NOM

I've worked in a few corporate settings where I've had to sit through various strategy sessions with management trying to understand where things went wrong. Nearly every time sales results were down or targets were not achieved, the marketing department would always come back with data analytics on product placement that blamed the failings on two things. Either the product was unknown to the market or the product was misunderstood by the market. It always came down to failed branding execution in a fast paced adaptable world where a non-stop fight for relevance is the opposition.

It looks like the church is following the same patterns of a failing product.

Elder Kevin Pearson spoke at the Fair Mormon conference and said:

Two key obstacles stand in the way of delivering this “vital message to the world,” said Elder Pearson.

“The first obstacle is being unknown.”
“The second is being misunderstood.

“In other words, awareness and understanding are the key obstacles to us meeting our sacred and imperative duty. The scale and magnitude of this challenge is beyond anything the corporate world has ever encountered.”

Estimates suggest as many as 6.6 billion people in the world today have not heard of the restored Church. Of the remaining inhabitants who have heard of the Church, about half of those have an unfavorable impression of the religion, he said.

Meanwhile, over half of the world’s inhabitants have access to the internet, and many of those use a mobile phone. Obviously, technology will play a central role in overcoming the challenge of awareness.

He goes on to say:

Most misunderstanding about the Church can be tied to a relatively few key topics like Church history, temples, garments, Joseph Smith, polygamy, prophets, women, LGBT, and transparency. Information, both positive and negative, about these topics is accessed via search engines and on YouTube.

How will the church set the record straight to clear up these misunderstandings? Here's a few ideas to turn this bad product of a "so called church" around and make it great again!

1. Church history - I think they have already started this process with the Joseph Smith Papers and the new narrative that Bill Reel talked about last week.

2. Temples - open temples to all members of the church and get rid of the Temple Recommend process. Revamp the rituals to simplify and focused towards universal love and commitment to living a Christ centered life. Make the temple about commitment to Jesus. Not the church.

3. Garments - get rid of the daily wear requirement. At a minimum only require them as part of the temple worship. Better yet, get rid of them completely!

4. Joseph Smith - See # 1 above.

5. Polygamy - admit that Joseph Smith may have been swayed by his loins and emphasize that he was wrong to do so.

6. Prophets - see the Pope for examples

7. Women - institute equality in all church leadership positions. Eradicate patriarchy and misogyny. Priesthood is the power to act on love.

8. LGBT - Inclusiveness and Love. See # 7

9. Transparency - open the financial books. Open the historical vaults. Disclose disclose disclose.

If the church can't do any of the above then they might as well just embrace the weird garment wearing, wife collecting, misogynic, prophet worshipping, bigotry, and exclusiveness they are currently known for! After all that's how the church is currently perceived by the world.

https://www.lds.org/church/news/your-vo ... WS_xLIDyM_

Well said Red Ryder I hope all of it happens but in reality I doubt I will ever see any of those changes in my lifetime (I am 58) . These changes are already 50 years overdue and may take another 100 years to be accepted by all the TBMs.

+1 these things could potentially keep me from one day (hopefully) bailing.

Red Ryder wrote: ↑Mon Aug 06, 2018 5:23 pm If the church can't do any of the above then they might as well just embrace the weird garment wearing, wife collecting, misogynic, prophet worshipping, bigotry, and exclusiveness they are currently known for! After all that's how the church is currently perceived by the world.

This one. Further entrenchment seems to be the order of the day.

Excellent list, RR !

Elder Pearson apparently forgot to mention the third obstacle. The third obstacle is that consumers see no need for the product and no purpose for the product, because the world has moved past that product. The product ( church) is now on the wrong side of history. It is obsolete. Trying to sell the church is like trying to sell scythes for the wheat harvest or trying to sell buggy parts. The consumer deems them irrelevant and unnecessary.

Here is what I thought as I read that article.

I think they have already started on the new strategy that Bill Reel mentioned, and this is a perfect illustration.

