The title of a recent ABC 4 News article is “Number of faithful Mormons rapidly declining,” yet the only evidence given for this assertion are statements (by an LDS General Authority) such as “attrition has accelerated in the last five or 10 years,” and more members are falling away than at any time in the last 175 years. http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stories/story... Is an acknowledgement that the “number of Mormons losing the faith is increasing” the same thing as “Number of faithful Mormons rapidly declining”?
Consider this analogy. The number of people who die each year has been accelerating recently, and more people die each year now than ever before. But the world population continues to grow because the birth rate more than makes up for the death rate.
The fact is the net growth of the Mormon Church has averaged around 2.5% for the last decade, about twice the world population growth of 1.2%. The Church growth has been higher at times, and lower at other times (Great Depression). Even during the years when the growth rate is not so phenomenally fast the number of new members increases over the previous year’s increase. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_C...
While it is easy to show the net membership is rapidly increasing, is the number of the faithful increasing as well? We build chapels to accommodate the growth of the faithful attending church meetings. In 2008 there were 8,254 chapels internationally, an increase of 10 percent over the previous five years. In the United States there were 6,361 chapels showing a 9.6 percent growth rate for the same time period. http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/official-num... Today it is said that “New buildings are being completed virtually every day of the year in order to house growing membership.” http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/topic/church-growth
Given these facts why do some people say the number of faithful Mormons is rapidly declining?
Update:Fact check. In 2007 the Pew report said that 1.7% of the U.S. ADULT self-identifies as Mormon. http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Mormon/A-Portrai... In 2009 the official LDS version is that 1.96% of the total population, whether self-identified or not, adult or child, is Mormon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_C... Considering that the Pew report says that Mormons have many more children under the age of 18 than others in the U.S., on average, I don’t see that much of a difference in statistics.
Church finances is a separate issue.
Update 3:Truth Seeker, are you trying to say that while the number of members may be increasing, the number of active members is decreasing? If that were the case, why do we need to build more chapels instead of closing chapels? Why would the number of people in a growing population be increasing who identify themselves as Mormons?
Update 5:Truth Seeker, are you trying to say that while the number of members may be increasing, the number of active members is decreasing? If that were the case, why do we need to build more ch
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Hello, Doc, what I see here in my country (the third country in number of members - 1.1 million) is that the turnover of members is significant. Some members leave (usually for personal reasons involving dignity or arguments) but many others are baptized. Next, members who moved away are reactivated and come back well animated, for finding new people into the fold.
Anyway, one way or another, in general, the Church has grown, otherwise there would be no need for the construction of many new chapels. The number of temples in Brazil has grown.
To a conservative church like ours, the growth rate is high. I see chapels of Protestant churches, especially Pentecostal branch, crowded, but turnover is also very high because there is no member loyalty to the organization. For example, here the Baptists attending Presbyterian churches as if they were the same organization. Evangelicals in Brazil usually do not mention the church to which they belong when they are questioned about their religion, but they call themselves christians. Then, they change the church in more naturally.
So when I see research on the growth of religions (I speak about Brazil), the percentage of growth of evangelical churches is always informed together.
P.s.: I managed to express myself properly, because it's often difficult to me to express my ideas in another language.
No argument here. According to official membership statistics, the church gains roughly 300,000 converts per year. The membership grows at about 1 million every three years.
From my own experience, I was in Brazil in 1971 and 1972. There were about 35,000 members of the church in Brazil at that time. Now there are over 1.2 million members in Brazil. Mexico has seen similar growth rates as Brazil. The growth of the church in Africa since 1978 has bee phenomenal.
Do we lose youth and converts to falling away into inactivity? Sure we do, but we have gained more than we have lost. I like what Pres. Hinckley told the commentator when asked about members falling away. He said that he had another 1/2 million that he could have as well. In other words, the seed will fall on shallow soil and will sprout up and wither away or be plucked up by the birds and carried away. We have many members like that. They do not root deeply enough to blossom and give new fruit. Nevertheless, the church will go forth until it has filled the whole earth. We are almost there.
The numbers are increasing in some places and decreasing in other places and in other places it is holding steady.
Overall the numbers are increasing, when it comes to the population of THE Church Of JESUS CHRIST Of Latter Day Saints.
