Retention - Why Do So Many Latter-day Saints Go Inactive,

[Cumorah3]

Retention - why do so many Latter-day Saints go inactive,

and what can be done about it?

While recently serving a senior LDS mission in a foreign country, I saw as many as twelve adults baptized at a single service. Each of them bore a glowing testimony at the time. But I wonder how many of those twelve will be active members and faithful temple attenders ten years from now?

As a faithful Latter-day Saint diligently working on the "enduring" part, I acknowledge that there is a major problem with retention of members in the LDS Church.

The majority of members who go inactive (meaning no longer regularly attending sacrament meetings and/or no longer keeping the commandments and their baptismal covenants) are probably among those people who were perhaps baptized too soon by over-eager missionaries. A good seed was planted in their hearts and minds but for a variety of reasons they never really learn the fulness of the Gospel, or just can't stay away from former commandment breaking habits.

But, even more sadly from my point of view, there are some who stay in the Church a full year or more and take upon themselves sacred temple covenants, then fall away. Perhaps there are some participating on this board who are in that category.

This board of course is not a norm, but I'd be interested in hearing a few stories (keeping with board rules) about why such people fell away from the Church, what might have retained them in activity, what might bring them back, and suggestions as to what the Church might do better to retain its members in full activity longer.

Please be sure to address every one of those points when you tell your personal falling away story, and don't tell someone else's story. This is intended to be a positive constructive sincerely sharing thread, and not a bash, thanks.

The Cumorah Project has worldwide membership and retention statistics to research this subject.

http://www.cumorah.com/cgi-bin/db.cgi?Coun...ds=View+Records

Retention

While LDS activity rates in the United States are among the highest of any country in the world, less than half of members on the rolls are active. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism reports: 'Canada, the South Pacific, and the United States average between 40 percent and 50 percent [attendance at sacrament meeting].' (Source: Encyclopedia of Mormonism, edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, 1992, 4:1527.)

Marginal retention of new converts, and especially potential priesthood holders, remains a serious challenge:

'For the U.S. as a whole, only 59% of baptized males ever receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. In the South Pacific, the figure drops to 35%; in Great Britain, 29%. In Mexico (with almost 850,000 members) the figure is 19%; and in Japan, only 17% of the male members ever make it past the Aaronic Priesthood.' (source: Lowell C. Bennion and Lawrence Young, Dialogue, Spring 1996, p.19.)

[carbonation]

baptized too soon by over-eager missionaries

It is not the missionaries who are necessarily at fault for baptizing people 'too soon.' The missionaries follow the policies of Church leaders. Playing the 'numbers' game, in my view, is a sure way to create shallow-root converts who will fall over during a gusty wind.

[hagoth7]

...why such people fell away from the Church, what might have retained them in activity, what might bring them back, and suggestions as to what the Church might do better to retain its members in full activity longer.

A missionary prep class I attended taught that there were three 'conversions' important to long-term participation in the Church. Those three were listed as Social, Intellectual, and most importantly, Spiritual conversions. The class taught that people can go a decent stretch with any one or two of those, but will tend to withdraw at some point unless they eventually work through the other(s). The Church does provide a considerable amount of instruction and encouragement on each of these facets, especially the social and spiritual.

As to specific stories, those that I'm aware of are personal, and would violate a trust if posted here.

But so far, each of them align with what I was taught years ago in missionary prep.

Anyone know of any exceptions?

[BCSpace]

I think we should wait for the prospective convert to show 6 months of steady Church going, word of wisdom keeping, tithe paying, and the like before baptism.

[mnn727]

I think we should wait for the prospective convert to show 6 months of steady Church going, word of wisdom keeping, tithe paying, and the like before baptism.

At least, to me a year would be more like it, I would be in favor of the missionaries finding and teaching (with members help) but that the invitation to be baptised come from the Ward missionaries or Bishopric after a minimum of 6 months regularily attending all 3 meetings (missing a couple is ok, missing more than 4 or 5(?) shows a lack of commitment)

[thesometimesaint]

Cumorah3:

I'm not too sure that our retention rates are any worse than what any other religion is. Some stats I seen show us to be slightly better than most. Plus we keep far better track of people than any other group that I know of.

But going back to the overall questtion of how to improve our retention. I'd say having a Testamony, a Calling, and a Friend would diminish the inactivity rate to near Zero.

[BCSpace]

I think we should wait for the prospective convert to show 6 months of steady Church going, word of wisdom keeping, tithe paying, and the like before baptism.

At least, to me a year would be more like it,

I think the early Christians had their "Catechumens" wait that long.

