More New Stakes Created In Mexico

Two more stakes have been created in México.

The Morelia México Stake was divided and a second stake was created in the city, named the Morelia México Aeropuerto Stake. The new stake was created two Sundays ago and includes seven wards in Morelia, Moroleón, Acambaro, and Salvatierra (the latter two cities used to be a part of the Acambaro México District, which was recently re-aligned and renamed the Zitácuaro México District).

The Tuxpan México Stake was created from a division of the Poza Rica México Stake. The new stake in Tuxpan likely includes at least five wards in the Tuxpan area and maybe a branch or two. The two stakes in Poza Rica have had enough congregations to be divided to create another stake for several years. It appears that the members in the area have strengthened the congregations enough to justify another new stake.

There are now 219 stakes and 36 districts in México.

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

New Stake In El Salvador

A new stake was created a couple Sundays ago in El Salvador. The new stake is the Paraíso El Salvador Stake, which was created from the Santa Ana El Salvador Modelo Stake. The new stake has five wards and becomes the 17th stake in El Salvador and the third in the city of Santa Ana. The last time a new stake was created in El Salvador was back in 1996. The growth of the Church in El Salvador has recently increased from a decade or so of little growth in terms of both membership and the number of congregations. Last year membership in El Salvador increased by the largest percentage since 2000 at 3.52%, or adding around 3,500 members since the end of 2007. Five new congregations were also organized last year.

I do not think that we will see many new stakes organized in El Salvador until we have more congregations created in the already established stakes. I do not know how close the districts in San Vicente and Usulutan are to becoming stakes, but I imagine that they will be likely locations for future stakes in the country. I think we might see a new member district or two created in El Salvador in the near future in locations such as Chalatenango or Armenia, where we have multiple mission branches of the Church.

Into All The World - Mormon Channel Program

A little over a month ago the Church released an online radio station named the Mormon Channel, which broadcasts 24 hours a day. One of the programs on the station is entitled "Into All The World." This program interviews stake and mission presidents from around the world. The format for the interviews conducted with Church leaders mirrors articles the Church magazine The Ensign would publish in the 1990s with Area Presidencies about the growth and status of the Church. So far five episodes have aired discussing the Church's progress in Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Italy, and Japan. Reid Neilson, a BYU Church History and Doctrine professor, hosts the program. A link to the program can be found on the right hand side of the web page, under "Other Church Growth Blogs and Sites."

New Stake In Mexico

I previously mentioned that a new stake would be created on June 21st from the Costa Grande México District. The stake was created that day, named the Guacamayas México Stake, and consists of seven wards and one branch. The seven wards are the Guacamayas, La Mira, Lázaro Cárdenas, Palmas, Pantla, Zihuatanejo 1st, and Zihuatanejo 2nd wards and the branch is the San Jeronimito Branch. The Costa Grande México District was originally organized in 1990 and had five branches in 2002. There are now 217 stakes and 36 districts in México.

I have provided below the names of the five new stakes created from districts in the past month in México.

Cabo San Lucas México Stake

Colima México Stake

Galeana México Stake

Guacamayas México Stake
Uruapan México Stake

Districts Dissolved in Guatemala, Jamaica and Spain

Guatemala

The Ceiba Amelia Guatemala District was combined with the Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa Guatemala District. This was likely done in preparation for a future stake in southern Guatemala. The district in Ceiba Amelia was organized in 1994 and the Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa Guatemala District now has nine branches. We have not seen a new stake or district organized in Guatemala in 10 years while the number of congregations in Guatemala has dropped from 451 in 2000 to 418 in 2008. This drop in congregations has been due to a drop in branches, likely in a move to create larger congregations which are more self sustaining. The Church in Guatemala is strengthening though, as evidenced by the recent groundbreaking of the temple in Quetzaltenango. Church membership increases by around 5,000 every year and stands at 215,000.

Jamaica

The Montego Bay Jamaica District was discontinued and all the branches now report directly to the mission in Kingston. A missionary serving in the area reports that this was done in a move for strong Priesthood leaders in the district to shift their attention from functioning as a district to strengthening the individual branches in the western portion of the island. This will hopefully allow for greater growth in the branches in the near future. The growth of the Church has been slow, but consistent, in Jamaica with now around 6,000 members in 20 or so branches.

