{"id":42788,"date":"2017-06-12T12:09:28","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T18:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=42788"},"modified":"2017-06-12T12:09:28","modified_gmt":"2017-06-12T18:09:28","slug":"mormon-growth-rate-falls-lowest-level-80-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/06\/mormon-growth-rate-falls-lowest-level-80-years.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Mormon growth rate falls to lowest level in 80 years&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6234\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6234\" style=\"width: 596px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2013\/09\/bern-mormon-temple13.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6234\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6234\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2013\/09\/bern-mormon-temple13.jpg\" alt=\"Der Mormonentemple in Zollikofen\" width=\"596\" height=\"447\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6234\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The LDS Temple in Zollikofen, near Bern, Switzerland, was the first in continental Europe<br>(LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sltrib.com\/home\/5381411-155\/mormon-growth-rate-falls-to-lowest\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cMormon growth rate falls to lowest level in 80 years, but ups and downs vary by region\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not at all clear, though, that the drop in growth rate is peculiar to Latter-day Saints. \u00a0Others are also experiencing a slowdown:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/news\/2017\/june\/southern-baptist-convention-churches-baptisms-sbc-acp.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cHundreds of New Churches Not Enough to Satisfy Southern Baptists:\u00a0Baptisms are at a 70-year low, while Sunday worshipers are at a 20-year low\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There are, no doubt, many factors involved.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And, on one centrally important level, it\u2019s plainly unfortunate.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s also possible to see this as an interesting challenge. \u00a0That\u2019s how I view it. \u00a0What can we do to improve our messaging and our reach? \u00a0How should we change our approach in order to speak to\u00a0new sensibilities? \u00a0Active, committed members of the Church should be thinking about this. \u00a0What can we as individuals do? \u00a0We now have easy access, unthinkable a generation ago, to means of communication that we can use in all sorts of creative ways in order to share, among other things, our testimonies and the message of the Restoration. \u00a0There\u2019s almost no limit to what we can do, if we\u2019re creative.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"p26\" class=\"verse\" data-aid=\"128369018\">\u201cFor behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is\u00a0compelled\u00a0in all things, the same is a\u00a0slothful\u00a0and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.<\/p>\n<p id=\"p27\" class=\"verse\" data-aid=\"128369019\"><span class=\"verse-number verse\">\u201c<\/span>Verily I say, men should be\u00a0anxiously engaged\u00a0in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;<\/p>\n<p id=\"p28\" class=\"verse\" data-aid=\"128369020\"><span class=\"verse-number verse\">\u201c<\/span>For the power is in them, wherein they are\u00a0agents\u00a0unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their\u00a0reward.\u201d \u00a0(Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-28)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Posted from Grindelwald, Switzerland<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"p26\" class=\"verse\" data-aid=\"128369018\">\n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cMormon growth rate falls to lowest level in 80 years, but ups and downs vary by region\u201d \u00a0 It\u2019s not at all clear, though, that the drop in growth rate is peculiar to Latter-day Saints. \u00a0Others are also experiencing a slowdown: \u00a0 \u201cHundreds of New Churches Not Enough to Satisfy Southern Baptists:\u00a0Baptisms are [&hellip;]<\/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-42788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Mormon growth rate falls to lowest level in 80 years&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&nbsp; 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