However missionary work was given renewed emphasis in the 1960s. By the middle of that decade the church had over 12,000 full-time missionaries in the field. A second component of the growth strategy district division. When a ward reaches between 300 and 500 members, the word is divided. When a stake reaches between 6 and 10 wards, it is divided.
Members attend their assigned wards and their efforts draw in new members.
In the decade of the 1960s strong emphasis was given to expanding the church in overseas areas. Judging from membership figures their efforts were quite successful. The policy of church expansion in overseas areas was not always viewed positively by church officials. We are constantly creating stakes in Europe, the islands of the Pacific, and on the American continent. I wonder if we have forgotten the commandment to gather.