Rapid Growth in Edo State, Nigeria

Benin City is the largest city in Edo State, Nigeria and perhaps the location where the most rapid, self-sustaining growth The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has experienced over the past two years. To meet the needs of growing active membership, wards have grown from around 22 at the end of 2007 to 36 currently. The most recently organized of the three stakes in Benin City, the Benin City Nigeria New Benin Stake, had just six wards when it was created in late 2007. Today there are 15 wards in the stake. The other two stakes - the Benin City Nigeria Ihogbe and Benin City Nigeria Ikpokpan Stakes - have grown from around half a dozen wards in late 2007 to 11 and 10, respectively. Stakes typically divide outside the United States once they exceed 10 wards, so Church leadership could potentially create three new stakes simultaneously with six wards each from the three preexisting stakes.

So what has led to this acceleration of LDS Church growth in Benin City? I will first provide a short historical background about the Church in Benin City and then offer some explanations.

With the exception of the past couple years, congregations grew at an annual rate of one to two new congregations over the past two decades. The Benin City Nigeria District was created before 1989 and was part of the Nigeria Lagos Mission. The Benin City Nigeria Stake was organized in 1993 with five wards and five branches, some of which were to the south in Warri. In 1997, a second stake was organized with five wards and three branches. Following the creation of the Warri Nigeria District in 1999, all congregations in the two stakes met in Benin City. Sometime in the mid-2000s or later, the Nigeria Enugu Mission began administering Benin City.

One of the important principles concerning LDS Church growth often neglected in its study and discussion is that a critical mass of active membership is often reached prior to large increases in membership and congregations. This appears a major component driving the recent growth in Benin City. Many nations in Latin America illustrate this principle as there was relatively little success attracting large numbers of converts during the first decades missionaries labored in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Mexico. In the late 1960s and 1970s, membership in these nations reached a level which allowed for expanding national outreach. This appears to be the result of developing local leadership and increasing the number of native missionaries. For example, in 1970, Mexico had one stake and Brazil had two stakes. A decade later Mexico had 53 stakes and Brazil had 18 stakes. In the past decade, growth has slowed substantially in these nations possibly due to a slow down in expanding national outreach, lower receptivity to the Church's teachings, and decades of poor convert retention failing to produce greater numbers of active full member families, missionaries, and leaders.

Nigeria and Ghana have been uniquely receptive to the Church and its teachings among African nations. Unlike most African nations, initial mission efforts in Nigeria focused among groups of individuals who primarily lived in rural communities. Wards and stakes today function in small villages in rural areas in the southeast, but require a greater number of congregations to reach a larger geographic area, resulting in a limitation toward reaching the critical mass required for greater, consistent growth. Many of the largest cities in non-Islamic areas have a congregation today, but have been unable to develop a critical mass of membership to reproduce the rapid growth the Church experienced in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. Nigeria has also depended on African missionaries to staff its full-time missionary force, increasing self-sufficiency and providing leadership for future growth.

It appears that after years of adding one or two congregations annually, a critical mas has been finally reached in Benin City. Benin City now appears to have the highest density of congregations out of any Nigerian city. Edo States carries its own unique traditions and history, which may have contributed to greater receptivity to LDS Church teachings and mission outreach. Time will only tell whether this recent trend of accelerated congregational growth in Benin City will continue. Some other cities in Africa have also appeared to have reached or will soon reach a critical mass in active membership to allow for greater, consistent growth which include Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Antananarivo, Accra, and Abidjan.

Inactivity

Over the past decade, the Church has taken several steps to help increase the number of converts retained and to improve the depth of conversion of new members. The Preach My Gospel missionary guide was implemented in 2004 and new emphasis has been placed on training local leadership.

