thumb|right|a typical meetinghouse that serves local ward congregations in the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints (lds church), a ward is the larger of two types of local congregations (the smaller being a branch). a ward is presided over by a bishop, the equivalent of a pastor in many other christian denominations. as with all church leadership, the bishop is considered lay clergy and as such is not paid. two counselors serve with the bishop to help with administrative and spiritual duties of the ward and to preside in the absence of the bishop. together, these three men constitute the bishopric. a branch is presided over by a branch president who may or may not have one or two counselors, depending on the size of the branch. == historical origin == the term ward originally referred to the political subdivision of some of the municipalities in the mid-western united states where members of the lds church resided, and in particular the political organization of nauvoo, illinois in the 1840s. bishops were assigned duties and responsibility over specific ward boundaries in these cities, and over time individual congregations were defined by these boundaries. after the mormon exodus to utah, this same terminology was preserved in the establishment of communities throughout the western usa. voting districts of several utah communities still follow the historical boundaries of their original lds congregations. due to the religious connection of this term, traditional mormon pioneer communities generally do not use the term ward to define voting districts for political purposes. ==wards and branches== ===wards=== a ward typically consists of 25 to 500 active church members in an area within a reasonable travel time of the meetinghouse ("reasonable" will vary between countries and regions). a stake may be organized if there are at least three ward-sized branches in adjacent areas. once the stake has been organized, the ward-sized branches are organized into wards. if there are not sufficient congregations in an area to form a stake, a district (analogous to but smaller than a stake) is formed to oversee local congregations. in areas where there are greater numbers of active church members (such as urban and suburban areas in utah), the area of a ward can be as small as  or . when a ward grows to a certain size, the ward will be divided. generally,
Organizational_subdivisions_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints Types_of_Latter_Day_Saint_organization