Church cratering in First World, gaining elsewhere

[Guest]

The data I posted was inaccurate - removed.

[_oliblish]

More from Cumorah.com:

MEXICO

2015:
Wards: 1554
Branches: 461
Missions: 34

2016:
Wards : 1548 (down 6 from 2015)
Branches : 468 (up 7 from 2015)
Missions: 34

Total Units: +1 (+0.05%)
Not a great ROI for 34 missions...

Added 1 branch but 6 wards turned into 6 branches. I would say a net negative...

Salt Lake we have a problem...

[_moksha]

With 115 missions only 3 more units in the US outside Utah from 2015 to 2016. I wonder if that will go negative for 2017?

Closing all those European units would have to make it go negative unless one employs an apologetic numbering system.

[_Dr Exiled]

All good ponzi schemes and the lord's church use faith based accounting.

[_Simon Southerton]

Matt Martinich, who runs the LDS Church Growth blog, appears to be an avid reader of Mormon Discussions.

June 11th

Martinich then outlines what he thinks is causing the decline.

ineffective proselytism tactics, lack of engagement of ordinary members in missionary activity, increasing secularism and materialism, and decades of low convert-retention problems.

On his Cumorah blog Martinich categorically ruled out the Internet as a contributing factor, but he provided no evidence to back his claim. Good at statistics, off with the fairies with his analysis.

June 12th
Matt repeats his claim that the Internet has had no effect on the growth of the church.
http://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com.au/ ... rowth.html

[_SteelHead]

He says he is surveying recent RMS and members. Perhaps he ought to ask exmormons? Methinks he methodology is busted.

[_canpakes]

Matt Martinich, who runs the LDS Church Growth blog, appears to be an avid reader of Mormon Discussions.

June 11th
On his Cumorah blog Martinich categorically ruled out the Internet as a contributing factor, but he provided no evidence to back his claim. Good at statistics, off with the fairies with his analysis.

June 12th
Matt repeats his claim that the Internet has had no effect on the growth of the church.
http://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com.au/ ... rowth.html

Well, he's still wrong, if for no other reason than there are a fair number of members who've been tipped out of the fold by the essays. Pretty sure that you find those via the internet.

[_I have a question]

Here is some more data for Matt to consider.

Some Latter-day Saints may leave the fold after finding out aspects of their history that don't match the Sunday school version — like the fact founder Joseph Smith peered at a "seer stone" in a hat to help him produce the Book of Mormon — but such discoveries are not what drive away most former believers.

It's the realization that they didn't hear those stories first from their church.

They feel deceived by Mormon authorities, whom they blame for keeping such details from them, and wonder what else these men might be hiding.

It's "a trust gap," LDS writer Jana Riess notes in her "Flunking Sainthood" blog.

http://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/faith/5 ... mon-church

Where did the current crop of leavers/inactives first 'hear' those stories?
Clue: I_T_R_E_

For Riess, the larger issue remains: "How many more people have to feel betrayed that they were kept in the dark about something before church leaders realize that it has a major trust problem on its hands?"

The leadership clearly doesn't really care that much about members trusting them, so long as the money keeps rolling in.