A district of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church) is a geographical administrative unit composed of a number of congregations called

branches A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually r ...

. A district is a subdivision of a

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

of the church and in many ways is analogous to a stake of the church."District"
''

Church News The ''Church News'' (or ''LDS Church News'') is a weekly tabloid-sized supplement to the ''Deseret News'' and the ''MormonTimes'', a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is t ...

'', 2021. Retrieved on 3 April 2021. The leader of a district is the

mission president Mission president is a priesthood leadership position in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). A mission president presides over a geographic area known as a mission and the missionaries serving in the mission. Depending o ...

, who selects a local district president as his agent. The district president may choose two men to assist him; the three together form the district presidency. The three members of the district presidency are given the

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It ...

title "President". Districts are usually established where the church is new or where there are insufficient numbers of church members to organize a stake. Prior to the late 1920s, districts were known as conferences. A district may be thought of as a stake in a beginning or embryonic state.

Notable differences between districts and stakes

A district has a function analogous to a stake, but is organized where there are too few members to organize a stake. Its relationship to a stake is similar to the relationship between a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

and a

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...

. Once the membership in a district achieves sufficient numbers, it may be reorganized as a stake. Districts differ from stakes in the following ways: *A district does not have its own

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

. Members are assigned to the nearest stake patriarch. *Districts do not have a high priests quorum. The high priests quorum is a stake organization. Men residing in a district may not be ordained to the priesthood office of high priest. *Districts are composed of branches only and cannot have wards, regardless of the size of the branches. *The presiding authority in a district is the

; members of the mission presidency conduct

temple recommend In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord. Temples are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually ...

patriarchal blessing In the Latter Day Saint movement, a patriarchal blessing (also called an evangelist's blessing) is an ordinance administered by the laying on of hands, with accompanying words of promise, counsel, and lifelong guidance intended solely for the rec ...

Melchizedek priesthood The priesthood of Melchizedek is a role in Abrahamic religions, modelled on Melchizedek, combining the dual position of king and priest. Hebrew Bible Melchizedek is a king and priest appearing in the Book of Genesis. The name means "King of Rig ...

ordination, and missionary qualification interviews, not members of the district presidency. *The district presidency serves as a representative of the mission presidency since many missions have multiple districts and the mission presidency may live a great distance from the district itself. *In many very small and remote districts, some male missionaries serve as branch presidents or in other leadership positions at the local and district levels. Such arrangements may also be made in branches of stakes, but it is more common in districts.

Minimum requirements and creation

There is no minimum number of members or branches needed to create a district. A

can propose the creation of a district by lodging an application to the

First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...

and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Conversion to a stake

For a district to become a stake, the following requirements must be met: *a minimum number of members. In the United States and Canada, the number is 3000. Outside of the United States and Canada, the number is 1900. *at least five congregations which can function as wards. Each ward requires at least 15 active, full-

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

-paying

holders. Wards should have at least 300 members in the United States and Canada; elsewhere, they must have at least 150 members. *an additional 24 active, full-

-paying

holders in the stake boundaries.

Temple district

The LDS Church also uses a geographical division called a temple district. A temple district is a geographical area that is assigned to a church

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

. Members residing in a temple district are asked to attend the temple that defines the district. Members may attend any of the church's temples, but temple districts are designed to help members determine what temple is closest to where they reside. A temple district is defined by a list of stakes and districts.

References

Additional reading