Church is stagnant in Brazil

[_Drifting]

Sooner or later they are going to have to tell the membership that the church is not growing any more, just keeping pace.

So according to the OP, the Church IS growing in numbers in Brazil. However, I don't recall the Church ever highlighting any gains as to the world's population. Quite the opposite in fact as I seem to recall hearing more about how small we are by comparison.

So once again we have a thread dedicated to the yellow journalistic smearing of the Church, that just because we are not keeping up with a population, even though are are experiencing positive growth, we must be in trouble.

President Newsroom April 2012

The first known members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) in Brazil were two German families who immigrated to Brazil — one in 1913 and the other in 1923. During the decade that followed, others joined the Church, and the first congregation was organized in Joinville in 1930.

By the end of the 1950s, the number of Church members totaled 3,700. Today, more than 1.1 million Latter-day Saints live in Brazil.

Church growth has been astronomical with 900,000 new members being added since the census....apparently....

[_bcspace]

Church growth has been astronomical with 900,000 new members being added since the census....apparently....

Sure. But notice it doesn't say how much that is relative to the overall population or the rate of growth relative to the rate of total population.

[_Drifting]

Church growth has been astronomical with 900,000 new members being added since the census....apparently....

Sure. But notice it doesn't say how much that is relative to the overall population or the rate of growth relative to the rate of total population.

Do you believe that relativity to overall population growth is important in determining wether or not the Church is growing?

The point is that, once again, the Church is misrepresenting it's membership number. This time in Brazil.

[_Chap]

Sooner or later they are going to have to tell the membership that the church is not growing any more, just keeping pace.

How will that be spun in a faith-promoting way, I wonder?

And now we have the answer:

So according to the OP, the Church IS growing in numbers in Brazil. However, I don't recall the Church ever highlighting any gains as to the world's population. Quite the opposite in fact as I seem to recall hearing more about how small we are by comparison.

So once again we have a thread dedicated to the yellow journalistic smearing of the Church, that just because we are not keeping up with a population, even though are are experiencing positive growth, we must be in trouble.

Great - an answer to my question. So the membership are going to be told that the following situation is just fine. In, for example, the US:

1. Mormons tend to have considerably larger families than other groups - which is just what their church urges them to do. Their children are typically given a religious training that is rigorous in comparison with other groups.

2. If, therefore, people born into Mormon families stayed Mormon, one should see Mormon numbers growing not just in absolute terms but also in relative terms as a proportion of the population.

3. However, in addition to larger Mormon family sizes, we also have a massive missionary effort designed to cause people to join the church. That should make Mormon number grow even faster as a proportion of the population.

4. If however we follow the Pew procedure of asking samples of the US population to declare their religious allegiance, the proportion of those choosing 'LDS/Mormon' has remained constant for most of the last decade.

5. Therefore, given (2) and (3), it is clear that a large number of people born into or converted into the CoJCoLDS must subsequently cease to regard themselves as members of it, not simply in the sense of becoming inactive, but in the sense of no longer seeing themselves as part of the church at all.

[_Drifting]

5. Therefore, given (2) and (3), it is clear that a large number of people born into or converted into the CoJCoLDS must subsequently cease to regard themselves as members of it, not simply in the sense of becoming inactive, but in the sense of no longer seeing themselves as part of the church at all.

Elder Jensen has confirmed this happens when members reach 18 to 30 years old and start investigating the historicity and truth claims of the Church using non correlated sources.

[_Chap]

5. Therefore, given (2) and (3), it is clear that a large number of people born into or converted into the CoJCoLDS must subsequently cease to regard themselves as members of it, not simply in the sense of becoming inactive, but in the sense of no longer seeing themselves as part of the church at all.

Elder Jensen has confirmed this happens when members reach 18 to 30 years old and start investigating the historicity and truth claims of the Church using non correlated sources.

Yup. The church leaders clearly know what is happening. They just aren't talking about it a lot yet. But that time will come in the end, once they have found a way to spin it into a message that the Church is True.

[_The Dude]

It will be spun as the need to redouble donations of time and money to save the church in Brazil.

I was a missionary in Rio and I too felt like the church was depressingly weak in all of the areas where I worked. The missionaries told each other it was that way because of all the sinning (carnival) and Satan's working through false religions (Catholicism and everything else).

[_KevinSim]

Sooner or later they are going to have to tell the membership that the church is not growing any more, just keeping pace.

How will that be spun in a faith-promoting way, I wonder?

The most recent thing I've heard in the way of official LDS statements on people joining the church is that although many are joining, many, especially young people, are leaving, over issues like the church's position on Proposition 8. No spin there, no attempt to promote faith there, just a statement of fact, of what is actually happening. Nothing like one's church leaders just plain announcing the truth.

[_Chap]

Sooner or later they are going to have to tell the membership that the church is not growing any more, just keeping pace.

How will that be spun in a faith-promoting way, I wonder?

The most recent thing I've heard in the way of official LDS statements on people joining the church is that although many are joining, many, especially young people, are leaving, over issues like the church's position on Proposition 8. No spin there, no attempt to promote faith there, just a statement of fact, of what is actually happening. Nothing like one's church leaders just plain announcing the truth.

Please could you link to the statement that you refer to as "The most recent thing I've heard in the way of official LDS statements on people joining the church"?

[_harmony]

Growth in Brazil or anywhere else in the world is immaterial. What matters is growth in the USA. That's where the majority of the tithes and offerings come from.