The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) announced the restructuring of many of its geographical boundaries in the Kane County area on Sunday, September 16. The restructuring shifted the lines of wards - the smallest geographical divisions of the church - in Kanab, Fredonia and up the Long Valley significantly, along with renaming most of the wards in the area, which is currently divided into two church “stakes,” the next level of organization up from wards: the Kanab Stake and the Kaibab Stake.
Left to right, images courtesy of Colt Henderson:
The overall map of the new boundaries, shifting some lines almost twenty years old.
Current boundaries.
New boundaries.
Local church leadership states the goals of the restructure are, “To strengthen wards with low membership; adjust to existing and increasing growth in the area; and to abide by recent updates and guidance from greater church policy.” The current arrangement of the twenty wards in the area is over fifteen years old at this point, and according to Kaibab Stake President Colt Henderson, “The demographics have shifted a bit; the young families are moving out east or into new subdivisions, and the previous dense population core of the area is aging out - some of the wards that were heavily populated fifteen, twenty years ago are now some of the ones that are low on membership and participation.”
At the meeting where the declaration of change was made, Kanab Stake President Mace Glazier stated, “It’s been six or seven months we’ve been considering this.” Glazier acknowledged the historical reluctance of this area’s LDS population to divide, citing one of the earliest divisions in the local church’s history: when the church split one ward into two in 1936. The ward at the time consisted of 1,100 people, where today’s standards have most wards hovering between two and five hundred.
According to leadership, the ward subject to most significant change was the Kanab 7th Ward, now called the Red Shadow Ward after one of the primary roads through the area, as the residences near the former Kanab Golf Course were transferred into the new K-Hill Ward. Most other wards in the region had a handful of members shifted or a simple name change with minimal border shifts.
The name changes were as follows:
• Alton: Alton Fields
• Glendale: Glendale Bench
• Orderville First: Red Hollow
• Orderville Second: Sugar Knoll
• Kanab Third: Cliffs Trail
• Kanab Fourth: Willow Spring
• Kanab Fifth: K-Hill Ward
• Kanab First: Ranchos
• Kanab Second: Cottonwood
• Kanab Sixth: Kanab Creek
• Kanab Seventh: Red Shadow
• Kanab Ninth Branch: Kanab Branch (Correctional Facility)
• Johnson Canyon: no change
• Fredonia: no change
• Kaibab: no change
When the changes were brought before a congregation of church membership, they were proposed from the pulpit with ratification or objection performed in the traditional church manner of the raising of the right hand: no objections were raised from the members of either stake, so the ratification, referred to by church policy as “sustaining,” was unanimous. Both stake presidents stated their willingness to sit down and discuss the topic with members of the congregation.
As the meeting concluded, and in statements afterward, the respective stake presidents each expressed a similar sentiment. Said Glazier, “It’s important not to see this as ‘they were in their ward, and now they’re in our ward, like they’re newcomers, we’re all in this together.”
“We’ve just got to remember there’s room for everyone. There’s space for everybody here … growth is coming, but being accepting of change, of people, of cultures, that’s what’s important, “ Henderson added.