It's a matter of not seeing the forest for the trees. It is true that people in the United States are having less children per couple. The average number is around 1.3 children per couple in the U.S.
In the United States for Latter Day Saint couples it is around 3 children per couple. So Mormons are still reproducing, but just barely.
If it wasn't for immigration the population of the United States would be looking a lot like Russia, and Japan, and various European countries. In many areas of the world the populations are imploding.
Certainly it will be interesting to see how all of that works out for the demographics of THE Church Of JESUS CHRIST Of Latter Day Saints as the future comes upon us.
God bless.
The LDS church boasts around 13 Million Members. Can you tell me how many of those Mormons are active It's less than half... A lot of whom already attend other churches. What surprises me is that you believe the LDS church statistics.. Yet you don't question where all those members tithing money goes. Do the math.... If you have 13 Million Members. With the average salary of $20,000 dollars. This average is taken the world over... So 13 Million active tithing paying members... Okay.. Maybe not all of them are able to pay their tithing.. So let's knock it down to 12 Million.
Now 10 Percent of 20,000 is 2000 dollars.
Now multiply 2000 dollars by 12 Million People
That's 24 Billion dollars a year!
Now does your church bring in all that money??? Nope.. it is actually closer to 6 Billion a year.. one fourth of what it would be if the LDS church had 12 Million active tithing paying members. So instead of believing what your church likes to tell you. Why don't you truly analyze what is going on.... FYI One fourth of 12 Million is 3 Million.. Does that make you happier?
Now... My numbers are not 100% accurate and decisive but they should give you a good idea of how you should go about getting your information. There is more than one way to skin a rat (figure of speech) .
Also why aren't you the least concerned why the LDS church won't disclose their financial dealings. Even with Temple worthy members the LDS organization does not want them to know.
Isn't that a little peculiar?
***Edit***
You missed the point!
Typical indoctrination
***Edit***
Your still missing the point
Tip... There are lots of ways to gain information.. The truth is probably a mix of all the information you can find.
It's funny how people go on about people who might be members of the church but not active. Sure, there are tons of people like that. There are many who were baptized but will never set foot in church again. But who's to say that because they don't go to church that they don't want to be members?
You would have to look at the hearts and the intentions of all 14 million members to make that determination.
I myself did not go to church for several years, and when I did, it was hit and miss--like a handful of times a year. There were times that I was almost angry enough to leave forever but didn't. I know many people like I was, that for whatever reason, are not active.
There is a guy down the road from me who is a baptized member, and he smokes like a chimney, lives with his girlfriend, and comes to a ward Christmas party once a year--but while he was over at our house helping my husband work on our truck, was saying, in between sips of coffee, that he loves the Book of Mormon and believes it is the word of God. He says that he will never leave the church--it has done him a lot of good.
My own young adult son, who loves Nordic mythology, has an affinity for Finnish death metal and wears his hair to his waist says that he has never regretted being baptized. In fact, he's glad he was, he says.
Sooner or later, all of us in the world will know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and God of this world. We are all at different levels and taking different roads to figuring this out. It's just some of us have to back-track to get on the straight and narrow path again.
So don't discount those who are less active in the church, and gloat about it. Until a person asks to have his name officially deleted from the roles of the church, he is still a member and subject to being fellowshipped as such.
The answer to me is simple: I don't see boarded up, neglected, abandonded LDS Chapels or Temples. I so see more building of each [over 300 new chapels built every year & 3-4 new temples every year].
Yes, there are people who leave the LDS Church - but more stay.
best wishes
I always get a kick out of those who state that the Church was 1.2% in the 1980s and was still 1.2% in 2007. Excuse me, but the world population did not stay the same, it grew. So, 1.2% of today's population is larger than 1.2% of the 1980's population.
Instead of being so gullible and swallowing the numbers your church gives you, why don't you check out the ARIS and PEW studies? The numbers are unbiased.
The LDS church was 1.6% of the US in 1980 and it was 1.6% in 2002. All during those years, your leaders claimed that they were the fastest growing church ever. They lied to you, openly, publicly, blatantly.
They also refuse to tell you where your tithing goes. You are supposed to trust them with the 5-8 billion a year they take in. Don't you people ever wonder how they paid for that 3 billion dollar shopping mall?
But how do they define faithful?
God bless.
cool