The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile

As of January 1, 2011, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) reported 563,689 members in 74 stakes and 23 districts, 620 congregations (421 wards[1] and 199 branches),[1] nine missions, and one temple in Chile.[2]

History

The LDS Church has been established in Chile for over sixty years. The church experienced some periods of rapid expansion during that time, becoming, by some estimates, the second largest church in the country.

Early apostle Parley P. Pratt was among the first Mormon missionaries to preach in Chile, landing in Valparaiso in November, 1851, along with Elder Rufus Allen and Phoebe Sopher, one of Pratt's wives, who was pregnant at the time. The mission party was impressed by the Chilean countryside and people. Pratt wrote that the people he met in Chile were "a neat, plain, loving and sociable people; very friendly, frank, and easy to become acquainted with," but the mission trip met with tragedy when the Pratt's month-old son died in January 1852.[3] Hampered by language difficulties and a lack of literature in the Spanish language (selections of the Book of Mormon were not translated into Spanish until 1875)[4] the missionaries left Chile after four months without having a successful baptism.[3] Pratt used his experience in South America to advise Brigham Young that the success of future missionary efforts would be based on translations of the Mormon scriptures.[5] Another difficulty was that, at the time of Pratt's visit, the Chilean constitution did not permit the practice of any religion besides Catholicism.[6]

Missionary work in Chile began in earnest in 1956, when the country was made part of the Argentine mission and the first small branch was formed.[7] By 1961, the country had 1,100 members and the Chilean mission was organized. The following three decades saw explosive growth in church membership, with the church membership doubling every two years at its peak.[3] The growth sparked a building boom during these decades. Hundreds of LDS meetinghouses were constructed, capped by the dedication of the Santiago Temple in 1983. Church growth continued in the 1990s, with the country having the greatest growth in LDS membership in South America during the decade. Between 1994 and 1996, 26 new stakes were dedicated in the country.[7]

The period of rapid expansion in membership was followed by a sharp contraction. The church is now retrenching after its period of high growth and hundreds of units have been decommissioned since 1998.[8] In 2002, the church sent Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to remain in Chile for a year to train leadership and minister to the church,[9] a role typically held by members of the quorums of the seventy. Due to high levels of member inactivity, 37% of the stakes created in Chile have since been discontinued.[10]

Although an average of 12,000 people were baptized annually between 1961 and 1990, membership growth has now cooled and the church has a large number of inactive members. According to census data, 0.9% of the population claims to be Mormon, based upon those aged 15 and over who identify themselves as Mormon. The church itself reports that it has 543,628 members in Chile, which is equal to about 3.3% of the population. If accurate, these numbers makes the LDS Church the single largest denomination in Chile after Catholicism.[11] LDS statistics counts everyone baptized, including children age eight or older as well as inactive members. Using unofficial sources, the Cumorah Project website estimates that 20% of Chilean members actively attend church services.[8]

Jorge F. Zeballos, a former mining engineer, is a Chilean-born LDS general authority. He was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy in April, 2008.[12] Zeballos is the second Chilean to serve as a general authority. He followed Eduardo Ayala, who served in the Second Quorum of the Seventy from 1990 to 1995.

A second temple, in Concepción, was announced in 2009.

Missions

Temples

 24. Santiago Chile Temple

Location:
Announced:
Dedicated:
Rededicated:
 Size:

Santiago, Chile
2 April 1980
15 September 1983 by Gordon B. Hinckley
12 March 2006 by Gordon B. Hinckley
20,831 sq ft (1,935 m2) and 76 ft (23 m) high on a 2.61 acre (1.1 ha) site

160. Concepción Chile Temple (Dedication Scheduled)

Location:
Announced:
Groundbreaking:
Open House:
Dedicated:
 Size:
 Notes:

Concepción, Chile
3 October 2009
17 October 2015 by Walter F. González[13]
Scheduled for 15 September-13 October 2018
scheduled for 28 October 2018
23,000 sq ft (2,100 m2) and 124 ft (38 m) high
Announced by Thomas S. Monson in General Conference, 3 October 2009.[14][15]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 LDS Meetinghouse Locator.Nearby Congregations (Wards and Branches).
  2. ↑ "LDS Statistics and Church Facts - Total Church Membership". Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Biggest Little Mormon Country in the World - VQR Online". www.vqronline.org. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  4. ↑ Stocks, Hugh G. (1992), "Book of Mormon Translations", in Ludlow, Daniel H, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York: Macmillan Publishing, pp. 213–214, ISBN 0-02-879602-0, OCLC 24502140
  5. ↑ | Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.
  6. ↑ "Chile: Virtual Jewish History tour". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-06-18. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  8. 1 2 "International Resources for Latter-day Saints". Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  9. ↑ "Country information: Chile". 28 January 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  10. ↑ Martinich, Matt. "Discontinued Stakes Worldwide". Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "LDS News - Mormon News - Official Newsroom of the Church". www.mormonnewsroom.org. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  12. ↑ "LDS Church News - A Living Record of the Restoration". LDS Church News. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  13. ↑ "Ground Broken for Temples in Chile and the U.S." Newsroom. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 17 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "President Thomas S. Monson: 'Welcome to Conference'", Deseret News, October 3, 2009, retrieved 2012-11-06 .
  15. ↑ Talor, Scott (October 4, 2009), "Brigham City among five new locales for LDS temples", Deseret News, retrieved 2012-11-06 .

References

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