http://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com/2014/10/3100-stakes.html

See, we aren't shrinking...we're the fastest growing Church on earth!

Quote from the blog:

"In September, the Church reached the milestone of 3,100 stakes. The Church reached 3,000 stakes in December 2012, indicating that it has taken less than two years for the number of stakes to increase by 100. For the past four years (2011-2014) the Church has had a net increase of 45 or more stakes a year. This is the longest streak of larger numbers of stakes being created within a four-year time period since the four-year period including the years 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998. As stakes have the most rigorous standards for member activity rates, this recent development suggests some real, measurable progress in rectifying some inactivity and convert attrition problems.

With three more months remaining in 2014, this year is shaping out to be the largest net increase in the number of stakes since 1998. Currently 50 stakes have been organized in 2014, with many more to be created in the coming month or two. I predict that we may experience a net increase of 70 stakes in 2014 as new stake creations generally pick up in November in December based on recent trends over the past few years."

I live in a California county with more people in it than the entire state of Utah.

Stake growth in my County 2011- present = -1

I don't feel this is True, so I won't read it.

How many of the 100 stakes created in the last 2 years were YSA stakes?

Those don't represent real growth, as they were just moving people from surrounding stakes into the YSA stake.

Did the church hire the accountants from Eron?

Arthur Andersen was the accountants to Enron. Arthur Andersen loved recruiting from BYU, thus many of Enron's accountants were LDS.

"By their fruits ye shall know them."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2014 07:00PM by gentlestrength.

gentlestrength Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Arthur Andersen was the accountants to Enron.
> Arthur Andersen loved recruiting from BYU, thus
> many of Enron's accountants were LDS.
>
> "By their fruits ye shall know them."


That is no small matter of fact, that.

Methinks we overlook the ldsinc/USAinc connection at our own peril.

Keep in mind the way the stats are used and interpreted. For instance, a person is counted as an active member as long as they make it to one sacrament meeting per month.

About two dozen of the stakes were YSA. So, no net growth.

I bet the size of the stakes are shrinking as well. Weren't people mentioning odd ward splits?

Why is it so hard to accept the fact that the LDS church is growing? If you can accept the fact that that they posses a sales force in the tens if thousands AND have 3 to 4 million brainwashed members who refuse to learn the truth and are popping out babies in the tens thousands each year they brainwash too why can't the church be growing? 50 stakes a year out of 3000 is only 1.6% annual growth. That barely keeps up with population growth.

Was not able to find a way to cut and past from the OP link. Some great details on the requirements to form US and International wards and stakes. Also acronyms are defined.

A poster in the middle, I think last name Johnson fives the details. Good insights.

Here is the information offered on requirements to make a stake.

Requirement for a ward in the US or Canada:

1. 300 members
2. 15 active, full tithe paying, Melchelzedek Priesthood holders (AFTPMPH)
3. 1 AFTPMPH for every 20 members (thus, if the new ward has 400 members, 20 AFTPMPH would be required.

Outside the United States and Canada, the only difference is requirement 1, which is 150 members.

The requirements for a Branch inside a stake is 4-6 AFTPMPHs and 20 members.

The requirement for a Branch inside a mission is 6 active priesthood holders (including Aaronic Priesthood), with at least one active Melchezedek priesthood holder. No minimum number of members (other than the priesthood requirement).


For a stake, the requirements are:

1. At least 5 wards (although apparently multiple branches can replace a ward).

2. 24 AFTPMPHs (capable of serving in stake leadership callings), plus those required for the wards and branches.

3. 3000 members in the US and Canada, 1900 outside.

Note, as the wards and branches need to add up to 3000 members in the US and Canada, the wards and branches would require 3000/20 or 150 AFTPMPHs in addition to the 24.

Since when was 3,100 a milestone? Since when was December 2012 and September 2014 important start and end dates? Since when were stake numbers THE measure of growth? I can see some cherry picking of statistics going on here.

First the stake stats: 3,101 as of September 2014, compared to 3,005 as of December 2012. That is an increase of 3.19%, or 1.81% compound annual growth.

Now let's look at ward and branch numbers: 29,442 as of September 2014, compared to 29,014 as of December 2012. That is an increase of 1.48% or 0.84% compound annual growth, less than half the growth in the number of stakes.

That's right folks, real growth is less than half of the cherry picked numbers.

FYI, I consider ward and branch growth to be the most reliable measure of active membership that is publicly available. There is a limit to how small a ward/branch can be before it is no longer viable, and there is a limit to how big a ward can be before they need to split it to keep the members busy. Stake numbers can be easily manipulated by a policy decision to split existing wards into extra stakes.

I got the December 2012 statistics from https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/statistical-report-2012?lang=eng and the September 2014 statistics from http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/statistics/units/

"Outside the United States and Canada, the only difference is requirement 1, which is 150 members."

I was in "wards" in Brazil that had 15 active members and 1 active priesthood holder. There wasn't a ward in my mission that had attendance over 50, and none had 15 active, tithe-paying, men.

In 2012 I had a pie I'd divided in 4 equal parts. By 2014 I'd divided it into 8 equal parts. Now that's growth.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2014 02:02PM by lilburne.