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<\/a>(LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The annual number of converts continues to drop, as it has been pretty consistently dropping for quite some time.<\/p>\n
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The figure announced at Conference yesterday was 240,131, which, I\u2019m told, was the lowest since 1987 \u2014 thirty years ago \u2014 when there were\u00a0227,284 convert baptisms.<\/p>\n
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In 1987, we had\u00a06,440,000 members on the records of the Church. \u00a0Today, we\u2019re nearing 16,000,000.<\/p>\n
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In 1987, we had\u00a034,750 missionaries. \u00a0Today, we have twice that. \u00a0And, given small family sizes, missionary numbers have been sinking a bit.<\/p>\n
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Needless, to say, some critics of the Church are absolutely giddy with joy at those numbers.<\/p>\n
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Many are attributing the statistical drops to the internet, to increased knowledge about supposedly\u00a0sordid and\/or damaging truths regarding Joseph Smith and Church origins, and so forth. \u00a0Some anticipate the absolute decline and maybe even the eventual disappearance<\/em> of Mormonism<\/a>, and they\u2019re making little effort to conceal their enthusiasm at the thought.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m confident that their, umm, optimism is misplaced, and that their proposed causes are, at most, of secondary importance. \u00a0I\u2019m sure that too many members have been adversely affected by online criticisms of the Church (mostly of the secular kind, not of the Evangelical variety that we\u2019ve known for virtually the entire history of the Church), of course, but I don\u2019t think that such criticisms begin to account for the numbers. \u00a0I\u2019m not convinced that the issue is entirely, or even largely, Mormon-specific.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There is definitely something significant going on, and there\u2019s no room for Latter-day Saint complacency on this matter.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The fact is that religious disaffiliation is increasingly common in the West. \u00a0(Much has been written, for example, about the dramatic recent rise of the religious \u201cNones\u201d \u2014 not, and this is significant, necessarily atheists, but disconnected from religious communities.) \u00a0It\u2019s not peculiar to Mormonism. \u00a0In fact, we may be weathering the storm rather better than many groups. \u00a0Our youth-retention figures remain relatively good, but they\u2019re not as good as they once were. \u00a0And it\u2019s not only religious<\/em> disaffiliation. \u00a0More than a few observers have noted a general<\/em> decline in voluntary associations \u2014 very much including marriage and the family.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Whether this is permanent or cyclical isn\u2019t (and, for a very long time, won\u2019t be) clear. \u00a0Whether anything can be done about it or not isn\u2019t apparent.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been thinking, for some time now, of beginning a very serious and systematic consideration of the issue. \u00a0(My oft-expressed interest in Rod Dreher\u2019s Benedict Option<\/em><\/a> emerges from my broader concern here.) \u00a0I won\u2019t have much time, especially in the near term, to devote to it, but I\u2019m finally about to get started on it. \u00a0Here\u2019s a vague sketch of what I have in mind:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There are several books and other items that I want to consult, study, and comment upon, that I think will be relevant to the issue. \u00a0These include such items as Robert Bellah\u2019s famous\u00a0Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>and Robert Putnam\u2019s equally famous\u00a0Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0Perhaps I\u2019ll even go back to David Riesman\u2019s classic The Lonely Crowd<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A very good resource specifically for Latter-day Saints is LDS Church Growth<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I also, though, want to look at certain people like Timothy Keller<\/a>, who\u2019ve been very successful, it seems, in \u2014 to use a term that\u2019s popular with Evangelicals \u2014 \u201cplanting\u201d vibrant and quite orthodox churches in deeply\u00a0secular areas like Manhattan and western Europe, reaching people who\u2019ve often seemed unreachable but who plainly aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m also interested in following up on interesting thinkers like Mary Eberstadt, whose work seems relevant<\/a>. \u00a0Perhaps also the late Robert Nisbet<\/a> and the badly-missed\u00a0Christopher Lasch<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I would appreciate recommendations for additional reading or consideration, and I would appreciate serious<\/em> conversation with others \u2014 particularly with faithful<\/em> others, and certainly with civil and respectful others \u2014 who are interested in the topic or who would be interested in such a conversation. \u00a0It can\u2019t be very intense or time-consuming. \u00a0I have too many other obligations. \u00a0But I\u2019m resolving that I\u2019ll give the matter sustained attention.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m not quite sure how (or whether) to structure this. \u00a0Perhaps, if somebody competent in such things is willing, it might even be advisable to set up a special online place for ongoing discussion.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n My interest isn\u2019t purely \u2014 nor even largely \u2014 theoretical. \u00a0The social and religious landscape around us is changing, and I think we need to adapt. \u00a0Our message is a rich and magnificent one, deeply meaningful, profoundly comforting, and \u2014 here\u2019s the really<\/em> good part \u2014 true. \u00a0But\u00a0\u201chow shall we sing the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u2018s song in a strange land?\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n My initial response to the falling numbers is pretty much what every other Latter-day Saint\u2019s would be: \u00a0We need to send out more and better prepared missionaries. \u00a0We need to contribute to the missionary fund. \u00a0But the effectiveness of our missionaries, in terms of converts-per-missionary, has fallen dramatically over the past decade or two. \u00a0Why? \u00a0What can we do to improve? \u00a0How can ordinary members help?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I believe very strongly, of course, in the counsel of the Brethren to share testimonies on the Web. \u00a0That\u2019s a principal reason for the existence of this blog and of Mormon Scholars Testify<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0I believe that we can and should do much better in this regard. \u00a0It\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019m pushing the Church\u2019s 2017 Easter Initiative<\/a>. \u00a0Every member really should be a missionary.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I want, though, to discuss the changing nature of the challenge faced by\u00a0our efforts to preach the Gospel and build the Kingdom. \u00a0I hope to have a conversation, with various books and authors and perhaps with some of you, about ways to arrest and even reverse the unfortunate statistical trend. \u00a0Perhaps \u2014 here\u2019s one of my questions \u2014 there are things that Latter-day Saint writers (and even artists and composers and others) should be doing to express our faith, to tell our story, in new ways that might appeal to people for whom our current approaches don\u2019t work, and to whom our current image might be off-putting. \u00a0The Gospel is radical<\/em> in the best sense of that word. \u00a0Are we radical enough in our explanations, our teaching, of it?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 The annual number of converts continues to drop, as it has been pretty consistently dropping for quite some time. \u00a0 The figure announced at Conference yesterday was 240,131, which, I\u2019m told, was the lowest since 1987 \u2014 thirty years ago \u2014 when there were\u00a0227,284 convert baptisms. \u00a0 In 1987, we had\u00a06,440,000 members on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n