New Locations for Humanitarian Service Missions

The Church publishes a weekly newsletter entitled "Senior Missionary Opportunities Bulletin" that contains up-to-date information on current needs for senior couples to serve full-time missions. All types of senior missionary couple opportunities are listed in the bulletin such as with the Church Education System, the Temple Department, Welfare Services, Auditing Department, and so on. The weekly newsletter can be accessed here.

Recently, the Church has added several new locations for humanitarian service missions in the bulletin. These locations include:

• Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
• Kurdistan, Iraq
• Senegal

The Church has never appeared to assign senior missionary couples on humanitarian assignment to these three locations. Although these assignments are focused on humanitarian service and development projects, often times the assignment of humanitarian senior missionary couples proceeds or coincides with the establishment of an official church presence. Notable examples include Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma (Myanmar), Gabon, the Republic of Georgia, Kosovo, Laos, Macedonia (FYROM), and Turkey. Although the prospective assignment of senior missionary couples to these three locations is encouraging for the Church to expand its worldwide influence to meet humanitarian needs and lay the groundwork for an official LDS presence one day, only Senegal appears to have realistic prospects for proselytizing, full-time missionaries to be assigned. Iraqi Kurdistan presents many safety and religious freedom challenges, whereas the Church in Kyrgyzstan has experienced challenges with obtaining legal recognition for over a decade. However, the 2014 Kyrgyzstani court ruling that the law requiring 200 adult citizen members for a religious group to register with the government as unconstitutional suggests improved prospects for the establishment of a member group or branch in Bishkek (click here to access a case study on the Church in Kyrgyzstan).

First Stake to be Created in the Czech Republic

Missionaries serving in the Czech/Slovak Mission report that the Church will organize its first stake in the Czech Republic in a special conference on Sunday, May 15th. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf will preside at the meeting and the new stake will be organized from the Prague Czech and Brno Czech Districts. With approximately 2,500 members and 13 branches, the Church in the Czech Republic is currently the country with the ninth most members without a stake. It is anticipated that five of the 13 branches will become wards, namely Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Plzen, and Hradec Kralove.

Request for Updates on Stake and District Creations/Dissolutions

I have greatly appreciated all of the excellent feedback, updates, and comments on this blog over the years from visitors and long-term contributors. With so many new stakes and districts organized thus far in 2016, and reports of many more to come in the near future, I would appreciate any information on new stakes or districts to be organized, or stakes or districts to be discontinued.

I have confirmed the organization of 31 stakes that have been organized thus far in 2016, with an additional nine stakes to be organized in the next two months. There have been 10 districts organized thus far in 2016. Four stakes and four districts have been discontinued since the beginning of the year.

Apostasy in Armenia - Sole LDS Stake in Armenia Discontinued

Multiple missionaries serving in the Armenia Yerevan Mission report that last Sunday the Church discontinued the Yerevan Armenia Stake in a special stake conference. Organized in 2013, the stake has been returned to district status and all wards have been downgraded to branches. Missionaries report that the primary reason the stake was discontinued was due to improper handling of church administrative responsibilities by members and local church leaders. Many of the previous church leaders were released from their callings during the conference. Missionaries indicate that a large portion of members attending the conference, perhaps as large as one-third to one-half of those in attendance, left the conference early after the announcement was made that the stake was discontinued in protest of the decision.

This marks one of the few times in LDS Church history that the Church has discontinued a stake in a nation where only one stake previously operated. Most recently, the Church discontinued its sole stake in Monrovia, Liberia in 2007 due to similar problems as reported in Armenia. The news of the stake discontinuation in Armenia is disappointing and points to chronic problems with a lack of "real growth" and spiritual maturity among many members in the region. The Church in Eastern Europe has experienced similar problems with local members and church leaders becoming inactive after similar administrative changes have been made. It appears that the Church has yet to adequately address the cultural challenge of retaining church leaders in the region after they are released from a calling, or properly rectifying problems with church leaders not following policies for local church administration.

Click here to access the LDS statistical profile for Armenia.

April 2016 Newsletter

Please click here to access the April edition of our monthly newsletter from cumorah.com.

