The Church Hemorrhaging Members? Not In Missoula!

[Nathair/|\]

From time to time, I hear rumors that the Church is hemorrhaging members.  Well, it was announced today in sacrament meeting that we are getting a fifth ward here in Missoula shortly and that the bretheren want us to qualify to break ground on a temple within four years.  

 

Yours under the steadily growing oaks,

Nathair /|\

[MorningStar]

Wonderful news!

[bluebell]

Awesome!

[Kenngo1969]

Will the last person to leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints please turn out the lights?

[Duncan]

That's awesome!!!! our ward mission plan was to increase our ward by 20% and we did that so I told the Bishop all the missionaries can go home and I can get released!!

[BCSpace]

Well done.  I was in the Missoula 4th ward long ago.  The Stake had just started the Clinton branch when I left.

[ERMD]

^{Our small town in Texas has 3 wards.  We had 47 youth at mutual on Wednesday.  This is in a town of about 12,000; 5 mile radius about 25,000.}

[ERayR]

To paraphrase Mark Twain The rumors of my the churches death have been greatly exaggerated.

[thesometimesaint]

We are hemorrhaging members so fast that we have to establish two new Chapels every day.

[Buzzard]

You have to remember that many members who decide to become ex members feel the need to inform the world via blog, website, facebook, or other highly visible means, including a detailed list of grievances. Many (most?) who decide to join the church do so quietly, happy to share their decision with friends and family. Maybe a facebook posting if a lot of their friends are LDS. 

Amazing to watch the church shrink, all the while adding chapels, temples, missions, and more.

[sdc999]

The church is not hemorrhaging people but on the other hand, the church's growth is far from amazing.  2 new chapels every day at an estimated 150 per chapel is 300x365 or 109,500 members. That is .0078 percent growth.

2 new chapels a day is more of a reflection of movement amongst members from one geographic area to another.

[thesometimesaint]

We're adding about 300,000 members per year.

[AndyDnom]

how does anyone know the real member count? There is so much that is not released. Who is resigning, are they counted, etc.

[omni]

We're adding about 300,000 members per year.

What is the "real growth", or in other words the increase in active members?

[why me]

The only ones claiming the lds are losing members are the exmormons and the critics of the lds church. But I have always found this to be a wish more than a fact. A wish because they wish to believe that more are following them out...as a way to justify their own decisions. But perhaps they need to do a reality check and see that a crisis may not exist.

[ERMD]

The church is not hemorrhaging people but on the other hand, the church's growth is far from amazing.  2 new chapels every day at an estimated 150 per chapel is 300x365 or 109,500 members. That is .0078 percent growth.

2 new chapels a day is more of a reflection of movement amongst members from one geographic area to another.

You can easily double (at least) your number of members per chapel.  Our chapel serves 3 wards, each with close to 400 members.

[sdc999]

You can easily double (at least) your number of members per chapel.  Our chapel serves 3 wards, each with close to 400 members.

In your particular scenario, building a new chapel would be the result of needing more room, not the need to accomodate 400 'new' members.  Wards usually grow over time.  Just a question to justify my answer though.  How many baptisms of new members were there in each ward.over the last year?  I know our local ward here had 3 maybe 4.  My friend wasn't positive but said that was a generous guess.  Move-ins were a different story.  There were 3 families that accounted for 14 alone along with several couples. 

[ERayR]

You can easily double (at least) your number of members per chapel.  Our chapel serves 3 wards, each with close to 400 members.

 

Ours is 3 wards and a branch with each ward at 400 or more per ward.

 

In your particular scenario, building a new chapel would be the result of needing more room, not the need to accomodate 400 'new' members.  Wards usually grow over time.  Just a question to justify my answer though.  How many baptisms of new members were there in each ward.over the last year?  I know our local ward here had 3 maybe 4.  My friend wasn't positive but said that was a generous guess.  Move-ins were a different story.  There were 3 families that accounted for 14 alone along with several couples. 

 

Our ward is at 6 or 7 so far this year with 2 or 3 more scheduled at this time and a teaching pool of over a dozen.  Not bad for one of 3 wards in a small town of less than 4,000.

[ERayR]

Ours is 3 wards and a branch with each ward at 400 or more per ward.

 

 

Our ward is at 6 or 7 so far this year with 2 or 3 more scheduled at this time and a teaching pool of over a dozen.  Not bad for one of 3 wards in a small town of less than 4,000.

 

The needed room is to accommodate new members.  Not 400 all at once but surely you can see that the expectation and impetus for a new building is that it will utilized to its capacity.

[sdc999]

Ours is 3 wards and a branch with each ward at 400 or more per ward.

 

 

Our ward is at 6 or 7 so far this year with 2 or 3 more scheduled at this time and a teaching pool of over a dozen.  Not bad for one of 3 wards in a small town of less than 4,000.

You are definately not the typical ward nor town.   A town with 25% mormon population is where?  But it does sound like you have the program working.

[ERayR]

You are definately not the typical ward nor town.   A town with 25% mormon population is where?  But it does sound like you have the program working.

 

Southern Idaho.

 

And a confession and clarification.  We are at about 45% - 52% active. 

[sdc999]

The needed room is to accommodate new members.  Not 400 all at once but surely you can see that the expectation and impetus for a new building is that it will utilized to its capacity.

I surely can see.  But, again, I agree that the church is gaining members, albeit at a minute percentage.  Given your number, if you close the deal with the last 2 or 3 that would be 10 batisms this year.  In about 5 years, that may equal a branch, in 10, maybe a ward.  I will stick with geographic relocation of current members as the primary  drive in building new chapels.

[ERayR]

I surely can see.  But, again, I agree that the church is gaining members, albeit at a minute percentage.  Given your number, if you close the deal with the last 2 or 3 that would be 10 batisms this year.  In about 5 years, that may equal a branch, in 10, maybe a ward.  I will stick with geographic relocation of current members as the primary  drive in building new chapels.

 

I did not say we are looking to build a new chapel.  Your calculations about numbers takes in only one ward out of three.  Add in the other two wards and give them credit for a third less baptisms    I really don't know their numbers.  That would add up to a new ward about every six years.

[sdc999]

I did not say we are looking to build a new chapel.  Your calculations about numbers takes in only one ward out of three.  Add in the other two wards and give them credit for a third less baptisms    I really don't know their numbers.  That would add up to a new ward about every six years.

you are correct in that I did not accout for the other two.  And, I'm sorry, my new chapel comment was more in the direction of thesometimessaint's comment about 2 a day. 

[ERayR]

you are correct in that I did not accout for the other two.  And, I'm sorry, my new chapel comment was more in the direction of thesometimessaint's comment about 2 a day. 

 

 

The two a day is world wide.  A few members per congregation X over 29,000 congregations does add up.

Edited September 23, 2013 by ERayR