NOM

Hagoth wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 7:14 am I was going to post this in oliver_denom's thread about declines in the Southern Baptist church, but decided to spin it off as its own topic rather than continue my thread jack.

US News & World Report, Nov. 13, 2000 reported: "If current trends hold, experts say Latter-day Saints could number 265 million worldwide by 2080, second only to Roman Catholics among Christian bodies. Mormonism, says Rodney Stark, professor of sociology and religion at the University of Washington, "stands on the threshold of becoming the first major faith to appear on Earth since the prophet Mohammed rode out of the desert."

And here's some guy's mathematical proof for it: http://www.lds-mormon.com/churchgrowthrates.shtml

And, finally, the reality check from the 21st century; the Pew Research Center's finding that the LDS church has been in decline (in America)
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/amer ... landscape/

Worldwide the church is still growing but at only about 1.5%, the lowest rate since 1937. Quite and upset. Meanwhile, church growth apologists (who knew there was such a thing) are claiming that this is a good thing, because the church is focusing on "centers of strength." Matt Martinich, founder of the LDS Church Growth blog says, "The church in Mozambique has achieved good results improving convert retention and member activity rates." https://religionnews.com/2016/04/19/mor ... reat-news/

His blog is here: https://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com/20 ... e-new.html

Maybe our new plan will be to forget about Missouri and call Utah priesthood holders to build wooden submarines and sail to Africa to defend the New New Jerusalem against Islam.

Corsair wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 10:56 pm My favorite part of general conference has been the statistical report in April. I have been following the charting the church for some time. It was suspiciously expected that the church did not read the report during the meeting. You can go look at it on your own and not have to take up precious broadcast time going over numbers with a slight increase over last year. Am I too cynical thinking that this is step one in phasing out the public release of this information? There are some embarrassing parts of the report, but they only show up once you start graphing them and looking at trends.

Corsair wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 10:56 pm My favorite part of general conference has been the statistical report in April. I have been following the charting the church for some time. It was suspiciously expected that the church did not read the report during the meeting. You can go look at it on your own and not have to take up precious broadcast time going over numbers with a slight increase over last year. Am I too cynical thinking that this is step one in phasing out the public release of this information? There are some embarrassing parts of the report, but they only show up once you start graphing them and looking at trends.

blazerb wrote: ↑Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:43 am

Corsair wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 10:56 pm My favorite part of general conference has been the statistical report in April. I have been following the charting the church for some time. It was suspiciously expected that the church did not read the report during the meeting. You can go look at it on your own and not have to take up precious broadcast time going over numbers with a slight increase over last year. Am I too cynical thinking that this is step one in phasing out the public release of this information? There are some embarrassing parts of the report, but they only show up once you start graphing them and looking at trends.

Me too. The statistical report is fascinating. I think the church will suppress any information that it does not believe will enhance the story it tells about itself. I don't think you are too cynical.

Blashyrkh wrote: ↑Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:38 pm While living in Georgia I had a bishop, who was actually quite a good guy, stand up in SM with his wife who was the RS pres and announce that they were done with church. They stated that they believed it to be true but that all the time they had to commit to it was ruining their family and their marriage. He walked off the stand and walked out with his family.

Blashyrkh wrote: ↑Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:38 pm

While living in Georgia I had a bishop, who was actually quite a good guy, stand up in SM with his wife who was the RS pres and announce that they were done with church. They stated that they believed it to be true but that all the time they had to commit to it was ruining their family and their marriage. He walked off the stand and walked out with his family.

Hagoth wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 7:14 am Maybe our new plan will be to forget about Missouri and call Utah priesthood holders to build wooden submarines and sail to Africa to defend the New New Jerusalem against Islam.

Hagoth wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 7:14 am Maybe our new plan will be to forget about Missouri and call Utah priesthood holders to build wooden submarines and sail to Africa to defend the New New Jerusalem against Islam.

Corsair wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:47 amThis interest in Missouri is only to keep up a presence because the CoC and the Temple Lot group are there.

Corsair wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:47 amAs a child and teen, I heard a number of devout teachers and leaders bring up the whole "return to Missouri" and how we would probably be walking because obviously civil order would have collapsed after the desolation caused by gay marriage, R-rated movies, and coffee drinking.

Hagoth wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:46 pm A bit off topic: my mom was the stake Girl's Camp director. She claimed that the program existed because The Prophet (I forget which one) had a vision of all of the women and girls walking back to Missouri to join the men who had already gone there to defend the temple. Bottom line, the girls need solid survival skills. My mom's program was not a froofy feel-good indoctrination machine, she ran an intense and efficient survival training program that put what I was learning in Boys Scouts to shame.

Not Buying It wrote: ↑Thu Jul 05, 2018 5:22 am The Church has a good spin no matter which way growth goes. When growth is up the Church is the rock cut out of the mountain that will fill the whole world. When growth is down its the last days and even the elect are being deceived, and for the faithful “their numbers were few”. Either way, they have the spin ready to make the remaining members think either growth or decline was prophesied.

Archimedes wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:31 pm

Corsair wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:47 amThis interest in Missouri is only to keep up a presence because the CoC and the Temple Lot group are there.

Well, that and the fact of the many prophecies made by Joseph Smith about events that have taken place, and supposedly will take place in Missouri and environs. It would be difficult to write those out of LDS history, although I would wager some current church leaders would like to.

Missouri is dumb anyway. Why not gather in someplace cool, like... Canada?

Corsair wrote: ↑Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:47 pm

Blashyrkh wrote: ↑Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:38 pm While living in Georgia I had a bishop, who was actually quite a good guy, stand up in SM with his wife who was the RS pres and announce that they were done with church. They stated that they believed it to be true but that all the time they had to commit to it was ruining their family and their marriage. He walked off the stand and walked out with his family.

That would have been amazing to watch. That's more drama than any emotionally manipulative church could ever summon.