An area is an administrative unit of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which typically is composed of multiple stakes and missions. These areas are the primary church administrative unit between individual stakes and the church as a whole.
History
The areas as they now exist were formed in January 1984.[1] Prior to that time, general authorities served as "area supervisors" and at times resided outside of Salt Lake City.[2] In 1984, 13 initial areas were created; by 1992 there were 22, and by early 2007 there were 31. As of August 2012 there are 25 areas.
Administration
Until 2003, each area had a president and two counselors, all of whom were typically general authorities (area seventies were sometimes asked to be counselors). This three-man body was known as the area presidency. In that year, the church eliminated area presidencies for all areas located in the United States and Canada. Each of these areas were placed under the direct supervision of one of the seven members of the Presidency of the Seventy, thus freeing more general authorities from specific area assignments. Since these areas were previously administered by area presidencies located at church headquarters in Salt Lake City, the administrative change was not as drastic as it might seem.
The areas outside the United States and Canada continue to be governed by area presidencies that are typically composed of general authorities and area seventies. Rather than living in Salt Lake City, the area presidency members in these areas usually reside in a headquarters city that is located within the geographic boundaries of the area. Area seventies who serve in the area presidencies reside in their own homes, which may or may not be in the area headquarters city. One exception to the area presidency living in the geographic boundaries is the Middle East/Africa North Area which is administered from Salt Lake City. Each area presidency typically uses an executive secretary to assist in the administration of the area.
The church now has 15 areas outside North America and 10 areas inside North America for a total of 25.
Area presidency assignments are generally filled by General Authority Seventies.[3][4] Area assignments are typically announced in the spring each year, with changes effective that year on August 1st.[5]
List
The following is an alphabetical list of the areas of the church and related leadership assignments as of 1 August 2015, except where noted otherwise.[6][7] In this listing, an asterisk indicates an area seventy serving as a member of the Presidency.
Area name |
Area headquarters |
Area
president |
First
counselor |
Second
counselor |
Geographic coverage
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics) |
Notes |
Africa Southeast |
Johannesburg, South Africa |
Carl B. Cook |
Stanley G. Ellis |
Kevin S. Hamilton |
Angola; Ascension (UK); Botswana; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Comoros; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; ; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gabon; Kenya; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Mauritius; Mayotte; Mozambique; Namibia; Republic of Congo; Réunion (FRA); Rwanda; Saint Helena (UK); Seychelles; Somalia; South Africa; Sudan; Swaziland; Tanzania; Tristan da Cunha (UK); Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe |
|
Africa West |
Accra, Ghana |
LeGrand R. Curtis Jr. |
Terence M. Vinson |
Vern P. Stanfill |
Benin; Burkina Faso; Cape Verde; Chad; Côte d'Ivoire; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Liberia; Mali; Mauritania; Maritius; Niger; Nigeria; São Tomé and Príncipe; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Togo; Western Sahara |
|
Asia[8] |
Hong Kong, China |
Randy D. Funk |
Chi Hong (Sam) Wong |
Siu Hong Pon* |
Afghanistan; Bangladesh; Bhutan; Brunei; Cambodia; China; East Timor; India; Indonesia; Kyrgyzstan; Laos; Malaysia; Maldives; Mongolia; Myanmar; Nepal; Pakistan; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Tajikistan; Taiwan; Thailand; Vietnam |
|
Asia North |
Tokyo, Japan |
Scott D. Whiting |
Kazuhiko Yamashita |
Yoon Hwan Choi |
Japan; Micronesia; North Korea; Palau; South Korea; Guam (US) |
|
Brazil |
São Paulo, Brazil |
Claudio R.M. Costa |
Jairo Mazzagardi |
Marcos A. Aidukaitis |
Brazil |
Official website (Portuguese) |
Caribbean |
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
J. Devn Cornish |
Claudio D. Zivic |
Hugo E. Martinez |
Antigua and Barbuda; Bahamas; Barbados; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Grenada; Guyana; Haiti; Jamaica; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Anguilla (UK); Aruba (NED); Cayman Islands (UK); French Guiana (FRA); Guadaloupe (FRA); Martinique (FRA); Montserrat (FRA); Netherlands Antilles (NED); Puerto Rico (US); Saint Barthelemy (FRA); Saint Martin (FRA); Turks and Caicos Islands (UK); Virgin Islands (UK); Virgin Islands (US) |
|
Central America |
Guatemala City, Guatemala |
Kevin R. Duncan |
Adrian Ochoa |
Jose L. Alonso |