[charity]

The Savior addressed this issue in Matthew.

Matthew 13: 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

8 But other fell into good ground, and abrought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

I think we ought to concentrate on retention, not as a matter of keeping numbers off the rolls, as delayng baptism would do, but as supporting those who do join, and trying to keep them. The Savior didn't say not to sow the seed, except it you knew it was good ground.

[erichard]

Retention - why do so many Latter-day Saints go inactive,

and what can be done about it?

...

My honest conviction is that the church must allow members ways to resolve issues they have that contradict what the leadership of the church are saying. I believe a certain number of members eventually have issues, and since there is no way to resolve the issue, they simply walk away from the church.

I believe the church needs a School of the Prophets, independent of the church leadership, to whom members can turn to when they have issues that they feel a strong need to resolve.

Richard

[freakin a man]

People go inactive for a variety of reasons. Some for health, work, unbelief, and others. For me during periods I go inactive its mainly because I am lazy. Which I suppose is a fairly common reason. What would be wrong for people to believe is inactive means someone who is doubting or has problems with the Church. It would be a mistake for anyone to assume that inactives are people who are about to fall away. That is not my experience with a number of inactives.

[Uncle Dale]

The Savior addressed this issue in Matthew....

This is very puzzling to me. I understand the causes and effects as outlined in the biblical passage.

What I do not understand are Mormon converts who testify that they have received undeniable

personal revelation that the LDS Church is true, that its President is a true prophet, etc.

And then, a year or two later those same people act as though their lives are simply a continuation

of what it was before they received that revelation from God. That seems very strange to me.

As I've related a couple of times already, I know an RLDS lady in Honolulu who testifies that

an angel appeared to her and told her she was in the one true church, etc. I'm not a betting man,

but I would wager every cent to my name that the lady will go to her grave with an unbroken

testimony. She says that it was the most wonderful, life-altering thing that ever happened to her.

That is what I meant when I said "undeniable personal revelation."

Could it be that some LDS converts' spiritual confirmation of the Book of Mormon, etc. are either

not real, or they are so dimly perceived that they are easily forgettable?

I cannot imagine ever losing my testimony -- and by that I do not mean intellectual assent to the

professions of RLDS doctrine, and such --- I mean theophany, pure and simple.

Uncle Dale

[mbh26]

I personally get tired of retention and increasing baptismal rates being such a focus of attention. I think it puts too much pressure on growing wards and drains resources unnecessarily. It pulls families apart during the few hours of the day they have together due to countless splits and meetings with the missionaries.

The other problem is that we get this culture where we'll bend over backwards if someone is inactive or a nonmember, yet we like to judge and gossip about those who are honestly trying to participate in Church and do what's right. It seems like in the search of the lost sheep, we often forget the 99. In my mission I saw people purposely go inactive so that the missionaries would pay attention to them again. Of course as missionaries we were just following orders, blind obedience just like it was drilled into us. Only later did poilcy changes allow missionaries more freedom, but that was too late for many.

Here's an idea. Let's see if our teachings do really work together for the good of the members. If this is true, if people really are blessed for living the gospel and it really does make people happy in this life, just as I was told in Church today, I would venture to say that people would come and buy, without having the gospel sold to them. The fact that we seem to have to push it so hard on people makes it seem like a lie sometimes to me.

[latterdayteancum]

Every religious organization is going to face members leaving or going "inactive" as we Latter-day Saints like to put it.

However, I do feel individual wards that I have been in could do a much better job of facilitating a more social atmosphere where members have more of an opportunity to connect and form strong relationships. The ward I am currently in has an event about once every 3 months, and thats just not enough to really accomplish having a socially close-knit ward.

In my opinion, the concept and ideal of home teaching and visiting teaching could contribute to a more socially-knit ward but the pressures and focus from local leadership in many areas on striving for 100% and magnifying our callings in the Church have ruined the program in many wards. I believe members need more instruction on how to become a friend and support someone than they do lectures about merely completing their home or visiting teaching.

Having a more socially-knit ward will help retention in my opinion. I don't think all members go inactive because of the doctrine. I think a lot of members go inactive because their is no support system in place to help them.

[KevinG]

Having been tested sorely I would have given my eye teeth not to know what I know at times. But I was never able to deny my testimony. If it were just my hide riding on it I might have, but the fate of generations of my family depend on my strength in doing what I know is right. Knowing it is right for me, and having a witness of the Holy Ghost to that effect anchors my membership in this Church. As long as Father tells me this is where I should plant my hopes then no matter how difficult or fleeting those hopes are then here is where I'll be.

