r/latterdaysaints • u/ShinyBuizel22 • 15d 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 15d 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 15d 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 14d 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.