Belize; Costa Rica; El Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras; Nicaragua; Panama |
|
Europe |
Frankfurt, Germany |
Patrick Kearon |
Paul V. Johnson |
Timothy J. Dyches |
Albania; Andorra; Austria; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Iceland; Republic of Ireland; Italy; Liechtenstein; Luxembourg; Republic of Macedonia; Malta; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; San Marino; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom; Vatican City; Azores (POR); Canary Islands (ESP); Gibraltar (UK); Greenland (DEN) |
|
Europe East |
Moscow, Russia |
Bruce D. Porter |
Jörg Klebingat |
Larry S. Kacher |
Armenia; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Bulgaria; Estonia; Georgia; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Latvia; Lithuania; Russia; Tajikistan; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Ukraine; Uzbekistan |
|
Idaho |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Ulisses Soares (Presidency)[7] |
Idaho; Montana (small portion); Wyoming (small portion) |
|
Mexico |
Mexico City, Mexico |
Benjamín De Hoyos |
Paul B. Pieper |
Arnulfo Valenzuela |
Mexico; Cuba |
|
Middle East/ Africa North |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Larry R. Lawrence, Wilford W. Andersen |
Algeria; Bahrain; Cape Verde; Egypt; Iran; Iraq; Israel; Jordan; Kuwait; Lebanon; Libya; Morocco; Oman; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Syria; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates; Yemen; Gaza Strip; West Bank |
|
North America Central |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Ulisses Soares (Presidency)[7] |
Alberta; British Columbia (small eastern sections); Colorado; Illinois; Iowa; Kansas; Manitoba; Michigan (Upper Peninsula); Minnesota; Missouri; Montana; Nebraska; Northwest Territories; North Dakota; Nunavut; Ontario (western half); Saskatchewan; South Dakota; Wisconsin; Wyoming. |
|
North America Northeast |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Gerrit W. Gong (Presidency)[7][9] |
Connecticut; Delaware; Indiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; New Brunswick; Newfoundland; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; Nova Scotia; Ohio; Ontario; Pennsylvania; Prince Edward Island; Quebec; Rhode Island; Vermont; Virginia (most of the state); Washington, D.C.; West Virginia; Bermuda (UK); Saint Pierre and Miquelon (FRA) |
|
North America Northwest |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Donald L. Hallstrom (Presidency)[7] |
Alaska; British Columbia; California (small part of north); Oregon; Washington; Yukon. |
|
North America Southeast |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Richard J. Maynes (Presidency)[7] |
Alabama; Arkansas; Florida; Georgia; Kentucky (most of the state); Louisiana; Mississippi; North Carolina; South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas (small portion); Virginia (small portions) |
|
North America Southwest |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Lynn G. Robbins (Presidency) |
Arizona; Nevada; New Mexico; Oklahoma; Texas; Arkansas (northwest quarter); California (small portions); Colorado (southwest portion); Kansas (small portion); Louisiana (small portion); Missouri (southwest third); Utah (small portions) |
|
North America West |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Donald L. Hallstrom (Presidency)[7] |
California; Hawaii; Arizona (small portions) |
|
Pacific |
Auckland, New Zealand |
Kevin W. Pearson |
O. Vincent Haleck |
S. Gifford Nielsen |
Australia; Fiji; Kiribati; Marshall Islands; Nauru; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Samoa; Solomon Islands; Tonga; Tuvalu; Vanuatu; American Samoa (US); Cook Islands (NZ); French Polynesia, including Tahiti (FRA); New Caledonia (FRA); Niue (NZ); Pitcairn Islands (UK); Tokelau (NZ); Wallis and Futuna (FRA) |
Official website |
Philippines |
Manila, Philippines |
Ian S. Ardern |
Shayne M. Bowen |
Allen D. Haynie |
Philippines; Northern Mariana Islands (US) |
|
South America Northwest |
Lima, Peru |
Juan A. Uceda |
Carlos A. Godoy [7] |
Hugo Montoya [7] |
Bolivia; Colombia; Ecuador; Peru; Venezuela |
|
South America South |
Buenos Aires, Argentina |
Walter F. González |
Francisco J. Viñas |
Jose A. Teixeira |
Argentina; Chile; Paraguay; Uruguay |
|
Utah North |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Craig C. Christensen (Presidency)[7] |
Utah (northern regions); Idaho (small portion); Wyoming (southwest corner) |
|
Utah
Salt Lake City |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Craig C. Christensen (Presidency)[7] |
Greater Salt Lake City; Nevada (small portion) |
|
Utah South |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
Craig C. Christensen (Presidency)[7] |
Utah (south of Greater Salt Lake City); Arizona (small portion); Nevada (small portion) |
|
Area details
The following statistics are current as of January 1, 2015 (unless otherwise specified), with missions as of July 1, 2015 and are taken from the country and area websites on LDS.org and statistical profiles on cumorah.com.
