Area (LDS Church)

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 1.^[5]

List

The following is an alphabetical list of the areas of the church and related leadership assignments as of 1 August 2016.^[6]

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	Kevin S. Hamilton	Stanley G. Ellis	S. Mark Palmer	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	Terence M. Vinson	Marcus B. Nash	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[7]	Hong Kong, China	Randy D. Funk	Chi Hong (Sam) Wong	David F. Evans	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	Marcos A. Aidukaitis	W. Mark Bassett	Brazil	Official website (Portuguese)
Caribbean	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	Walter F. Gonzalez	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	Gary B. Sabin	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	James B. Martino	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)[8]			Idaho; Montana (small portion); Wyoming (small portion)
Mexico	Mexico City, Mexico	Paul B. Pieper	Arnulfo Valenzuela	Rafael E. Pino	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)[8]			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)[8][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)[8]			Alaska; British Columbia; California (small part of north); Oregon; Washington; Yukon.
North America Southeast	Salt Lake City, Utah	Richard J. Maynes (Presidency)[8]			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)[8]			California; Hawaii; Arizona (small portions)
Pacific	Auckland, New Zealand	O. Vincent Haleck	S. Gifford Nielsen	Craig A. Cardon	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	Shayne M. Bowen	Allen D. Haynie	Evan A. Schmutz	Philippines; Northern Mariana Islands (US)
South America Northwest	Lima, Peru	Carlos A. Godoy[8]	Enrique R. Falabella[10]	Hugo Montoya[8]	Bolivia; Colombia; Ecuador; Peru; Venezuela
South America South	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Jose A. Teixeira	Allan F. Packer	Mark A. Bragg	Argentina; Chile; Paraguay; Uruguay
Utah North	Salt Lake City, Utah	Craig C. Christensen (Presidency)[8]			Utah (northern regions); Idaho (small portion); Wyoming (southwest corner)
Utah Salt Lake City	Salt Lake City, Utah	Craig C. Christensen (Presidency)[8]			Greater Salt Lake City; Nevada (small portion)
Utah South	Salt Lake City, Utah	Craig C. Christensen (Presidency)[8]			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  • 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[11]	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 (dedication scheduled)  • 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[11]	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[11]	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  • Kansas City Missouri  • Nauvoo Illinois  • Regina Saskatchewan  • St. Louis Missouri  • St. Paul Minnesota  • Winnipeg Manitoba  • Winter Quarters Nebraska
North America Northeast[11]	407,514	24	839 congregations		Boston Massachusetts  • Columbus Ohio  • Detroit Michigan  • Halifax Nova Scotia  • Hartford Connecticut  • Indianapolis Indiana  • Manhattan New York  • Montreal Quebec  • Palmyra New York  • Philadelphia Pennsylvania  • 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 </pre>  • 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[11]	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
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

• District (LDS Church)
• List of area seventies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• List of general authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Regional representative of the Twelve
• Seventy: Area seventies and additional quorums of seventy

References

1. Allen, James B. and Glen M. Leonard. The Story of the Latter-day Saints 2nd Edition, p. 654.
2. Mehr, Kahlile (Spring 2001). "Area Supervision: Administration of the Worldwide Church, 1960-2002". Journal of Mormon History. 27 (1): 192–214.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. For several years, the assignments were effective on August 15, but August 1 has been the effective date since 2007.
6. "LDS First Presidency announces changes to area leadership assignments", Church News, 28 April 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
7. 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.
8. Morgenegg, Ryan (12 November 2015). "Changes announced for Area Presidencies". Church News.
9. 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.
10. Effective August 15, 2016. Details of this change are in this article: "South America Northwest Area leadership change".
11. Current as of mid or late 2013. Information taken from lds.org and cumorah.com.