Although some progress has been made improving convert retention, little if any progress has been made in reactivating inactive members and increasing growth rates. Improving convert retention rates should not result in fewer members joining the Church, but many missions who make major adjustments to curb poor convert retention often see a major slow down in growth. We have seen these results recently in Armenia, the Philippines, and the West Indies Mission. Some missions purposefully reduce convert baptisms in an effort to improve convert retention by lessening the demands of local and mission Church leaders on supporting and teaching new converts. Although new converts should receive adequate teaching and fellowshipping from missionaries and members before and after baptism, with proper planning and foresight missionary work does not have to sacrifice greater amounts of time to increase convert retention rates. Holding cottage meetings is typically an effective activity which helps find, teach, fellowship, reactivate, and retain members. Cottage meetings are usually held by missionaries or local Church leaders who teach a small group of individuals (a mix of active, less active, and investigators) a Sunday school lesson or missionary lesson. Many missions report success using this tactic which often greatly assists in expanding national outreach, particularly in Africa.

Below is a list of the countries which likely experience the highest member inactivity. Ascertaining activity rates per country can be difficult as the Church does not publish sacrament meeting attendance or other indicators of Church attendance and activity. However, comparing congregation and membership growth rates provides some insight into activity rates. Countries are provided with the average number of members per congregation for 2009. Typically countries with more nominal members per congregation have lower activity rates as congregations require a certain number of active members to function and divide once active membership grows too large for one congregation to administer.

1. Chile - 915
2. China (Hong Kong) - 754
3. Northern Mariana Islands - 735
   
4. Nicaragua - 673
5. Bolivia - 671
6. El Salvador - 655
7. Ecuador - 641
8. Peru - 628
9. Colombia - 622
10. Honduras - 620
11. Mexico - 597
12. South Korea - 593
13. Brazil - 585
14. Uruguay - 580
15. The Philippines - 577
16. Dominican Republic - 573
17. Kiribati - 567
18. Portugal - 566
19. United Kingdom - 554
20. Venezuela - 538
21. Paraguay - 532
22. Guatemala - 531

We have experienced a major increase over the past decade in this statistic. Below is a list of the countries with the most members per congregation in 2000.

1. Northern Mariana Islands - 856
2. Chile - 579
3. El Salvador - 567
4. China (Hong Kong) - 531
5. Bolivia - 503
6. Mexico - 499
7. Colombia - 465
8. China (Macau) - 464
9. Haiti - 463
10. Honduras - 458
11. United Kingdom - 458
12. Samoa - 455
13. Peru - 454
14. Ecuador - 453
15. Puerto Rico - 447
16. Brazil - 440
17. Uruguay - 438
18. Suriname - 438
19. Venezuela - 438
20. Dominican Republic - 436
21. Nicaragua - 430
22. South Korea - 426

Comparing and contrasting these two lists reveals that over the past decade, most of the nations with the largest Church memberships have seen much lower congregational growth compared to membership growth. Reasons for slow congregational growth include smaller units combining to form larger congregations, new converts in many of these nations not remaining active, problems developing local leadership to lead new congregations, and increased standards by the Church in many areas for groups to become branches and the number of active members required to divide congregations. In Chile for example, many of the congregations which were discontinued in the early 2000s had less than 50 active members and were wards. Today, we see many wards which have between 100 and 200 active members in Chile.

New District Created in Papua New Guinea

A new district was organized earlier this month in Papua New Guinea. The Minj Papua New Guinea District was created from the Goroka Papua New Guinea District and includes five branches. There are now eight districts and one stake in the country.

Church Growth News

City Opens For Missionary Work in Mongolia

Missionaries report that the city of Bulgan just received its first full-time missionaries. Located southwest of Erdenet and 200 miles northwest of Ulaanbaatar, Bulgan has over 17,000 inhabitants and was the fifth largest city without mission outreach. This is a significant development for the Church in Mongolia as there have been no new cities opened for missionary work in Mongolia for nearly a decade. Members and missionaries in Bulgan meet as a group for Sunday meetings under the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission Branch. Bulgan also becomes the smallest city full-time missionaries are assigned to in Mongolia.

