Increases in Baptisms, Missionary Applications, Numbers

[smac97]

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2023/6/28/23774517/number-of-lds-missionaries-going-up

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The number of Latter-day Saint missionaries is rising rapidly

Scholar says religiosity in recent generations of Latter-day Saints is up compared to baby boomers

By Suzanne Bates and Jacob Hess |  Jun 28, 2023, 9:00pm MDT

 

The number of missionaries representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has increased significantly over the past year, with numbers expected to top 72,000 by the end of the year.

The announcement about the influx of young missionaries was made by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Provo Missionary Training Center last week as he and other church leaders unveiled an updated version of Preach My Gospel, a manual used by missionaries and church members to help them share information about the church.

Fewer children are being born today in most countries. And yet, even “with fewer available, more are going out,” Cook said. “If you look at the youth, their activity rate is higher than it has been.”

 

Wow.

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Convert baptisms have also increased, Cook said, up 25% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to last year. 

Again, wow.

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The number of missionaries serving has increased steadily since church President Russell M. Nelson asked young people to go on missions at the April General Conference in 2022 — from 56,000 at the end of 2021 to 68,000 by June 14 of this year.

“And we really do feel like we’ll exceed 72,000 by the end of the year,” Cook said.

The influx of missionary applications led to a need for more members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to make mission assignments. Typically two Apostles assign mission calls weekly, but in recent months as many as four Apostles have been making up to 300 calls a week, Cook said.

Much of this runs counter to the popular narrative that young people are less religious today, yet new data tracking attitudes across generations shows an uptick in religiosity among the religious members of the millennial and Gen Z generations compared to baby boomers and Gen X.

Religious views of young people across generations.

Overall, religiosity is down among all Americans over the past few decades, and yet compared with earlier generations there are signs that young people are even more committed to their faith.

This is really interesting to me.  It is helpful to see a broader picture through articles such as this.

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The University of Michigan’s “Monitoring the Futures” database tracks attitudes across generations, with high school seniors asked the same questions each year. It is a major reference point for youth researchers in America. 

When asked about the importance of religion in their lives and how frequently they attend worship services, there are meaningful differences in responses between generations. 

According to research by Prof. Justin Dyer at Brigham Young University, the most recent generation, overall, places less importance on religion and attends religious services less frequently than previous generations. However, this does not hold for youth of some denominations, including Latter-day Saints, where attitudes among the recent generations — millennials and Gen Z — are on par with or actually more favorable to religion than some earlier generations.

When asked how often they attend religious services, and how important religion is in their lives, Latter-day Saints who are part of millennial or Gen Z generations were just as likely and sometimes more likely than prior generations to say they go to church or that religion is an important part of their lives.

This contradicts the popular notion of young people being less beholden to faith. “In comparing the generations when they were high school seniors, millennial Latter-day Saint youth feel religion is more important than all other generations. And even though Gen Z declines somewhat, they are at least as religious as baby boomers were when they were high school seniors”, Dyer said.

I wonder why this is happening.  I suspect this generation is seeing the need for structure and purpose and clarity, and that these things are found in abundance in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As the Proclamation states: "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ."

I think it is increasingly apparent that materialism and hedonism don't yield these results.  Happiness that is enduring and efficacious is to be found elsewhere.  As Joseph Smith put it: "Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God."

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He went on to acknowledge the possibility of an influence in the data from disaffiliation — namely, that as those who are less faithful step away from religion entirely, those who remain are more religiously inclined. 

However, given the regular growth in the number of Latter-day Saints in the U.S., including the growing number of congregations, or wards, disaffiliation is less likely the cause of the trend, he said.

Even with qualifications, he said, the trend is notable and significant. 

The phenomenon church leaders are seeing among young people who are signing up to go on missions is that they are responding in higher numbers, and higher percentages, than previous generations, Elder Cook said.

Good news in challenging times.  What a nice thing.

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As Elder Marcus B. Nash, a General Authority Seventy and the executive director of the church’s missionary department, said at the Missionary Training Center, “There’s just something going on, and I don’t know how to explain it other than the prophet spoke in April 2022, and this rising generation — that he teaches us was held in reserve — are responding.” He continued, “This new manual, Preach My Gospel second edition, is attuned to this generation. And it will help them rise to the great and noble call.”

Cool.

Thanks,

-Smac

[Calm]

6 hours ago, smac97 said:

Again, wow.

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First impression without reading more than the quote, Covid makes the most recent state useless in predicting trends. 

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The number of missionaries serving has increased steadily since church President Russell M. Nelson asked young people to go on missions at the April General Conference in 2022 — from 56,000 at the end of 2021 to 68,000 by June 14 of this year.

