Note: An original one-paragraph version of this post was published at around 11:30 AM, just after the announcement was made. Additional details and analysis in subsequent paragraphs were added during the 1:00 PM hour.
Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has announced this morning that 6 new missions will be created next year: 5 in Africa and one in Europe. Of the 5 in Africa, 2 are in Nigeria. I will have further analysis on this here later this afternoon, and I'm sure the news will also be covered by the Church Growth Blog. For now, my thanks once again to you all,
I am back, as promised, with the additional analysis I mentioned. While I will certainly defer to Matthew Martinich at the Church Growth Blog to provide important context on today's updates, I can provide some initial thoughts I have, for whatever they may be worth to you all here. So let's break down the details:
The first mission, the Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan North Mission, will be created from a division of the Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan East Mission, and will also take in some areas currently pertaining to the Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan West Mission. Given the fact that 3 missions will now cover the capital city in Côte d'Ivoire, it did occur to me to wonder if this newest mission, with or without any additional missions being created, could eventually lead to a second temple in the capital city of Côte d'Ivoire.
We now shift to Central Africa, where the Church will divide the current Democratic Republic of the Congo Mbuji-Mayi Mission to create the Democratic Republic of the Congo Kanaga Mission. Since the Church has announced plans for a temple in Kananga, the creation of this mission makes sense. That is because we have seen several recent examples of those involved in the construction of a temple for the Church being converted to the gospel in the course of being involved with such projects. So I wouldn't be shocked if the new temple there plays a vital role in expanding missionary efforts in that newest mission.
The next two missions will be based in Nigeria, with the Nigeria Aba Mission being created from a division of the Nigeria Owerri Mission. Additionally, parts of the current Nigeria Benin City and Nigeria Enugu Mission will be reassigned to the Nigeria Owerri Mission. I am a little surprised a mission was not created in Aba before now, since the temple there was dedicated 17 years ago. In addition to the Nigeria Aba Mission, the Church will also create the Nigeria Abuja Mission by dividing the current Nigeria Lagos Mission.
The announcement doesn't indicate that parts of any other Nigerian missions will be incorporated into the Nigeria Abuja Mission, but I see that as a potentially likely scenario. During a period of time when the Church has 3 temples in Nigeria in various planning stages, it's not surprising that 2 new missions will serve that nation. Additionally, I have mentioned in the recent past that, per feedback from Matthew Martinich on the Church Growth Blog, it appears likely that the Church will split Nigeria off into its' own area at some point.
Based on these two new missions, and on the fact that the Church has called at least 1 new GA Seventy from Africa every April for the last several years, the Church could conceivably have 3 GA Seventies who are native Nigerians by either next year or the year after. Whether or not that happens, I wouldn't be shocked if the 2023 or 2024 area leadership assignments include the announcement of a new Nigeria area.
The final new mission in Africa will be the South Africa Pretoria Mission, which will be created through a division of the Botswana/Namibia and South Africa Johannesburg Missions, while also taking in parts of the South Africa Durban Mission. Since the April 2021 General Conference, when the Cape Town South Africa Temple was announced, I have felt and said that I think the next temple in South Africa will be in Pretoria, and the creation of the South Africa Pretoria Mission may certainly strengthen the case for a temple in that city.
The final mission will be located in Europe. The Hungary/Romania Mission will be renamed the Hungary Budapest Mission, and the Church will create the Romania Bucharest Mission, which may in due course lead to a new temple in Romania at some point in the near term. The one other thing I wanted to note is that all of these missions will be operative on July 1, and the announcement of new mission presidents for 2023 is anticipated in January or thereabouts. These additional missions will bring the worldwide total to 416 as of July 2023, which means that the worldwide total for the year-end 2022 is 410.
And the fact that 5 of the 6 new missions are in Africa, with 2 in Nigeria alone, indicates to me that the Church continues to expand well throughout Africa. As I've mentioned a few times in this post alone, it will be interesting to see how existing, planned, or yet-to-be-announced temples might impact missionary work going forward. Having noted all of this, I will be sure to post a note in the comments of this post when Matthew Martinich has provided his analysis, as he will have more contextual information.
I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple construction developments and will bring word of those to you all as I receive it. In the meantime, that does it for now. Thank you for the privilege of your time. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines.
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