Ward Loses 100% of its Priest Quorum to Apostasy

[Guest]

I grew up in a very typical upper middle class LDS ward along the Wasatch Front. My ward had a very active Young Men’s program consisting 50 boys, 18 boys my same age. We were all in the same elementary classes together at school. We all attended our mid-week primary classes together. We attended the same Jr High and High School and we graduated together. We played football and baseball together on weekends and during the summer. We formed bands, chased girls, attended boy scout camps together and hung out at each other’s homes. We were all Deacons, Teachers and Priests together...in other words we were a very close-net group of friends. These boys went on to become doctors, lawyers, professional business owners, the very demographic that you would think the church would want to retain.

This group of boys all came from active to semi active (where children were encouraged to attend church) LDS families. Included in this group were the sons of each member of the Bishopric, one was the son of a member of the Stake High Council…very mainstream Utah Mormon families.

It’s now been many years since we were all kids hanging out together…but this past weekend I was able to attend my high school reunion and reconnect with several of them…as we were standing around chatting and catching up…I reflected back to those boys of my youth…all active in the church at one time. While not all 18 served missions or were married in the temple…at one time each had been actively involved in the church…but today…not one of those original 18 boys is involved with the church in any way.

As I came to this realization…I wondered how this could be. How is it that not one of us remained active in the church? Is this really what the church intended? Is this typical of other wards along the Wasatch front? Does the church even understand the reasons why it is losing its members?
Back in our youth we were taught that we would be the future General Authorities…little did we know…that in fact we would all grow up to be future apostates.

[_Yoda]

Very interesting, Craig.

Was there a similar thread that you were able to notice as to why your classmates chose to leave the Church? I am sure that their situations were all unique. I am just wondering if there were any similarities that you noticed.

[_Craig Paxton]

Very interesting, Craig.

Was there a similar thread that you were able to notice as to why your classmates chose to leave the Church? I am sure that their situations were all unique. I am just wondering if there were any similarities that you noticed.

We all came from good stable families. Only one of these boys parents marriages ended in divorce. The church WAS our social foundation and the ward house was where we all hung out to play basketball, participate in ward parties etc. To the best of my knowledge the parents of each of these boys remained fairly active in the church (they were of the WWII generation).

In my mind there was no common thread...some went inactive after High School, most served missions and were married in the temple,several attended BYU, but each of us independant of the others...came to the conclusion that the church wasn't what it claimed to be. For what its worth, I'm the dummy of the group, since I was the last one to form this conclusion.

[_Fence Sitter]

My experience growing up in So Cal ward is almost exactly the same in terms of numbers of members in our quorums of Deacons, Teachers and Priests (we had two of each Deacon and Teachers quorum due to how many attended) and what they went on to accomplish in life. I have not kept in contact with most of those guys but I still know and talk to half a dozen or so. Through them I have a decent idea of activity rates of this group which I believe is well above 50%. Many have become bishops and even in stake presidencies.

I do not post this as a rebuttal to the OP. I think the Church is loosing members at an alarming rate and I believe it is essentially stagnant in its growth, barley keeping up with population growth. Since Joseph Smith's time the world has marched on taking very little notice of what is supposed to be the most important event in human history over the last 2000 years.

On edit. I wonder if a factor in Craig's experience verses mine is location, Wasatch Front vs So Cal. He grew up in an area where every one was LDS while I was in an area where we were fairly uncommon. Perhaps the Us versus Them mentality was a factor for the So Cal member's activity rate remaining higher.

[_sock puppet]

I grew up in a very typical upper middle class LDS ward along the Wasatch Front. My ward had a very active Young Men’s program consisting 50 boys, 18 boys my same age. We were all in the same elementary classes together at school. We all attended our mid-week primary classes together. We attended the same Jr High and High School and we graduated together. We played football and baseball together on weekends and during the summer. We formed bands, chased girls, attended boy scout camps together and hung out at each other’s homes. We were all Deacons, Teachers and Priests together...in other words we were a very close-net group of friends. These boys went on to become doctors, lawyers, professional business owners, the very demographic that you would think the church would want to retain.

This group of boys all came from active to semi active (where children were encouraged to attend church) LDS families. Included in this group were the sons of each member of the Bishopric, one was the son of a member of the Stake High Council…very mainstream Utah Mormon families.

It’s now been many years since we were all kids hanging out together…but this past weekend I was able to attend my high school reunion and reconnect with several of them…as we were standing around chatting and catching up…I reflected back to those boys of my youth…all active in the church at one time. While not all 18 served missions or were married in the temple…at one time each had been actively involved in the church…but today…not one of those original 18 boys is involved with the church in any way.

As I came to this realization…I wondered how this could be. How is it that not one of us remained active in the church? Is this really what the church intended? Is this typical of other wards along the Wasatch front? Does the church even understand the reasons why it is losing its members?
Back in our youth we were taught that we would be the future General Authorities…little did we know…that in fact we would all grow up to be future apostates.

