Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints Members

Frequently Asked Questions By Church Leaders And Prc Chinese Members Outside China

Please contact the China Administrative Unit Director who is a local Chinese leader and helps take care of and directs the local members and local member congregations in China. He lives in Beijing. His email is: caudir@churchofjesuschrist.org. He will welcome you, answer your questions, connect you with your local leaders in China, provide times and places for Sunday meetings, and establish your Church membership in the right place.

Yes. Local members meet on Sundays in various cities around China, led by local priesthood leaders, with local families and members of all ages, professions, and family situations.

In fundamental spirit, Church scriptures, doctrines, and the gospel friendship of the Latter-day Saints are the same everywhere. Around the world, including in China, meeting places may be larger or smaller, rented, and closer or farther to where members live. But Chinese members returning to China will find a warm spirit, close feelings one to another, and mutual support, service, and love.

Please let Chinese members returning to China know that they may have Church members among their family, friends, and acquaintances in China. Having much in common with other Chinese Church members will be a joy, comfort, and blessing. Please invite new Chinese members who are thinking of returning or planning to return to China at any point to contact their current bishop/branch president. For questions related to returning to China, Chinese members may contact the CAU Director.

More Members Will Have Access To Temples Than Ever Before

Finally, some good news for members of the church worldwide: They will be more likely than ever in the history of the church to live close to a temple. President Russell M. Nelson continues to announce new temples at each conference, including 17 just this past weekend in locations as far-flung as Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, and Maceió, Brazil.

This brings Nelson to a total of 100 new temples announced since he assumed leadership of the denomination in 2018.

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Lds Methods For Retention

While it may seem that reconsidering its stance on social issues is one method to retain more young people, Mason and other scholars say this probably isnt the answer. Some people say the best thing to do is to accommodate modern cultureaccept gays, ordain women. I dont think its that simple, Mason says. We see this with the liberal Protestant church, and theyre still experiencing steep declines in membership. But by holding the line, you become a museum piece at a certain point. So there has to be this dynamic tension.

What will really make the church successful, Mason posits, is whether it will identify and emphasize that which has made it most successfulthe strength of its local congregations, called wards. These local units not only meet together for Sunday services, but often multiple times per week for gatherings that are not overtly religious: campouts and picnics, sporting events, community service. At the ward level, the church takes a village approach to not only religion and childrearing, but, as is the LDS way, all aspects of lifea given ward may appoint someone to help others find employment, pursue education, or improve physical health, according to the needs of the locals. And it is within these local units, Mason says, that Mormons bridge divides and help one another in times of need.

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The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter

Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership historyThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics is membership, congregational, and related information released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well other applicable statistical information concerning the worldwide church. The latest membership information LDS Church releases includes a count of membership, stakes, wards, branches, missions, temples, and family history centers for the worldwide church and for individual countries and territories where the church is recognized. The latest information released was as of December 31, 2021 for the worldwide church, and December 31, 2019 for individual countries and selected territories.

At the end of 2021, the LDS Church had 31,315 congregations and a reported membership of 16,805,400.

Histories Of Local Church Units

Many histories of wards, stakes, and missions are available at the Family History Library and the Church History Library. These unit histories sometimes include biographical sketches of members, photographs, maps, lists of ward officers, and a history of the local community. For books and articles that give short histories of many local Church units see:

• Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic History of the Church cited fully in .

The Church History Library has manuscript histories, and historical reports for local Church units from the 1830s to 1983. Since 1983, the yearly histories have been known as annual reports. Wards and branches submit their reports to the stake or mission, which compiles them and submits the reports to the Church History Library. These records often include the names of the Church units officers and teachers. Histories of the Mormon Battalion, the Pioneers of 1847, , and other prominent groups are also available.

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The Church As A Whole Is Still Growing But The Growth Rate Continues To Slow Down

In a time when other Christian churches are reporting actual losses of members, Mormonism is in positive territory, despite COVID-19. In the U.S., for instance, the Southern Baptists have 2 million fewer people on the rolls than they did in 2006. Within this challenging environment, the LDS church continues to grow around the world and even within the U.S., albeit much more slowly than in the past.

In 2021, the LDS church around the world reported growth just under 1%. The good news from the perspective of the mission-minded faith is that this was an improvement over the dismal year of 2020, when growth was just over half a percent during the worst of the shutdown during the pandemic.