[why me]

Inactivity is a church buzz word and perhaps one reason for inactivity is the use of the word itself. I know that from my own experience as an inactive, when one is inactive, one can be thought of just a little differently. It becomes a classification and leads to stratification in the lds church.

The lds church is not exactly equipped to handle so-called inactives. The church primary focus is to keep people from falling away...to keep people's testimonies intact. However, when one does fall away, the support network can disappear. Many inactives do not want to attend meetings or events to become reactivated. At times, inactives just want to feel fellowshipped and loved at such events. They want to feel included in the mix and accepted for who they are at that moment. They may want to be seen as equals. And this is rather difficult at church meetings and events.

People fall away for many reasons. The lds church is a tough church. The callings, the lifestyle can be quite daunting for many. Also, the secular world as placed more burdens on the human being and certainly, societies seem to becoming more spiritually godless as the material god begins to run rampant in our lives. The pressure from the outside affects people from the inside and hence, people fall away. The reasons can be also psychological. So called inactives think themselves away from the church because they can't live up to the expectation. Some may also read the internet and discover something from the anti's. The lds church needs to prepare people for the internet war and address issues that are out there so members can be better prepared for the disinformation.

There are moments when I sit in a meeting and I can't feel a part of the crowd. I am not active, and the inactives are usually home. I see no inactive fellowship or discussion sessions in the church. I would love for there to be an inactive get together so we can meet eachother and share stories. And become friends. In truth, the fellowship needs to be improved and the whole idea of actives and inactives needs to be scraped so as a church we just become can one, some more a head on the road than others but basically all are on the same road.

And lets face it...for inactives, god can be very tiring....maybe at events we should just feel the human and leave god out of the picture in a direct way. He can be there indirectly.

[Cumorah3]

Having been tested sorely I would have given my eye teeth not to know what I know at times. But I was never able to deny my testimony. If it were just my hide riding on it I might have, but the fate of generations of my family depend on my strength in doing what I know is right. Knowing it is right for me, and having a witness of the Holy Ghost to that effect anchors my membership in this Church. As long as Father tells me this is where I should plant my hopes then no matter how difficult or fleeting those hopes are then here is where I'll be.

Several hundred years ago, one of my patriarchal ancestors was one of six white men and I suppose a few hundred Indian allies in a fort close to where Montreal Canada stands today. An army of enemies was advancing on that fort, determined to kill everyone in it.

If my ancestor had not survived that battle and married and raised children as he did, I would not be writing this, and you would not be reading it.

To those who believe, the stakes are incredibly high. Not only, as you say, your own physical descendents are depending on your faithfulness in this time of trial and testing, but also potentially worlds without number populated by your own spirit children are waiting breathlessly for you to remain at least as faithful as you were in the pre-existent life you knew only a few decades of earth years ago.

How swift and fleeting are these earth years, and how vitally important to so many are the choices each of us make day by day...

[why me]

This is very puzzling to me. I understand the causes and effects as outlined in the biblical passage.

What I do not understand are Mormon converts who testify that they have received undeniable

personal revelation that the LDS Church is true, that its President is a true prophet, etc.

And then, a year or two later those same people act as though their lives are simply a continuation

of what it was before they received that revelation from God. That seems very strange to me.

Uncle Dale

Well, Uncle Dale since I am one of those people it shouldn't feel so strange.

I received a witness but my mind fell away many years ago when I was 19 and it never really came back. It happens. But I cannot deny the witness. This is why I am so keen on the human angle of the stories of the early church members. I try to see the human in these people. The mind is complex and filled with complications. I can understand the members like the whitmers or cowdery. It matterth not what one as received, but the mind matterth and so does one's life experience. Plus we need to include depressions, anxiety, fear, and a whole host of other human entanglements that can come and go in one's life. And life itself is in the lived experiences and how the mind interacts with these experiences.

Life is not a simple process.

[Uncle Dale]

Well, Uncle Dale since I am one of those people it shouldn't feel so strange.

I received a witness but my mind fell away many years ago when I was 19 and it never really came back. It happens. But I cannot deny the witness. This is why I am so keen on the human angle of the stories of the early church members. I try to see the human in these people. The mind is complex and filled with complications. I can understand the members like the whitmers or cowdery. It matterth not what one as received, but the mind matterth and so does one's life experience. Plus we need to include depressions, anxiety, fear, and a whole host of other human entanglements that can come and go in one's life. And life itself is in the lived experiences and how the mind interacts with these experiences.

Life is not a simple process.

I'm sure that all you say is true, charity.

These days I am in a situation of progressive physical and mental decline. I have seen a couple of people

who are more evolved in the disease than I am, and they no longer even know their own names.