Latter-day Saints must ensure that the honest in heart can efficiently find and embrace the restored gospel online. There is much work to be done. However, if misunderstanding grows faster than awareness, that will be difficult. Members must do better in addressing the second obstacle of understanding, he said. It deserves their very best collective efforts

Light the world with only slightly-better-information-than-you-grandparents-had. Is the narrative going to change?

It is essential, he added, that members create and promote online content that effectively communicates what the Church believes in clear, authentic and engaging ways—especially on some of the most prevalent search topics.

Yup, its going to change. and it is going to change by being dumbed down, and, kind of like food at hometown buffet, or Chuck-o-Rama, palatable to more people. This process has been going on for a while, it is just getting to the downhill phase. Members are being exhorted to clearly articulate what the church believes, but there are only a few things on which it is easy to get a clear answer on what they believe. One is that Gayz are evil, and then there is some other stuff about Jesus and stuff.

So yeah, they are going to make it known and understood, and in the meantime it will become bland and palatable, with a few hints of spice. Kind of like Chipotle, complete with causing intestinal cramps, bloating, and sometimes death if consumed in great quantities.

In 2012, Mitt Romney was running for president and he notably was a temple recommend holding Mormon. One "scandal" of his candidacy was that he was discovered drinking Diet Coke like some apostate heretic. It was at this time that BYU chose to stumble all over themselves admitting that caffeine was not actually against the Word of Wisdom, thus ending decades of caffeine debate between insular conservatives and heretical liberals.

I pointed out this article to some friends who are staunch LDS believers and who assidiously avoid caffeine. They angrily looked at me and said, "We follow the prophet, not the church Public Relations Department." This ended the conversation. But it's indicative of the core group of tithe paying believers that would be resistant, if not schismatic, against that revolutionary list that Red Ryder printed above.

Red Ryder wrote: ↑Mon Aug 06, 2018 5:23 pm If the church can't do any of the above then they might as well just embrace the weird garment wearing, wife collecting, misogynic, prophet worshipping, bigotry, and exclusiveness they are currently known for! After all that's how the church is currently perceived by the world.

Precisely. I think we already have seen the collapse of a church after they liberalize and pull in all of those principles of ecclesiastic governance. The RLDS transformed into Community of Christ. They lost three quarters of their membership to schisms and apostasy. Their congregations dwindled to a core group of compliant faithful. I have attended a couple of CoC services and it was distressing to see that I was one of the younger members of the congregation.

Community of Christ probably does have a future where growth in the long term is possible, but narrow for now. I don't know how they pay their bills, but I was a ward clerk and certainly have a sense of how much the LDS church can spectacularly lose. I fear that any liberalization will drive people to Denver Snuffer, the FLDS, and some new, conservative break off groups. I fear that doubling down will only be a loss of those wimpy liberals that weren't going to serve as bishop anyway.

President Nelson has been patiently(?) waiting to take his turn at the helm of the LDS church and seems determined to make his mark while he still can. Changes from his point of view will be oriented towards just barely enough to providing a reason for liberals to continue attending while keeping the orthodox in line. Garments, temple, Word of Wisdom, and three hour church are really annoying. But they build that core group that sustains the institutional church. I don't think anything will actually change in practice, only in "allowable" doctrine and belief.

We won't be happy just wishing and hoping that the LDS church improves things for our mixed-faith marriages, surrounded by believing parents, siblings, and friends. Our own inner authority has always been there to make LDS authority irrelevant in our lives. Only then can we chose to allow it to perhaps be useful, rather than as a dominant influence over our lives.

About misunderstanding. Non-Mormons have access to critical information that members are afraid to look at. The problem is that when they do understand what the church is all about they run like hell.

Corsair wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:02 am We won't be happy just wishing and hoping that the LDS church improves things for our mixed-faith marriages, surrounded by believing parents, siblings, and friends. Our own inner authority has always been there to make LDS authority irrelevant in our lives. Only then can we chose to allow it to perhaps be useful, rather than as a dominant influence over our lives.

This is the truth I don't seem to want to embrace.

Emower wrote: ↑Mon Aug 06, 2018 11:12 pm Light the world with only slightly-better-information-than-you-grandparents-had. Is the narrative going to change?

