Young Single Adults, Leaders See Benefits of Reorganization

In an effort to improve the experience of single Church members ages 18 to 30, the Church is reorganizing young single adult wards and stakes throughout Utah.

YSA wards have been realigned geographically and included in newly formed YSA stakes. Student wards have been discontinued. Some 40,000 young single adults have been affected by the change.

Young single adults may choose to attend the YSA ward or the conventional ward in which they live.

“This age group tends to drift a little bit, to different units, different wards,” said Elder Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy. “We hope [the change] will provide enhanced opportunities for them to serve in leadership positions, to teach, and to lead. … We hope it enhances their opportunities to meet other people and to do meaningful service, and we want to deliver these opportunities in their geographic area.”

Young single adults and their leaders in areas where the change has taken place are already experiencing a difference.

Wess R. Greene, president of the Logan Utah YSA Fourth Stake, said the change has created a feeling of belonging. “In regards to what President Monson has said about rescuing the one, it has really facilitated that process,” he said.

The transition began in Ogden in April 2010, and stakes in Logan, Cedar City, St. George, and Ephraim have also made the change. Utah’s Salt Lake, Davis, and Utah Counties will have made the change by this month. At this time, there are no plans to extend the changes into other areas.