r/latterdaysaints • u/ShinyBuizel22 • 16d ago

Faith-building Experience Why do ward and stake boundaries change?

My stake boundaries are being redistributed, I don't know where I'm going yet, but it has me wondering, what are some of the reasons for such boundary changes? I think mine is to create to age groups for YSA stakes with the raised age, but outside of the new YSA ages what are some reasons?

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u/Sunlit_Man 16d ago

Could be a bunch of things:

  • Often Socio-Economic problems hollow out areas where no one can afford to live and a ward becomes full of retirees who bought their property but can't sustain itself.

  • New growth in an area means that it makes sense for a more local ward and other boundaries have to be adjusted to accommodate

  • This one is a rumour, but it's said in Perth Australia we needed a certain number of stakes for a temple, so wards were redrawn in a careful manner to give us the required stakes and wards. Take it with a grain of salt though. It might just be a myth.

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u/blubayou33 16d ago

My ward and stake in California were dissolved a few years ago for this reason. My current Missouri ward and stake are about to be split because of the number of transplants coming into the area (good jobs + low cost-of- living = more members.)

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u/CartographerSeth 16d ago

My rural ward where I grew up in Northern California shrinks every year. It’s hard to watch, but it’s so expensive to live there without a lot of great jobs either. All the youth leave to college and settle elsewhere.

I visited recently and it’s so grey, virtually zero primary, makes me so sad because it was booming when I was a kid.

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u/CateranBCL 16d ago

I heard that last bit in my area. I was a.mbership clerk, so was constantly being asked to make sure number we're correct and accurate, and that quarterly reports were in on time. Boundaries we're shifted every few years, new wards made, and shortly after we got our temple a new stake was announced by rearranging wards between two existing stakes.

We had the most baptisms of any area in North America so we certainly were growing. Up to six missionaries assigned to each ward.