Spain

The Zaragoza Spain District was discontinued and the two branches which made up the district report to the mission president in the area. A new stake will be created in northern Spain, primarily from the Bilbao Spain District, in September and I imagine it is likely the two branches in Zaragoza will become part of the new stake. We have seen several districts discontinued this year which only had two branches.

New Stakes In Florida and Nicaragua

I mentioned earlier about new stakes in Florida and Nicaragua and I will take time now to elaborate on their creation.

The Jacksonville Florida South Stake was organized last Sunday and includes seven wards and one branch. The Jacksonville Florida East Stake now has seven wards and one branch and the Jacksonville Florida West Stake now has seven wards. A ward was also moved from the Kingsland Georgia Stake into the Jacksonville Florida East Stake, leaving the Kingsland Georgia Stake with just four wards and three branches. Missionary activity in the Florida Jacksonville Mission has been some of the strongest the South has seen in recent years. I imagine that this new stake of the Church could not have been organized without the many new converts which have joined the Church from this area of Florida. Perhaps a temple in Jacksonville is in the near future, or maybe in South Florida in Miami. Florida is the state with the second most members with only one temple. The state with the most members with only one temple is Colorado. I appreciate the input from readers which provided the above information on the stakes in the Jacksonville area.

The Chinandega Nicaragua West Stake was created two Sundays ago from a division of the already existing Chinandega Nicaragua Stake. The new stake has five wards and is the ninth stake in Nicaragua. The original stake in Chinandega was organized in 2000 with six wards and two branches was the second stake created in the entire country. The mission of the Church based in Managua has developed very strict standards for convert baptisms in order to fight inactivity and poor retention, yet continues have some of the highest numbers of baptisms in Central America. Some of the stakes in Managua have also grown large, which might result in an additional stake in the capital in the near future. Hopefully some of the districts in the country will mature into stakes, such as the districts in Granada and Matagalpa. Nicaragua has around 64,000 members of the Church and is the country with the most members of the Church without a temple.

New Stake In Arizona

The new stake in Tucson, Arizona I spoke of in the previous post was created today, June 21. The Sahuarita Arizona Stake was created with six wards and one branch. Sahuarita is located only 10 miles south of Tucson and has a population around 16,000. With the creation of the Sahuarita Arizona Stake, there are now six stakes in the Tucson area. A new stake in Tucson does increase the likelihood of a future temple announcement for members living in the area. Hopefully a sixth temple for Arizona will not be to far away for Church members in this area. There are currently 89 stakes in Arizona.

New Stakes In Arizona and Mexico

A new stake in the Tucson area in Arizona will be created this week or has already been created. I will provide more information and analysis once more information becomes available. If you have information about this new stake, feel free to write a comment about it.

This Sunday the Costa Grande Mexico District will become a stake. This will be the fifth new stake created this year in Mexico. All of these new stakes have been created since the end of May and all of these stakes have been created from districts. I will provide more information once the stake is actually created.

New Districts In Hungary

Two new districts of the Church were created in Hungary. The Miskolc Hungary District consists of four branches in eastern Hungary. The Szombathely Hungary District consists of three branches in western Hungary. Before the first stake was organized in Budapest in 2006, there used to be two districts in the country, one in Budapest and the other in Györ. These two districts were combined in order for the stake to be created. Some of these branches in the new districts are very small, with less than 20 people attending Church each Sunday. Other branches are larger, which is where leadership was most likely taken from. Earlier this year we saw two districts of the Church created in Eastern Europe in Moldova and Romania.

Out of the Eastern European countries which were not a part of the Soviet Union, Hungary has seen the strongest Church growth. Many cities have opened to the preaching of the Gospel in the past two years and there remain several branches, dependent branches, or groups which report directly to the mission or are far from the stake in Budapest. These Church units are concentrated in southern Hungary cities such as Pécs, Kaposvár, Szeged, and Békéscsaba.