First LDS Branch Created in Senegal

Members living in Senegal report that the first official LDS branch was recently organized in the capital city of Dakar. The Church has operated a member group in Dakar for at least one year. In mid-2015, the Dakar Group appeared to entirely consistent of foreigners who temporarily lived in the country for employment purposes. Senegal is not currently assigned to an LDS mission. The country is directly administered by the Africa West Area. In late 2015, the Church noted that it had plans to assign senior missionaries to serve in Dakar.

The Senegalese population is 94% Muslim and 5% Christian, with most Christians concentrated in the Dakar area. Most speak French and Wolof. There are no restrictions on religious freedom. Other missionary-focused Christian groups such as Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses have maintained a presence in Senegal for many years.

Africa West Area Projects 16 New Stakes in 2016

Senior missionaries serving in Ghana recently reported that Africa West Area leadership predicts a total of 16 new stakes to be organized in the Africa West Area during 2016. The Africa West Area includes seven countries with an official LDS presence including Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Togo, and Sierra Leone. Thus far, there have been two stakes organized in the Africa West Area in 2016: the Mpintsin Ghana Stake and the Cotonou Benin Stake. Therefore, it appears that as many as 14 new stakes will be created by the end of the year in the Africa West Area.

Below is a list of 38 stakes and districts in the Africa West Area that appear likely locations for the formation of new stakes.

• Cote d'Ivoire
• Abobo Cote d'Ivoire East Stake (12 wards)
• Cocody Cote d'Ivoire Stake (11 wards)
• Daloa Cote d'Ivoire District (8 branches)
• Port-Bouet Cote d'Ivoire Stake (12 wards)
• San Pedro Cote d'Ivoire District (7 branches)
• Ghana
• Abomosu Ghana District (7 branches)
• Accra Ghana Adenta Stake (9 wards, 4 branches)
• Ashaiman Ghana Stake (9 wards, 3 branches)
• Assin Foso Ghana Stake (9 wards, 4 branches)
• Cape Coast Ghana Stake (13 wards, 1 branch)
• Koforidua Ghana District (9 branches)
• Kumasi Ghana Bantama Stake (11 wards, 6 branches)
• Kumasi Ghana Dichemso Stake (10 wards, 8 branches)
• Twifu Praso Ghana District (7 branches)
• Liberia
• Monrovia Liberia Bushrod Island District (9 branches)
• Monrovia Liberia District (6 branches)
• Paynesville Liberia District (6 branches)
• Nigeria
• Aba Nigeria Ogbor Hill Stake (10 wards, 5 branches)
• Abeokuta Nigeria Stake (10 wards, 1 branch)
• Abuja Nigeria Stake (14 wards, 1 branch)
• Asaba Nigeria District (7 branches)
• Eket Nigeria Stake (11 wards, 3 branches)
• Ekpoma Nigeria District (10 branches)
• Ijebu-Ode Nigeria District (8 branches)
• Ikot Ekpene Nigeria District (7 branches)
• Ile-Ife Nigeria District (11 branches)
• Nsit Ubium Nigeria Stake (10 wards, 4 branches)
• Ogwashi-Nsukwa Nigeria District (7 branches)
• Onitsha Nigeria District (11 branches)
• Port Harcourt Nigeria East Stake (14 wards)
• Port Harcourt Nigeria West Stake (11 wards, 2 branches)
• Yenagoa Nigeria District (8 branches)
• Sierra Leone
• Bo Sierra Leone East District (7 branches)
• Bo Sierra Leone West District (8 branches)
• Freetown Sierra Leone Stake (10 wards) 
• Kenema Sierra Leone (7 branches)
• Kissy Sierra Leone District (9 branches)
• Togo
• Lome Togo Stake (9 wards, 7 branches)

10+ New Stakes to be Created Each Week?