Area |
Membership |
Missions |
Stakes/Districts |
Congregations
(wards/branches) |
Temples |
Africa Southeast |
197,226 |
14 |
585 congregations |
Durban South Africa (under construction) • Johannesburg South Africa • Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo (under construction)
|
Africa West |
248,350 |
14 |
810 congregations |
Aba Nigeria • Abidjan Ivory Coast (announced) • Accra Ghana
|
Asia |
164,741 |
10 |
368 congregations |
Bangkok Thailand (announced) • Hong Kong China • Taipei Taiwan
|
Asia North |
223,508 |
12 |
420 congregations |
Fukuoka Japan • Sapporo Japan (dedication scheduled) • Seoul Korea • Tokyo Japan
|
Brazil |
1,289,376 |
34 |
1,996 congregations |
Campinas Brazil • Curitiba Brazil • Fortaleza Brazil (under construction) • Manaus Brazil • Porto Alegre Brazil • Recife Brazil • São Paulo Brazil
|
Caribbean |
194,221 |
8 |
367 congregations |
Santo Domingo Dominican Republic
|
Central America |
729,791 |
18 |
1,071 congregations |
Guatemala City Guatemala • Panama City Panama • Quetzaltenango Guatemala • San José Costa Rica • San Salvador El Salvador • Tegucigalpa Honduras
|
Europe[10] |
455,088 |
31 |
1,261 congregations |
Bern Switzerland • Copenhagen Denmark • Frankfurt Germany • Freiberg Germany • Helsinki Finland • Lisbon Portugal (under construction) • London England • Madrid Spain • Paris France (under construction) • Preston England • Rome Italy (under construction) • Stockholm Sweden • The Hague Netherlands
|
Europe East[11] |
44,313 |
14 |
209 congregations |
Kyiv Ukraine
|
Idaho |
425,739 |
4 |
1,102 congregations |
Boise Idaho • Idaho Falls Idaho • Meridian Idaho (under construction) • Rexburg Idaho • Twin Falls Idaho
|
Mexico[12] |
1,344,298 |
34 |
1,981 congregations |
Ciudad Juárez Mexico • Colonia Juárez Chihuahua Mexico • Guadalajara Mexico • Hermosillo Sonora Mexico • Mérida Mexico • Mexico City Mexico • Monterrey Mexico • Oaxaca Mexico • Tampico Mexico • Tijuana Mexico • Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico • Veracruz Mexico • Villahermosa Mexico
|
Middle East/Africa North[13] |
11,714 |
0 |
85 congregations |
|
North America Central |
644,186 |
20 |
1,504 congregations |
Billings Montana • Bismarck North Dakota • Calgary Alberta • Cardston Alberta • Chicago Illinois • Denver Colorado • Edmonton Alberta • Fort Collins Colorado (dedication scheduled) • Kansas City Missouri • Nauvoo Illinois • Regina Saskatchewan • St. Louis Missouri • St. Paul Minnesota • Winnipeg Manitoba (announced) • Winter Quarters Nebraska
|
North America Northeast[14] |
407,514 |
24 |
839 congregations |
Boston Massachusetts • Columbus Ohio • Detroit Michigan • Halifax Nova Scotia • Hartford Connecticut (dedication scheduled) • Indianapolis Indiana • Manhattan New York • Montreal Quebec • Palmyra New York • Philadelphia Pennsylvania (dedication scheduled) • Toronto Ontario • Washington D.C.