 

What were we in 2018 and 2019?

Edited June 29, 2023 by Calm

[Calm]

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According to research by professor Justin Dyer at Brigham Young University, the most recent generation

My bishop…a fantastic man and the most fun I have talking to a bishop ever, lol. 
 

And properly cautious about qualifications.

Edited June 29, 2023 by Calm

[Calm]

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The influx of missionary applications led to a need for more members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to make mission assignments. Typically two Apostles assign mission calls weekly, but in recent months as many as four Apostles have been making up to 300 calls a week, Cook said.

This is a significant point, imo, since it was only two preCovid as far as I am aware. 

[Calm]

https://latterdaysaintmissionprep.com/news/number-of-mormon-missionaries/
 

According to this site, we were at 67,000 in 2019 and 62,000 for full time missionaries in 2022.  I am wondering if we are back on trend from what we would have been if Covid hadn’t occurred…Iow, there might have been an increase from 67,000 in 2020 and then again in 2021 and 2022, so that the possible increase occurring this year would have been closer to 1,000. (I am thinking the difference in numbers is Deseret is including all missionaries?  I need to reread it.)

Perhaps those who put off their missions in the past 3 years are now going and we should expect a drop back to around 67,000 in another two years. 

Iow, it appears to me it is more getting back in track than a sudden increase of more devout youth.   But I am glad to see this as I had read claims the Church took a blow with Covid in that it would cause youth to seriously consider the option of not going and therefore less would be going.  It would appear that prediction is wrong. I wonder if mentally having more of a choice has led to greater commitment to go because more candidates seriously choose to go rather than just falling into it because it is expected. 

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The decline in 2020 was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a 23% year over year drop and was the biggest decline in the history of the available data (since 1977). In March of 2020, all missionaries throughout the world were brought to their home countries and quarantined. They were then given the opportunity the continue their mission immediately or postpone it. Roughly 80% decided to continue with their missions. (see related article – Coming Home Early because of COVID-19 Virus)

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Calm

[Calm]

From the above link (the highest point in 2014 is about 85,000):

Edited June 29, 2023 by Calm

[Couganova]

Good news, because it shows that youth outreach efforts have worked to a degree.

But there are still troubling trends:

1. In 2014, Mormons scored a statistical tie with Jews and atheists on Pew's religious knowledge survey, and highest on the Bible. In 2017, they scored very low (although still #2 on the Bible).
2. BYU has found that students lack doctrinal knowledge; hence they had to change the curriculum to teach scriptures based on doctrine, dumbing things down academically.
3. BYU students are shockingly open about being sexually active in Youtube interviews.

 

[Couganova]

8 hours ago, smac97 said:

Convert baptisms have also increased, Cook said, up 25% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to last year. 

Missionaries told me in 2022 they had their first baptism since 2019.

[Kenngo1969]

On 6/29/2023 at 4:57 PM, Couganova said:

Good news, because it shows that youth outreach efforts have worked to a degree.

But there are still troubling trends:

1. In 2014, Mormons scored a statistical tie with Jews and atheists on Pew's religious knowledge survey, and highest on the Bible. In 2017, they scored very low (although still #2 on the Bible). ... [I agree with you that the other two trends are troubling, but I wanted to focus on this one, so that's my reason for snipping those out: If anyone is interested, they're welcome to look at your prior post.]

 

John 15:18-19 come to mind:
 

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18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

 

For what it's worth.

Welcome to the Board.

[Nofear]

On 6/29/2023 at 9:37 AM, smac97 said:

When asked about the importance of religion in their lives and how frequently they attend worship services, there are meaningful differences in responses between generations. 

According to research by Prof. Justin Dyer at Brigham Young University, the most recent generation, overall, places less importance on religion and attends religious services less frequently than previous generations. However, this does not hold for youth of some denominations, including Latter-day Saints, where attitudes among the recent generations — millennials and Gen Z — are on par with or actually more favorable to religion than some earlier generations.

While I am inclined to believe the result, the graph does raise a few red flags. Looking at the All line (especially for the Gen Z segment) it tracks quite closely with LDS and Jewish population. Unless those segments were over represented by the survey, as compared with the general US population that doesn't make much sense (where combined those two groups are ⪅3% though it is possible the population the BYU professor studied those groups could be a much higher proportion). Also, it is a little ornery when such data is presented as a smoothed curve. Discrete data point binned by year tend to be more informative (can add a best fit line on top of that). Anyway, can you link the source of the graphs? Needs a bit more vetting before I feel I could share them.