Is it time for the church to admit it is shrinking in the US?

[Rivendale]

Losing so many young people will eventually have to show up in Church statistics.

Perhaps apologetics should be putting forth the message that fewer members prove it is all true and that this was foreseen by revelation, and thus an emphasis was placed on growing an investment fund instead of members.

Here is one believers take on the relatively small believing Mormon population.

josh h, I don’t have a definitive answer, but I know what thought works for me for now. God wants us as salt, the salt of the earth. A little salt can save an entire barrel of pork. No one wants a barrel full of salt, but a barrel of pork (the world) with a little salt (people of the covenant) seems to be God’s plan.

[Nimrod]

* * * So here are some questions to ponder given the almost certain fact that the “active Church” is now shrinking in many places, particularly in the US, Canada, and Europe.

• Has it ever occurred to you that the Church is now shrinking? Is this old news or a new revelation?
• Is it obvious to you that the Church in your country, state, stake, or ward is shrinking? What tells you your ward or stake is shrinking? Is there a dead canary in your local Church mine that tipped you off?
• Has your attitude changed as the Church globally or the Church in your particular community flipped from growth mode to retrenchment mode?
• I see very little change in LDS discourse, which creates another layer of dissonance. It’s one thing to live in a shrinking Church. It’s another thing to live in a shrinking Church where no one will acknowledge that it is shrinking.
• What’s the better option for leadership, claiming all is well in Zion when it is increasingly evident it is not? Or acknowledging that Good Ship Zion is slowly sinking and dealing with the fallout?

The rate of growth has certainly slowed down in the past 20 years. Given the defections that really started accelerating after Nov 2015, I suspect that the Mormon church could begin shrinking soon, if it has not already so begun.

I have no idea about any ward or stake. In 7 1/2 years resigned, I've had not one contact (hallelujah). In my state, it appears that the church numbers have stagnated a bit--particularly in lower attendance. I base that on the numbers of cars I see in the church parking lots on Sundays as well as the nearby temple. I've not been in a temple for decades now, but when I've been in a meeting house (e.g., niece or nephew going out on/coming home from a mission), I have noticed that the fairly rural congregations seem to be holding on, but not so much at suburban and especially not at urban congregations.

My attitude towards the Mormon church is not dependent on the number of members it counts among its members and at that, its active members. My attitude was forged and continues due to what I have learned to be the really story about Mormons in the 1830s and 1840s, sprinkled with stupid things done by church authorities since then.

I doubt the Mormon leadership will ever acknowledge it's net losing members. Rather, it will just go silent on the numbers, no longer bragging them up at GC.

The better option for the Mormon church would be to adapt Henry V's St. Crispin's Day speech (Shakespeare) about not one man more--to share in their glory. Have one or another of the budding 70s give a variation of it as a rallying cry at each GC. Perhaps something like this:

If we are so outnumbered, we are now
To do our Lord loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Gerrit Gong, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of the few:
He that stays faithful, and goes to God's home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of the few.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is the 24th:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Pioneer day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Nelly the king, Oaks and Eyring,
Ballard and Holland, Bednar and Suarez,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And July 24th shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that forgoes coffee with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And Jack Mormons now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon July 24th.