Latter-day Saint Youth Keep Surprising Us

[I Have Questions]

Another observation to be made in regards to the youth of the LDS Church choosing Christ in greater numbers is the growth of the number of missions and missionaries serving:

https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2 ... -for-2025/

The MTC in Provo is going through an expansion process to keep up with the numbers of missionaries going into the field.

Regards,
MG

On the other hand, some LDS seniors lack the faith to serve, so they try to claim the valour of those that do by posting stories about increasing missionary numbers.

[Res Ipsa]

So the data are that among self-identified Latter-Day Saints, the fraction of young people is higher than it is among self-identified members of other religions and denominations.

This could mean that fewer young Mormons are abandoning Mormonism, but it could also mean that fewer old Mormons are remaining active enough to appear in this survey.

I mean, if in one group half the young people leave every year, but none of the old people, then pretty soon the remaining people in that group are going to be mostly old. If in another group nobody leaves, regardless of age, then the group will have people of all ages. But a third group, in which half of everyone leaves every year, regardless of age, will also have people of all ages.

You can push up the fraction of young people by keeping more young people, but you can also do it by losing more old people. Which is it with Mormonism?

I'm not pushing one option, just pointing out that the data seem to allow both of them.

I think difference in birth rates could also be a factor.

[sock puppet]

Another observation to be made in regards to the youth of the LDS Church choosing Christ in greater numbers is the growth of the number of missions and missionaries serving:

https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2 ... -for-2025/

The MTC in Provo is going through an expansion process to keep up with the numbers of missionaries going into the field.

Regards,
MG

Ahh, but when adjusted for the number of ERMs (early return missionaries) which jumped exponentially, ...

[Res Ipsa]

Another observation to be made in regards to the youth of the LDS Church choosing Christ in greater numbers is the growth of the number of missions and missionaries serving:

https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2 ... -for-2025/

The MTC in Provo is going through an expansion process to keep up with the numbers of missionaries going into the field.

Regards,
MG

So, the piece says that there are currently 84,000 missionaries (teaching and service). But the 2022 statistical report gives the total as about 92,000. Not much growth in absolute terms.

The number of missions is arbitrary.

[MG 2.0]

Another observation to be made in regards to the youth of the LDS Church choosing Christ in greater numbers is the growth of the number of missions and missionaries serving:

https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2 ... -for-2025/

The MTC in Provo is going through an expansion process to keep up with the numbers of missionaries going into the field.

Regards,
MG

So, the piece says that there are currently 84,000 missionaries (teaching and service). But the 2022 statistical report gives the total as about 92,000. Not much growth in absolute terms.

The number of missions is arbitrary.

The number of young teaching and service missionaries and senior missionaries has gone from just over 65,000 at the end of 2022 to nearly 72,000 at the end of 2023 and is currently at more than 84,000.

Regards,
MG

[malkie]

So, the piece says that there are currently 84,000 missionaries (teaching and service). But the 2022 statistical report gives the total as about 92,000. Not much growth in absolute terms.

The number of missions is arbitrary.

The number of young teaching and service missionaries and senior missionaries has gone from just over 65,000 at the end of 2022 to nearly 72,000 at the end of 2023 and is currently at more than 84,000.

Regards,
MG

Still not quite up to scratch:
LDS apostle Jeffrey R. Holland predicts 100,000 Mormon missionaries by 2019

[MG 2.0]

Regards,
MG

Still not quite up to scratch:
LDS apostle Jeffrey R. Holland predicts 100,000 Mormon missionaries by 2019

Covid. Wouldn’t you say things are going pretty well considering? I don’t know that it would lessen the reputation/standing of a critic to admit that there are a lot of young people answering the call to serve. I wonder if we could find references on this very board where a few years or more ago that folks were predicting a decrease in numbers rather than a rise. Might be fun for some one to go back in time.

Regards,
MG

[malkie]

Still not quite up to scratch:
LDS apostle Jeffrey R. Holland predicts 100,000 Mormon missionaries by 2019

Covid. Wouldn’t you say things are going pretty well considering? I don’t know that it would lessen the reputation/standing of a critic to admit that there are a lot of young people answering the call to serve. I wonder if we could find references on this very board where a few years or more ago that folks were predicting a decrease in numbers rather than a rise. Might be fun for some one to go back in time.

Regards,
MG

I know - it's too much to expect that Mormon god would let his prophets, seers, and revelators know that the words they were about to say would be meaningless in a few months.

It's also not too long ago that Mormons were celebrating a sociologist's prediction (I originally wrote "prefiction" ) that the church would likely have close to 270 million members by 2080.

[Res Ipsa]

So, the piece says that there are currently 84,000 missionaries (teaching and service). But the 2022 statistical report gives the total as about 92,000. Not much growth in absolute terms.

The number of missions is arbitrary.

The number of young teaching and service missionaries and senior missionaries has gone from just over 65,000 at the end of 2022 to nearly 72,000 at the end of 2023 and is currently at more than 84,000.

Regards,
MG

Math is hard. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... 2?lang=eng

[I Have Questions]

The recent increase is as a result of some recent changes to dress code, lifting the restrictions on calling home, reducing door knocking in favour of online marketing etc. I think the statistical report at General Conference April 2026 will show if the recent bump is a blip or something more sustained. The Bump under Monson when he changed the age eligibility was just a blip, for example, with numbers deflating not long after the age overlap years.