So, I realize that there are emotional and mental challenges which can injure our memory or our sense

of personal perspective. I too have seen such things happen.

But so far, at least, I have never witnessed a born-again convert to the Gosepl of Jesus deny that great

change of heart and change of direction in life. I would be saddened, to happen upon a Peter, who denied

the Lord three times before the morning came. But I know some people (even Apostles) fear death or

pain so much that they will deny even their own mother to remain unharmed.

My only suggestion for your church's missionaries is for them to go slowly and to experience their own

spiritual confirmations of a new baptismal candidate's born-again life change, before administering the

ordinance.

As for yourself, I believe that converts to Latter Day Saintism are sometimes stronger in their faith than

even those who come from seven generations in the covenant. Your testimony speaks for itself.

UD

[charity]

Why me, you have impressed me as a unique individual, very humble and absolutely honest. (I really do admire no, no joking. ) I don't think other people who would fall into the category "inactive" would be as humble and honest. If there was an "Inactives Fellowship Group" and all the inactives in your ward were invited, and you went, I think you would be the only person there. (Well, except for the activity committee chairman and the ward mission leader. ) No one wants to think of themselves as inactive.

Uncle Dale, I can't understand how a person can lose the testimony or the memory of that spiritual witness, from my own experience. But I can understand it from a psychological standpoint. As humans, we can explain almost anything away, if we do not keep our memories bright and alive. After a while, if there are reasons to persuade us in a different direction, we start to rationalize away what doesn't fit. We talk in church about keeping our testimonies alive. We talk about doing this through attending sacrament meeting, fulfilling callings, serving. And we say, if you don't feed the body, you starve. If you don't feed your testimony, it will weakend and die.

[Cumorah3]

These days I am in a situation of progressive physical and mental decline. I have seen a couple of people

who are more evolved in the disease than I am, and they no longer even know their own names.

I'm sorry to hear that. Nobody would have guessed from your consistently wise expressions on this message board.

May I suggest that you print off all your messages. Generations to come will be interested in what Uncle Dale had to say.

All the best...

[hondo]

In our stake distance can be a major block to activity. We have four buildings in the city and only one has a lot of the ward within a very short distance. The otherbuildings people need to take a bus for up to an hour or get a ride. My parents visited a lady who lived on the edge of the ward boundaries, poor financially and they did not think she was very interested at least now. But the practical part of that is she would have to spend money for bus fare for her and her kids there and back and thats over five bucks just for sunday services. What about other meetings? I know members in that ward try to give as many rides as they can and ith gas prices what they are its too much money and people don't want to burden others. I do not think their are easy answers. If people's hearts are in it they will do anything.

[Uncle Dale]

I'm sorry to hear that. Nobody would have guessed from your consistently wise expressions on this message board.

May I suggest that you print off all your messages. Generations to come will be interested in what Uncle Dale had to say.

All the best...

An interesting idea -- but the fellow I admire most in life never published anything and did all of his

known writing as scribbling in the sand.

My purpose is not to be remembered for what I may have said, but rather to stimulate thought and

discovery (even among those who may have long forgotten what my name was).

Uncle "Mama always said life was like a box a chocolates -- never know what you're gonna get" Dale

[Tsuzuki]

An interesting idea -- but the fellow I admire most in life never published anything and did all of his

known writing as scribbling in the sand.

By posting on this message board you are already published. It's now just a matter of archival, which anyone can do.

[Uncle Dale]

By posting on this message board you are already published.

It's now just a matter of archival, which anyone can do.

And, Grasshopper, the same may be said of your words.

Caine: Is it good to seek the past, Master Po?

Does it not rob the present?

Master Po: If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present.

But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future.

The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.

UD

[ION MIC]

Cumorah3:

I'm not too sure that our retention rates are any worse than what any other religion is. Some stats I seen show us to be slightly better than most. Plus we keep far better track of people than any other group that I know of.

But going back to the overall questtion of how to improve our retention. I'd say having a Testamony, a Calling, and a Friend would diminish the inactivity rate to near Zero.

As a new convert I beg to differ on the calling part. If you remember the prophet reccomended 3 things - A Calling, A Friend and a responsibility. Note that when the prophet gave this advice he chose the word responsibility rather than calling. I believe this was intentional as many new members simply aren't ready to hold down callings. Becoming LDS is a huge change and I have seen far too many new members take 6 discussions get baptised then thrown straight into a calling that ultimately leads to them leaving church because they never understood the time committments it takes to be LDS. I think the best thing for new converts is simple things like Home/Visiting teaching that allows them to build bonds with their companion and the families they visit.