Well, since you all went to the same public schools together, perhaps some of the teachers there actually taught you all to think independently, analyze matters for yourselves, give you skills of critical thinking. Eventually perhaps each of you has at one juncture of life or another subjected the LDS Church and its claims to the scrutiny for which your skill sets were developed, and guess what came out on the short end of the stick?

[_DarkHelmet]

Several years ago I was involved in the young men's program and our big focus was on reactivation and retention of the youth. We had 3 deacons, 1 teacher, and 2 priests who were active. Even with that pathetic activity rate, one of the priests was only going because his dad forced him to, and he told us that as soon as he turns 18 he's never stepping foot in the church again. The church has very little to offer young people today. The world has changed dramatically since the 1950s, and handing a 16 year old kid Mark E. Peterson's How to Stop Masturbating pamphlet just doesn't work anymore. A lot of people (especially young people) are turned off by the racial theology in the Book of Mormon and the anti-gay politics in the ward buildings. Every week you learn how Joseph Smith was the greatest person to ever walk the earth other than Jesus, and gay people suck. It gets old really fast.

[_Fence Sitter]

Several years ago I was involved in the young men's program and our big focus was on reactivation and retention of the youth. We had 3 deacons, 1 teacher, and 2 priests who were active. Even with that pathetic activity rate, one of the priests was only going because his dad forced him to, and he told us that as soon as he turns 18 he's never stepping foot in the church again. The church has very little to offer young people today. The world has changed dramatically since the 1950s, and handing a 16 year old kid Mark E. Peterson's How to Stop Masturbating pamphlet just doesn't work anymore. A lot of people (especially young people) are turned off by the racial theology in the Book of Mormon and the anti-gay politics in the ward buildings. Every week you learn how Joseph Smith was the greatest person to ever walk the earth other than Jesus, and gay people suck. It gets old really fast.

Please tell me they are NOT still using that handbook!

[_DarkHelmet]

Several years ago I was involved in the young men's program and our big focus was on reactivation and retention of the youth. We had 3 deacons, 1 teacher, and 2 priests who were active. Even with that pathetic activity rate, one of the priests was only going because his dad forced him to, and he told us that as soon as he turns 18 he's never stepping foot in the church again. The church has very little to offer young people today. The world has changed dramatically since the 1950s, and handing a 16 year old kid Mark E. Peterson's How to Stop Masturbating pamphlet just doesn't work anymore. A lot of people (especially young people) are turned off by the racial theology in the Book of Mormon and the anti-gay politics in the ward buildings. Every week you learn how Joseph Smith was the greatest person to ever walk the earth other than Jesus, and gay people suck. It gets old really fast.

Please tell me they are NOT still using that handbook!

LOL. No. We didn't use it. I did exaggerate that. But the manuals still have old cringe worthy quotes from generations ago. The problem is the church desperately needs some new material, but since the church is true, and the lessons and youth programs were inspired, the reason the youth are leaving is because of satan.

[_Rambo]

I grew up in the 80-90's and from my memory there was 9 young men that were in my qurom. 6 out of the 9 are active, one is inactive but still believes, one is a little crazy and I think he goes to a family ward, and I'm the totally inactive one that doesn't believe. The young mans program was really strong in my area and I had many great young men leaders that I looked up to.

Maybe this depends on how strong the progam is and if there are a lot of non Mormons in the area. The majority of the people in my city are not Mormon but there are still enough Mormons to have a good social life. I think the us vs them is also some of the reason why most of the young men I grew up with stayed active.

[_Craig Paxton]

My experience growing up in So Cal ward is almost exactly the same in terms of numbers of members in our quorums of Deacons, Teachers and Priests (we had two of each Deacon and Teachers quorum due to how many attended) and what they went on to accomplish in life. I have not kept in contact with most of those guys but I still know and talk to half a dozen or so. Through them I have a decent idea of activity rates of this group which I believe is well above 50%. Many have become bishops and even in stake presidencies.

I do not post this as a rebuttal to the OP. I think the Church is loosing members at an alarming rate and I believe it is essentially stagnant in its growth, barley keeping up with population growth. Since Joseph Smith's time the world has marched on taking very little notice of what is supposed to be the most important event in human history over the last 2000 years.

On edit. I wonder if a factor in Craig's experience verses mine is location, Wasatch Front vs So Cal. He grew up in an area where every one was LDS while I was in an area where we were fairly uncommon. Perhaps the Us versus Them mentality was a factor for the So Cal member's activity rate remaining higher.

I'm not claiming that my expereince is typical...in fact I believe that it is atypical of similar wards along the Wasatch front...however I do see it as the canary in the mine shaft...and very troubling news for a church that is leaking membership and should be retaining these very boys after making such a huge investment of time, talents and energy. These boys include former bishopric members and stake high councilmen and now apostates. Something is wrong...these are not the members that the church should be losing...and yet it is the members that the church is losing.