LDS apostle Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was recently quoted in a meeting with young single adults in the Dallas area in regards to unprecedented growth in the number of new stake creations. This meeting occurred last Sunday, April 24th. A video of the conference can be found here. Elder Holland begins to discuss stake growth around 54 minutes into the video. Here are some quotes that I found particularly interesting:

• "[Growth] is the single greatest problem we have."
•  "We are reeling under the implications of the growth that we have in this Church."
•  "A week ago Thursday we created 15 stakes...the week before it was 12." [in reference to temple meetings at Church Headquarters]
• "We are talking about double-digit stakes every week of our lives."
• "It is like a bucking bronco."
• "In the middle of all that occasionally, rarely...we dissolve a stake. That is so unusual..it doesn't happen very often."

When I first watched this video, I first thought that Elder Holland was reporting that 12 new stakes were created on April 10th and 15 new stakes were created on April 17th. However, after reviewing the video it appears that he is referring to meetings to approve new stakes in the coming months. Based upon reports and research I have conducted, most of these new stakes appear most likely to be organized in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, and Sub-Saharan African. Many of these new stakes appear likely to be districts advancing to stake status, particularly in locations such as the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

I have made previous posts on this blog regarding accelerating stake growth in 2016. So far I have confirmed 27 new stakes that have been created in 2016 with an additional seven stakes that will be created or that may have already been created. To put this into perspective, the Church has reported an average net increase of 47 stakes within the past 10 years. If the Church were to organize at least 10 new stakes every weekend for the rest of 2016 (excluding the weekend of the October 2016 General Conference, the month of July when few, if any, new stakes are organized, and the last two weekends of the year), the Church would organize an additional 280 stakes during 2016 for a grand total of over 300 new stakes for the entire year. If this were to occur, it would be twice the Church's previous record for the most new stakes organized in a single year set back in 1996 when 148 new stakes were organized. I can verify from my own research that the process of discontinuing stakes is unusual for the Church as a whole (aside from the early 2000s when dozens of stakes were discontinued in Latin America). The Church has discontinued an average of 4.5 stakes a year since 2008.

The creation of new wards and branches has slightly accelerated thus far in 2016, with an average of nearly 14 new wards or branches organized a week. However, the rate of wards and branches being discontinued appears to have slightly increased as approximately seven wards or branches have been discontinued a week. New wards and branch creations have occurred all over the world, but mostly in the United States, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Nearly all wards and branches discontinued thus far in 2016 have been in the United States and Latin America.

I am not sure if Elder Holland's comments on "double-digit stakes every week of our lives" means that this will literally happen or be consistent (even though he uses the word "every" in the comment). He acknowledges in the video that the rate of stake creations frequently fluctuates.
Time will tell to determine whether stake growth will continue to accelerate, or whether this acceleration in 2016 is a temporary one. Accelerated congregational growth will be absolutely essential for the Church to accelerate the creation of new stakes in the coming months and years ahead. Stakes generally administer five to 12 congregations.

Updated List of the Countries with the Most Members without a Stake

Below is an updated list of the countries with the most Latter-day Saints without a stake. Membership totals are as of 2015 and congregational and district totals are current. Membership for mainland China is an estimates as no official statistics are available. The number of branches and districts in mainland China is not provided due to the sensitive nature of the Church in that country.  Previous lists of the countries with the most members without a stake can be found here.

1. China - 10,000 members?
2. Malaysia - 9,725 members - 34 branches - 6 districts
3. Liberia - 9,675 members - 24 branches - 3 districts
4. Guyana - 5,648 members - 13 branches - 1 district
5. Belize - 5,152 members - 11 branches - 2 districts
6. Pakistan - 4,000 members - 13 branches - 3 districts
7. Romania - 3,043 members - 16 branches - 2 districts
8. Czech Republic - 2,503 members - 13 branches - 2 districts
9. Bulgaria - 2,424 members - 9 branches - 0 districts
10. Malawi - 2,143 members - 8 branches - 2 districts
11. Angola - 1,908 members - 10 branches - 1 district
12. Ethiopia - 1,903 members - 5 branches - 1 district
13. Poland - 1,861 members - 13 branches - 3 districts
14. Swaziland - 1,837 members - 6 branches - 1 district
15. Cook Islands - 1,835 members - 5 branches - 1 district
16. Suriname - 1,483 members - 6 branches - 1 district
17. Cameroon - 1,480 members - 11 branches - 1 district
18. Tanzania - 1,456 members - 6 branches - 1 district
19. Macau - 1,410 members - 3 branches - 1 district

Prospects appear most favorable for the formation of stakes within the next few years in mainland China, Malaysia, Liberia, Guyana, Belize, Pakistan, the Czech Republic, Swaziland, and Angola as all of these countries has at least one district that is close to reaching the minimum qualifications for a stake to operate.  Low member activity rates, an insufficient number of branches in individual member districts, slow or stagnant LDS growth, and few full-tithe paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders will likely continue to delay the organization of stakes in other countries for several more years to come. 

