in Turkey for two decades and has assigned humanitarian senior missionary couples for years.  The assignment of young missionaries to Turkey is a major church growth development as Turkey numbers among the most populous countries that have no proselytizing missionaries assigned and Turkey is a homogeneously Muslim nation.  It is unclear whether missionaries will be permitted to teach Muslims or be restricted to working with individuals who follow other religious beliefs.