The bad news is that it wasnt as much of a bounce over 2020 as many had hoped for. The figure, .85% to be precise, seems to be continuing the long-term slowdown that was already happening in the years leading up to the pandemic.

According to Christian Anderson, a biophysicist in Utah who follows LDS church growth trends, even more concerning than the shrinking rate of growth is the raw number of new members being added each year.

LDS growth in terms of raw numbers, 1940 to 2021. In 2021, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints added 141,737 new members, similar to its growth in the mid- to late 1970s. Analysis and chart by Christian Anderson

Membership Has Its Privileges: 38 Benefits Of Church Membership We May Not Think About

Years ago, one of my roommates was on a date with the man who would become her husband when she texted me saying they had a story idea for me. They had been discussing the benefits of being a member of the Church that we dont always talk about or focus on. For example, they mentioned that speaking in Church and being asked to give lessons from a young age help us to become comfortable with public speaking and presenting. They rattled off a whole list of examples and I have thought of it frequently in the years since but never wrote the article.

Fast-forward to this week when I was supposed to teach a Relief Society lesson on President Dallin H. Oakss talk The Need for a Church. As I read his talk, I began thinking once again about all of these less-noticeable benefits of being a member of the Church. I decided to pose the question on Twitter, knowing that, while there would likely be some negative replies, we would also be able collectively to gather a pretty comprehensive list.

In the 1980s, American Express ran an advertising campaign that was the brainchild of a member of the Church named Gordon Bowenwith the slogan, Membership has its privileges. Rumor has it Bowen actually pitched the slogan to the Church first, but whether or not that is true, the list I want to share with you based on the replies to my tweet is proof that membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints absolutely has its privileges.

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Growth And Demographic History

The records of the LDS Church show membership growth every decade since its beginning in the 1830s, although that has slowed significantly. Following initial growth rates that averaged 10% to 25% per year in the 1830s through 1850s, it grew at about 4% per year through the last four decades of the 19th century. After a steady slowing of growth in the first four decades of the 20th century to a rate of about 2% per year in the 1930s , growth boomed to an average of 6% per year for the decade around 1960, staying around 4% to 5% through 1990. After 1990, average annual growth again slowed steadily to a rate around 2.2% for the ten years ending 2015, approximately double the average world population growth rate of 1.1% for the same period. The growth rate has not been greater than 3% per year in the 21st century and has decelerated steadily since 2012. The rate has not been above 2% since 2013. In May 2019, however, Phil Zuckerman, Ph.D., of Psychology Today expressed skepticism of how the LDS Church reports growth in membership, noting that while church membership was reported to be rising, separate analysis conducted by journalist showed that reports of Mormon retention, religious participation, teachings and belief have been declining since 2007. By 2019, Mormons represented 51% of the population in their longtime stronghold of Utah, in contrast with 75% in 2000.

Criticism Of Joseph Smith

In the 1830s, the church was criticized for Smith’s handling of a banking failure in Kirtland, Ohio. After the Mormons migrated west, there was fear and suspicion about the LDS Church’s political and military power in Missouri, culminating in the 1838 Mormon War and the Mormon Extermination Order by Governor Lilburn Boggs. In the 1840s, criticism of the church included its theocratic aspirations in Nauvoo, Illinois. Criticism of the practice of plural marriage and other doctrines taught by Smith were published in the Nauvoo Expositor. Opposition led to a series of events culminating in the death of Smith and his brother while jailed in 1844.

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Famous Members Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter

Many anti-mormons try to make people think that church members are strange. These anti-mormons dont care much about the truth. If you know a member of our church, you know that were just like other folks. We work hard, play hard, and try to be the best people we can be. Were good friends and neighbors, just like the other good friends and neighbors you probably have.

Some church members are well known in the Entertainment Industry, Politics, Business, Sports, Science, Education, Literature, and the Military, proving, contrary to anti-mormon claims, that our culture can produce accomplished individuals. Of course, in Gods eyes, were all equal, the famous and the not so famous like me! Hope you enjoy this list of famous Mormons!

