Identify Impact on Meetinghouses

To support priesthood efforts to strengthen members and build up the Church, the DTA staff reviews attendance and unit projections and identifies possible meetinghouse solutions that will meet needs for the long term. As outlined in “Principles and Guidelines for Providing Meetinghouses,” master planning principles are applied to all situations where meeting space is needed, whether working with a coordinating council, a group of stakes, or individual stakes.

These master planning principles include:

• Creating accurate future unit forecasts.

• Placing meetinghouses in locations where they can be used by many members, now and in the future.

• If possible, using meetinghouses to their designed capacities.

• Using the most appropriate option that adequately addresses new meetinghouse needs.

Priesthood leaders should consider the following when determining how many wards occupy a meetinghouse:

• Sunday meeting schedules should begin at a reasonable time and end by midafternoon to enable all families to study the gospel at home.

• Members live within an appropriate travel time to the meetinghouse.

• Adjustments to the meetinghouse, if needed, should be minor and low-cost.

The DTA and staff make recommendations regarding options for providing sufficient and appropriate places of worship. These options may include homes, leases, or constructed meetinghouses. The DTA staff strives to find ways to optimize the use of Church resources, independent of stake boundaries.

Under the direction of the Area Seventy, the DTA and his staff present meetinghouse recommendations to the priesthood leaders, work unitedly with them to resolve concerns, and create a final meetinghouse proposal to be included in the master plan.