New Branches in Papua New Guinea

Three new branches have been created in the Eastern Highlands and Western Highlands Provinces. The Bilu, Mount Hagen, and Nomba Branches were organized under the Goroka Papua New Guinea District and bring the total number of branches in the district to nine. Mount Hagen was formerly the second largest city without a congregation in the country. The Bilu and Nomba Branches are located in small villages. Until the creation of the new branches, there had been no increase in the number of congregations in the country since 2003. In 2002, the number of congregations in the country nearly doubled in one year.

Congregational Growth in the United States

By my count, there have been nearly 60 new congregations created so far in 2010 in the United States. If congregational growth rates continue at the same rate for the rest of the year, wards and branches will increase by approximately 150 in the United States. Growth rates are higher than last year, but remain lower than most years in the 2000s. We should expect to see an increase in congregational growth this year or next as only half as many congregations were created in 2009 compared to most years. No greater increase in congregation growth may indicate lower retention for convert baptisms and lower activity rates or a Church administrative decision to allow congregations to grow larger in membership before creating new units. Considering the economic challenges and uncertainties over the past two years, the latter case appears the primary contributor to the reduction in new congregations organized.

Opportunities for Growth

Although there has been a greater effort by the Church to expand its outreach in Africa over the past couple years, most of the inhabitants in African countries with a Church presence are unreached by mission outreach. I've been following the development of the Church in the city of Kanye, Botswana and six months after the first missionaries were assigned in late 2009, sacrament meeting attendance has just reached 100. Similar stories from Botswana, the DR Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Brazil, and other nations illustrate that greater growth may be achieved with proper vision and with surprisingly few resources. Mission resources in many nations are stretched and unable to meet current needs due to an inadequate number of missionaries and local members sometimes relying on full-time missionaries for church leadership. There remains a greater need for member involvement in this process as seldom do new cities open to missionary work without local Church members coordinating between interested individuals and mission or regional Church leadership. Pray for greater interest among members of the Church in their role preaching the Gospel and for mission leaders to have the foresight and vision required to increase the scope and reach of LDS mission efforts.

Administrative Branches Created in the Balkans

Under the supervision of the Europe Area, the Church has created four branches in nations without an official Church presence in the Balkan nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Each nation has its own administrative branch. There is no official missionary work conducted in these nations and the small numbers of members meet privately. The decision to create these administrative branches - the first of their kind in the Church - may indicate an increased effort to establish the Church in these nations or better coordinate church administration where there are few LDS members. Similar efforts were conducted by the Church in the 1980s in Eastern Europe prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union with small districts of members in Poland and Czechoslovakia.

The Church appears to have increased the flexibility of congregations over the past few years. Typically groups of members in remote locations belong to mission branches. However last year, the Church created nearly two dozen "district branches" in Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia for members meeting in groups within the boundaries of a member district. These locations tend to have many members spread over a large geographic area which are not concentrated in large enough numbers to justify the creation of additional independent branches. Many of these district branches have high potential for growth as groups of members within the district branch increase in numbers and self-sufficiency to merit additional independent congregations.

These four newly created administrative branches in the Balkans appear a stepping stone toward a greater Church presence in the region and an exciting development in the growth of the Church.

Church Growth News

First Stake in Sicily

Missionaries report that the first stake in Sicily will be organized on June 26th. Two districts functioned on the island until they were consolidated into one in 2009 in preparation for a stake. Once organized, Italy will have seven stakes and five districts. The Italy Catania Mission will be discontinued this July, which has served Sicily and southern Italy.

First Branch in Djibouti Organized

The first independent congregation of the Church in Djibouti was recently organized. The new branch is primarily for US military based on the country although there are a few native members according to member reports. It does not appear that the Uganda Kampala Mission has ambitions on missionary work in Djibouti in the near future, but may be a possibility in the coming years.

New Version of LDS Maps

In the past couple weeks, the Church launched a new meetinghouse locator site. The new version of LDS Maps retains the functions of the previous meetinghouse locator site, but also allows users to search congregations worldwide by name. The new site also allows users to obtain information on what stake, district, or mission congregations belong to. Check it out at https://beta-maps.lds.org/.