EntertainersPoliticiansBusinessSportsScientists/Inventors

• Philo T. Farnsworth : Invented the television.
• Richard G. Scott : One of the nuclear engineers that worked on the first nuclear submarine, then a top secret military project. He currently serves as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
• Robert B. Ingebretsen : Developer of the first practical digital audio recording system with Thomas Stockham received an Academy award in 1999.
• William Clayton : Invented the odometer.
• Yukihiro Matsumoto : A Japanese computer scientist and software programmer best known as the chief designer of the Ruby programming language.

EducatorsMilitaryOther

192 Responses to Famous Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Mormon Population In Utah

Mormons in Utah account for 67.70% of its population. A total of 2,065,808 Mormons live in Utah. Utah State is home to 16 Mormon temples, including the world’s largest Mormon temple . The Salt Lake Temple, located at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah is the largest LSD temple by floor area at 253,015 sq ft. Mormons arrived in Salt Lake City via the Mormon Trail when the group was expelled from Missouri and Illinois in the 1830s and decided to head west, eventually settling in the late 1840s in what would become Salt Lake City.

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Organization Of The Church

On April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and a group of approximately 30 believers met with the intention of formally organizing the Church of Christ into a legal institution. It is uncertain whether this occurred in the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. in Fayette, New York, or whether it occurred in the log home of Joseph Smith Sr. near their property in Manchester. Soon after this formal organization, small branches were formally established in Manchester, Fayette, and Colesville. Although the purpose was to effect a legal organization, it may have had no legal effect since no records of incorporation have been found in either the ManchesterâPalmyra area, the Fayette area, or in several other counties around this time period, as required by state law at the time: the church evidently did not follow the required legal formalities.

Comparison Between Mormonism And Christianity

One of the differences between Mormonism and other branches of Christianity is that Mormons do not believe Christians teaching on the presence of the Trinity. Furthermore, Mormons believe that God created the world using existing matter and not out of nothing, as Christians believe. The third difference is that Mormons believe that the second coming of Christ will be in the United States. However, Christians believe that when Jesus Christ appears again, he will appear in the heavens and everyone will see him.

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Mormon Emphasis On Family Strengthens Ties

Theres no better illustration of this emphasis than family home evening. The church introduced this officially sanctioned weekly event in 1915 with the goal of strengthening family ties and engaging children in religious and spiritual activities, such as prayer, singing hymns, and reading Scripture. Sociologist Vern Bengtson, author of Families and Faith: How Religion Is Passed Down Across Generations, described family home evening as among the most successful programs fostering intergenerational connections.

Its no accident that Mormon families tend toward traditional two-parent households with children. A 2015 Pew Research report shows that Mormons are more likely to be married and to have larger families than other Christians. Roughly two-thirds of Mormons are married, compared to only about half of Christians overall.

Even more importantly, Mormons are more likely to marry within their faith than members of most other religious traditions: 82 percent of married Mormons report that their spouse is also Mormon. And Mormon families are large even compared to other Christian traditions, averaging 3.4 children compared to 2.2. children for all Christian households.

A recent poll by College Pulse of students currently attending four-year colleges and universities found that the most common response among students about the ideal age to be married was 28. However, the response among Mormon students was 24.

About Membership Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter

This database contains details extracted from membership records for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the years 18301848. Details vary depending on circumstances in the members life, but they may include the following:

• birth, marriage, and death dates
• residences
• church ordinances

Historical Background

Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York in 1830. As membership grew, the main body of the church moved into Ohio, Missouri, and finally Illinois, where they established the city of Nauvoo and Joseph Smith was killed in 1844. In the face of growing persecution, church members began leaving Illinois in 1846 for unsettled lands in the American West.

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Finding Aids For Latter

The Studies in Mormon History Database includes citations to articles, books, theses, and Ph.D. dissertations dealing with the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, written from the time of its inception in 1830 to the present. It is intended to be comprehensive. It includes citations to over 2,000 Latter-day Saint biographies and 800 published Latter-day Saint diaries. The diary entries have abstracts describing dates of coverage and a summary of the contents. There are some links to full-text items.

What Are The Countries With The Most Latter

When the Church was first organized on April 6, 1830, there were six members of the Church. Now, 191 years later, there are 16,663,663 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world in 31,136 congregations, according to the Churchs 2020 statistics.

This chart shows the 30 countries with the most members of the Church.

Countries-by-most-members

Copyright 2021 Deseret News Publishing Company

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