Size, Makeup of Congregations Changing

The Mormon population in the San Fernando Valley--estimated to be about 20,000--has leveled off even as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown strongly in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys and elsewhere in Southern California, church officials say.

An 8% decline in the Anglo Mormon population in the San Fernando Valley over the past decade has been offset by the increase in minority church members, according to Jack Adams of Chatsworth, a multiregional public affairs director.

If it is a case of “white flight” from the Valley, that motive has not been expressed by church members, Adams said. Rather, he said he believes that many Mormons have moved for economic and educational reasons.

“Mormons usually want to be property owners, so they are looking to the outlying areas where they can buy a more affordable house,” he said. “Schools are definitely a concern that has been expressed to me; those who have moved to Thousand Oaks have told me their kids will get a better education there.”

The non-Anglo Mormon growth in the San Fernando Valley was illustrated recently in Van Nuys, where two Latino wards--congregations that have grown to at least 800 members each--were split into four, Adams said. The West Valley has a predominantly Korean-American ward.

In the Mormon ecclesiastical structure, the wards are organized under administrative centers called stakes, a term derived from tent pegs mentioned in the biblical Book of Isaiah. When a stake in California increases to 5,000 members in 15 wards, church leaders spin off a new stake.

Besides the addition this month of a second stake in the Santa Clarita Valley, where 5,100 Mormons live, a third stake was created in May in the Antelope Valley, which has about 9,200 members, said Keith Atkinson, church public affairs director for California.