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Growth Into a Worldwide Church

The gospel of Jesus Christ is intended to less all the peoples of the earth. Hence worldwide growth, especially beginning with David O. McKay's administration, was essential to the Church's fulfilling its mission and was also the fulfillment of prophecy. The Old Testament prophet Daniel declared that in the latter days the Lord would set up a kingdom which would fill the earth (read Dan. 2:26-45, esp. verse 44; compare D&C section 65).

One of the clearest and most forceful expositions of the Church's worldwide responsibilities would be set forth in 1974 by President Spencer W. Kimball.

It seems to me that the Lord chose his words when he said [the gospel must go to] "every nation," "every land," "uttermost bounds of the earth," "every tongue," "every people," "every soul," "all the world," "many lands." Surely there is significance in these words! A universal command! My brethren, I wonder if we are doing all we can. Are we complacent in our approach to teaching all the world?...

I believe the Lord can do anything he sets his mind to do. But I can see no good reason why the Lord would open doors that we are not prepared to enter. Why should he break down the Iron Curtain or the Bamboo Curtain or any other curtain if we are still unprepared to enter? I believe we have men who

Rate of Growth Per Decade

could help the apostles to open these doors-statesmen, able and trustworthy-but, when we are ready for them. 1

Following visits to the Far East and Latin America, President Kimball declared that he "seemed to envision a great movement when there would Be thousands of local men prepared and anxious and strong to go abroad... in great numbers qualifying themselves for missionary service within their own country and then finally in other lands until the army of the Lord's missionaries would cover the earth as the waters cover the mighty deep."

If the Church is to fulfill its mission, it must not only be numerically strong, But its membership must Be geographically distributed around the world. The accompanying graphs illustrate the extent to which these requirements are being met. Notice how the Church's rate of growth is increasing; this is in marked contrast to the usual pattern by which the rate of increase drops off as an organization grows larger. Notice also how the Church's members are increasingly widely distributed. This is clue to increased missionary success throughout the world and to Church leaders' urging the Saints to remain in their own lands and to Build up the kingdom there.

Patterns of Growth

Latter-day Saint growth began in some lands much earlier than in others. By the 1850s missionaries had established lasting footholds in many of the countries of western Europe and in the Pacific. Because large numbers of converts emigrated to America, however, the rate of growth in these areas was not as great as it might otherwise have been. Most Church members were gathering in the Intermountain area of the western United States. The last quarter of the nineteenth century, however, witnessed missions opening or reopening in other parts of North America, in Mexico, and in other parts of the South Pacific.