New Stakes in Utah and Venezuela

Two new stakes were created in the past two weeks in Utah and Venezuela. The Lehi Utah Cedar Hollow Stake was created from the Lehi Utah North Stake has likely includes the seven wards in Cedar Hollow. There are now 10 stakes in Lehi, six of which have been organized since 2000.

In Venezuela, the San Felix Venezuela Stake was created from the Guayana Venezuela Stake. The new stake likely has five or six wards. There are now 28 stakes and 8 districts in Venezuela

New Stakes in Utah

Last Sunday a new stake was created in Eagle Mountain, Utah named the Eagle Mountain Utah North Stake. All three of the original stakes had a large number of wards, ranging from 11 to 14. Growth has been strong in Eagle Mountain due to members moving to the growing city as all four stakes being created since 2000.

In the coming week or two, a new stake will be organized in Smithfield, Utah. I will provide more information on the number of congregations in both of the new stakes once they become available.

Growth in Madagascar

Presenting some of the most promising growth for the Church in many years among countries with fewer than 10,000 members, Madagascar continues to demonstrate consistent membership and congregational growth. No other country in 2009 had as few members as Madagascar and managed to gain as many congregations. Growth has not been limited to one geographical area. Congregations sprouted for the first time outside the capital of Antananarivo in 2004 in Tamatave, Antsirabe, Fianaranitsoa, and Fort Dauphin and more recently elsewhere.

During 2008 and 2009, congregations increased from 15 to 24. In 2009, the Church created its first branch in northern Madagascar in Mahajanga which had as many as 70 attending meetings by early 2010. The Antananarivo Madagascar Stake has grown from 6 wards and 4 branches at the end of 2007 to currently 12 wards and two branches. To the south of the capital, congregations have been established in rural areas for the first time in Enjoma and Manandona. The city of Ambositra has also opened to mission outreach and the Church has acquired buildings for Church meetings and missionary living quarters. I am also pleased to report that a week ago two new branches were organized in the port city of Tamatave, bringing the total number of congregations to five. At the conference for the creation of the two new branches, over 500 were in attendance. Currently there are at least 27 independent congregations with at least a couple dependent branches or groups. I also wanted to iterate that retention has been very high and local leadership has been consistently developed to allow for the creation of additional congregations.

By the end of 2012, Madagascar could easily have as many 8,500 members in 50 congregations even if modest growth occurs over the next two and a half years. Four stakes may operate by this time, three in Antananarivo and one in Tamatave. Districts may be operating in Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa, and Mahajanga. We will likely continue to see expanded mission outreach in rural areas between Antananarivo and Fianarantsoa primarily though local member-missionary efforts.

Below is a map indicating the locations of congregations in Madagascar. Markers do not represent the exact location of the building for the congregation but are placed within the geographical boundaries of the unit.


View Wards and Branches in Madagascar in a larger map

Congregational Growth Outside the United States: 2009

Here is a list of countries with at least five new congregations created during 2009. List for 2007 and 2008 are also available. Worldwide congregations reported by the Church increased by 315 during the year, with slightly more than 200 outside the United States. The United States has been omitted.

1. Brazil +36
   
2. Mexico +30
3. Nigeria +29
4. Ghana +21
5. Peru +15
6. Democratic Republic of the Congo +9
7. Cote d'Ivoire +9
8. Philippines +8
9. Nicaragua +7
10. Madagascar +7
11. Colombia +6
12. South Africa +6

About 65% of the non-US increase in congregations in 2009 can be attributed to the top five countries. International congregational growth has steadily increased over the past three years and the number of countries with five or more new congregations created has grown from 6 in 2007, to 8 in 2008, and to 12 in 2009. However congregational growth remains much lower than most years from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, where in some years there were over 1,000 congregations organized. One of the major reasons for slower congregational growth is increased standards for new congregations to be organized. During years with high congregational growth between the late 1970s and late 1990s, many congregations operated below current standards, hundreds of which were discontinued in the early 2000s. However retention and local leadership development problems remain major factors in limiting annual congregation increase worldwide.