|
North America Northwest |
494,290 |
13 |
1,299 congregations |
Anchorage Alaska • Columbia River Washington • Medford Oregon • Portland Oregon • Seattle Washington • Spokane Washington • Vancouver British Columbia
|
North America Southeast |
526,385 |
18 |
1,030 congregations |
Atlanta Georgia • Baton Rouge Louisiana • Birmingham Alabama
• Columbia South Carolina • Fort Lauderdale Florida • Louisville Kentucky • Memphis Tennessee • Nashville Tennessee • Orlando Florida • Raleigh North Carolina
|
North America Southwest |
1,032,246 |
21 |
2,011 congregations |
Albuquerque New Mexico • Dallas Texas • Gilbert Arizona • Houston Texas • Las Vegas Nevada • Lubbock Texas • Mesa Arizona • Monticello Utah • Oklahoma City Oklahoma • Phoenix Arizona • Reno Nevada • San Antonio Texas • Snowflake Arizona • The Gila Valley Arizona • Tucson Arizona (under construction)
|
North America West |
853,671 |
21 |
1,493 congregations |
Fresno California • Kona Hawaii • Laie Hawaii • Los Angeles California • Newport Beach California • Oakland California • Redlands California • Sacramento California • San Diego California
|
Pacific |
499,509 |
17 |
1,145 congregations |
Adelaide Australia • Apia Samoa • Brisbane Australia • Hamilton New Zealand • Melbourne Australia • Nuku'alofa Tonga • Papeete Tahiti • Perth Australia • Suva Fiji • Sydney Australia
|
Philippines[15] |
688,852 |
21 |
1,149 congregations |
Cebu City Philippines • Manila Philippines • Urdaneta Philippines (announced)
|
South America Northwest |
1,299,577 |
32 |
1,874 congregations. |
Arequipa Peru (announced) • Barranquilla Colombia (under construction) • Bogotá Colombia • Caracas Venezuela • Cochabamba Bolivia • Guayaquil Ecuador • Lima Peru • Trujillo Peru
|
South America South |
1,193,569 |
28 |
1,697 congregations. |
Asunción Paraguay • Buenos Aires Argentina • Concepción Chile (under construction) • Córdoba Argentina • Montevideo Uruguay • Santiago Chile
|
Utah North |
547,517 |
2 |
160 stakes
0 districts |
1,289 wards
79 branches |
Bountiful Utah • Brigham City Utah • Logan Utah • Ogden Utah • Star Valley Wyoming (dedication scheduled)
|
Utah Salt Lake City |
691,756 |
5 |
188 stakes
1 district |
1,406 wards
139 branches |
Draper Utah • Jordan River Utah • Oquirrh Mountain Utah • Salt Lake
|
Utah South |
746,082 |
3 |
225 stakes
0 districts |
1,906 wards
118 branches |
Cedar City Utah (under construction) • Manti Utah • Mount Timpanogos Utah • Payson Utah • Provo City Center • Provo Utah • St. George Utah • Vernal Utah
|
See also
References
- ↑ Allen, James B. and Glen M. Leonard. The Story of the Latter-day Saints 2nd Edition, p. 654.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ In late 2015, the church began referring to these leaders as General Authority Seventies, rather than distinguishing between the First or Second Quorum of the Seventy.
- ↑ Although area seventies may serve in an area presidency, including filling the whole presidency in some cases in the past, this has not been the church's practice in recent years. Use of an area seventy in the area presidency has primarily included filling a vacancy due to such things as illness or other "mid-year" assignment changes.
- ↑ For several years, the assignments were effective on August 15, but August 1 has been the effective date since 2007.
- ↑ "LDS First Presidency announces area leadership assignments", Church News, 2 May 2015.
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ With Gerrit W. Gong’s appointment to the Presidency of the Seventy, effective 4 January 2016, Randy D. Funk became the Area President, with Chi Hong (Sam) Wong as the First Counselor and Siu Hong Pon, an area seventy, as the Second Counselor.
- ↑ This assignment is shown as announced on 12 November 2015, although Donald L. Hallstrom continues to have responsibility for the North America Northeast Area until 4 January 2016, when Gerrit W. Gong's assignment in Asia is completed and he fully transitions to his role in the Presidency of the Seventy.
- ↑ Current as of mid or late 2013. Information taken from lds.org and cumorah.com.
- ↑ Current as of mid or late 2013. Information taken from lds.org and cumorah.com.
- ↑ Current as of mid or late 2013. Information taken from lds.org and cumorah.com.
- ↑ Current as of mid or late 2013. Information taken from lds.org and cumorah.com.
- ↑ Current as of mid or late 2013. Information taken from lds.org and cumorah.com.
- ↑ Current as of mid or late 2013. Information taken from lds.org and cumorah.com.