This new narrative seems to be nothing more than being more careful about the order in which information is presented. They would like to make sure that the mental gymnastics and gas-lighting are firmly in place and accepted before they share the truths that they can no longer hide. They will do their best to create more Richard Bushmans than New Name Noahs as the proverbial cat is being let out of its bag.

Hagoth wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:06 am About misunderstanding. Non-Mormons have access to critical information that members are afraid to look at. The problem is that when they do understand what the church is all about they run like hell.

+1

The misunderstanding is on the side of church leadership, who are trying to convince people that temples are good, Joseph Smith's past is nothing to worry about, women should not want leadership callings, LGBT people should ignore who they are, and that the church's internal audits are acceptable transparency. These are things that reasonable people find alarming* and reasonably don't want to associate with. There are good reasons to avoid the LDS church. Their claim of it being true is the strongest reason not to avoid the church, but if you are aware of the bad then their method of determining truth through good feelings doesn't work anymore.

This comment is patronizing to the people in the world, like they just don't get it. "If only they were as in-tune as I am they would understand." In the internet version of the marketplace of belief systems and worldviews such condescension will only serve as a roadblock to making the changes that are really needed.

*Unless they were indoctrinated to see them as good.

Actually, I have been surprised at just how well non members do understand the church. It may not be a flattering understanding, but it often is accurate. In Texas, I met non members who knew that Mormons tend to have tight knit social groups, to the point they come across as unfriendly and shunning to non members. I got pity from people (who thought I was Catholic—long story) when I told them I was moving to Utah. Even in Australia people recognize our pushy missionaries. People in Germany know we have a history of polygamy. People on the east coast know that nonmembers cannot see their own member children married in the temple. People in Mississippi know we discriminated against blacks. People in Wyoming know men controll all decisions in the church. People in Florida think we are weird for not drinking coffee or tea, not respect us for not drinking alcohol.

What I have found is that our (Mormon) perspective of “what people think of us” is the one that is warped. We assume we are known for “family values” when the reality is more that we are known for shunning family that leaves the church and keeping people out of family weddings. We think we are admired for the word of wisdom, but the reality is that people see that other religions do not drink alcohol, but find it mind boggling that we do not drink coffee or tea.

alas wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 6:53 pm Actually, I have been surprised at just how well non members do understand the church. It may not be a flattering understanding, but it often is accurate. In Texas, I met non members who knew that Mormons tend to have tight knit social groups, to the point they come across as unfriendly and shunning to non members. I got pity from people (who thought I was Catholic—long story) when I told them I was moving to Utah. Even in Australia people recognize our pushy missionaries. People in Germany know we have a history of polygamy. People on the east coast know that nonmembers cannot see their own member children married in the temple. People in Mississippi know we discriminated against blacks. People in Wyoming know men controll all decisions in the church. People in Florida think we are weird for not drinking coffee or tea, not respect us for not drinking alcohol.

What I have found is that our (Mormon) perspective of “what people think of us” is the one that is warped. We assume we are known for “family values” when the reality is more that we are known for shunning family that leaves the church and keeping people out of family weddings. We think we are admired for the word of wisdom, but the reality is that people see that other religions do not drink alcohol, but find it mind boggling that we do not drink coffee or tea.

Yep.


I hear, "I read several books about LDS theology. How does it work having Spouseman as the 'priest in the home'?"

"I was raised mormon, so we started this meeting late on 'mormon standard time'".

"I helped a few of my friends get out. It was traumatic for them. Let me know if I can help you."

Some see the church actions and say it looks like coercion for tithing (weddings, heaven). Some say it looks like tax fraud.

Several friends have asked if I'm ok. One said all LDS men she knows look at women like "oh, that's cute, but why are you talking?"

I was raised on the narrative that everyone loves LDS people and wants to be LDS, they just need friends. In fact, I'm learning people see it as weird, dangerous, sexist, and annoying.

Thoughtful wrote: ↑Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:08 am I was raised on the narrative that everyone loves LDS people and wants to be LDS, they just need friends. In fact, I'm learning people see it as weird, dangerous, sexist, and annoying.

This. +1