12-06-2005, 12:47 AM | #1 |
Demiurge
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,365
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Missionary drought in our stake
In Stake Conf. yesterday, they said our Stake averages sending out 18 missionaries per year. This past year, we sent out 2. They said we need to do better.
I don't know what the other wards in our stake are like, but overall we have pretty weak sauce for youth. Most will be lucky to go college (at all). We live in the city, so they are either going to a crappy public school or getting crappy home school (for the most part; a couple have gone to private school). And it seems like the young women have even worse prospects than the young men, but there is no obj. measure of progress like missions for them. I know in our ward, our bishop(s) have put some of the best leaders into the youth callings to try and help. It's tough stuff. |
12-06-2005, 01:39 AM | #2 |
Board Pinhead
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the basement of my house, Murray, Utah.
Posts: 15,941
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I can understand that the numbers of YM in Stakes outside
Utah and Idaho not having high numbers. However, right here, smack in the middle of Zion, the Stake I'm in has low numbers. In fact, in my ward we have 2 Priests, 3 Teachers and 2 Deacons that are active. If we count the inactives, there are 3 Priests, 4 teachers and 4 Deacons. Our Stake currently has 13 missionaries out in the field and within the next year, we'll only send out about 4 prospective missionaries while 7 return.
Granted, most of our numbers are not because the number of non-LDS is high - it's because most of the members in the Stake are either retired or their kids have grown and married and raising their own families. My four kids make up about 15% of the entire primary.
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12-06-2005, 02:41 AM | #3 |
I must not tell lies
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,103
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So to recap, the brethren raise the bar, then auxiliary leaders complain that the numbers dropped?
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12-06-2005, 03:12 AM | #4 |
Demiurge
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,365
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you know how it is. What is new is old, and what is old is new.
The pendulum will eventually swing the other way. I don't know what the right answer is. But it does remind me of my mission. Before I got there, the old mission president had many strict rules about requirements for baptism. For example of the rules was no smoking for 3 weeks. And maybe church 2-3 times. Well, the mission president that I served under changed the rules. No smoking for one week and church once. Baptisms were greatly increased. And the retention was the same. Net effect--a lot more Mormons. And probably a lot more missionaries that felt better about their efforts. I wonder if the same principle can't be true about missionaries. I hear horror stories about entire missions gone astray, and that's really sad. So I don't know what went into the decision making. I wonder what percent of mission presidents come from Utah. My guess is too many. That they are really neglecting to use the talent in other parts of the church. Ineffective mission presidents perhaps can be the result of the sometimes ineffective system of using poorly trained lay clergy. I feel bad for guys with bad mission presidents. I was lucky to have one of the best. |
12-06-2005, 04:13 AM | #5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 763
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In my ward here in Oregon, we have about 12 kids total in YM, but it's amazing what a few strong parents can do to strengthen the entire group. We've had 6 leave on missions since April, two girls and 4 guys. The guys all hung out together and were good friends and the were all in the MTC at about the same time including two others that moved up to Portland in the recent years. So there were six good friend that were in Scouts and YM together for a while. Makes an amazing difference. Contrast that to my Bay Area ward that was in the pits -- urban, low youth count, apathetic parents. That ward had three missionaries in the 2 years i was there -- all from the same family, but the 2 guys, well, left a little late. But they went!
As far as mission presidents go, I was in a "bombero" mission like Mike mentioned. (firefighter) |
12-06-2005, 05:52 AM | #6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Norcal
Posts: 5,821
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My mission president was from Utah but he was one of the best. He's like a second father to me. He understood what worked and what didn't in a mission that had the lowest baptism rate in Europe. Looking back I can see that his focus was as much on helping us to become good men as it was on gaining converts.
I'm still ambivalent about "raising the bar". On the one hand, I can see what they want and it makes sense. It would be easy to fill whole missions with slackers if there weren't a high standard. However, it seemed to me that in my day (89-91) most of the guys who went out were worth having out there. Most of them were better men by the time they left. Sure there were guys that wasted 2 years, but they were definitely the exception. I have to say that some of our best missionaries were those who had some "trouble" before coming out. They often had superior people skills (might be part of what got them in trouble in the first place) and people seemed to relate to them well. I'm not trying to say that there weren't many great Elders who had been righteous throughout their youth. But our mission definitely benefitted from having some elders that probably wouldn't have made the modern day cut. |
12-06-2005, 06:10 AM | #7 |
Senior Member
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It was our Stake Conference yesterday too. Interesting.
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12-06-2005, 12:54 PM | #8 | |
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: New York City
Posts: 180
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Re: I can understand that the numbers of YM in Stakes outsid
Quote:
o
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12-06-2005, 06:28 PM | #9 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Memphis freakin' Tennessee!!!!!
Posts: 4,530
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Re: I can understand that the numbers of YM in Stakes outsid
Quote:
You are correct that faithfulness does not depend on location. I know plenty of people outside of the Mormon Cultrual zone that have drifted away from the Church. :wink:
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Give 'em Hell, Cougars!!! Religion rises inevitably from our apprehension of our own death. To give meaning to meaninglessness is the endless quest of all religion. When death becomes the center of our consciousness, then religion authentically begins. Of all religions that I know, the one that most vehemently and persuasively defies and denies the reality of death is the original Mormonism of the Prophet, Seer and Revelator, Joseph Smith. |
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12-07-2005, 03:53 AM | #10 |
Board Pinhead
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the basement of my house, Murray, Utah.
Posts: 15,941
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myboynoah is correct..
I was talking about sheer numbers. It had nothing to do with faithfulness nor activity and I apologize if that's how it came across.
My cousin lives in South Jordan and in his ward alone, there are three quorums of Deacons, 2 quorums of both Teachers and Priests. His ward also has 28 missionaries out in the field. Compare that to the numbers from my area and you'll see what I trying to say.
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"The beauty of baseball is not having to explain it." - Chuck Shriver "This is now the joke that stupid people laugh at." - Christopher Hitchens on IQ jokes about GWB. |
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