New Stakes Created in Arizona, Nevada, New Zealand, and Washington; New District Created in Brazil; Stake Discontinued in Utah

Arizona
Two new stakes have been organized in Arizona within the past two weeks.

The Queen Creek Arizona Central Stake was organized on April 10th from a division of the Queen Creek Arizona Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards: the

The Gilbert Arizona Gateway Stake was organized on April 17th from a division of the Gilbert Arizona San Tan and Gilbert Arizona Williams Field Stakes. The new stake includes the following eight wards: the

Nevada
The Church organized a new stake in the Reno area on April 10th. The Reno Nevada Mount Rose Stake was organized from a division of the Reno Nevada Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards and one branch: the Foothill, Galena, Lakeside, Mount Rose, South Meadows, and Washoe Valley Wards, and the Sierra Branch (Spanish). The new stake is the first new stake organized by the Church in the Reno area since 1978. Members report that a second new stake will be created in the area in June.

There are now 38 stakes in Nevada.

New Zealand
The Church organized a new stake in the South Island of New Zealand. The Dunedin New Zealand Stake was organized from the Dunedin New Zealand District. The new stake includes the following four wards and four branches: the Dunedin 1st, Dunedin 2nd, Oamaru 1st, and Oamaru 2nd Wards, and the Gore, Invercargill, Queenstown, and Timaru Branches. The Dunedin New Zealand District was originally organized in 1892 and was the second oldest district in the worldwide Church. The Dunedin New Zealand Stake is the Church's second stake to be organized on the South Island of New Zealand where the Church has a significantly less prominent presence compared to the North Island. Visiting church leaders challenged members and leaders in the Dunedin New Zealand Stake to divide the stake within the next 10 years.

There are now 30 stakes and two districts in New Zealand.

Washington
The Church organized a new stake in the Tacoma area on April 17th. The Tacoma Washington South Stake was organized from a division of the Tacoma Washington Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards: the Buena Vista (Spanish), Chambers Creek, Lincoln, Mountain View, Sunset, and Wapato Park Wards. The Church maintained 12 wards in the Tacoma Washington Stake for nearly a decade prior to the division of the stake. The decision to divide the stake may indicate success with increasing the number of active members in the area, or renewed efforts to reactivate members and provide more penetrating LDS outreach in the area. Contrary to some reports, the Church has never discontinued a stake in the Tacoma area. Rather, the Church in 2006 renamed the Tacoma Washington Stake to the Gig Harbor Washington Stake and renamed the Tacoma Washington South Stake to the Tacoma Washington Stake.

There are now 60 stakes in Washington.

Brazil
The Church organized a new district in Rio de Janeiro State. The Três Rios Brazil District was organized from a division of the Juiz de Fora Brazil Stake. The new district includes the following three branches: the Paraíba do Sul, Três Rios, and Vila Isabel Branches. All three branches previously operated as wards in the Juiz de Fora Brazil Stake. The Juiz de Fora Brazil Stake has been significantly reduced in size as a result of the organization of the Leopoldina Brazil District in 2015 and the organization of the Três Rios Brazil District in 2016. Currently there are six wards in the Juiz de Fora Brazil Stake.

There are now 259 stakes and 39 districts in Brazil.

Utah
The Church recently discontinued a stake in the Magna area. The Magna Utah Central Stake was discontinued and the six wards that previously pertained to the stake were reassigned to the Magna Utah East and Magna Utah South Stakes. The Church has experienced slight congregational decline in the Magna area within the past five years due to active members moving away from the area.

There are now 578 stakes and one district in Utah.