4 Things Every Member Can Do To Reverse The Record Low Baptism Rates.
The growth of the church is stalling. The number of convert baptisms is at a 30 year low. Missionary effectiveness as measured in Missionary to Convert ratio has plummeted through the floor to a 40 year low. And the growth percentage of the church is at a 50 year low. We effectively have twice as many missionaries as we did in the 80’s, yet we are having the same amount of convert baptisms, if not less. This results in missionaries who struggle because they are not seeing success. Here is a graph illustrating the past few decades. (Data taken from conference reports)
Now, when we see this, we have two options: make excuses or find solutions. For the longest time, I fell into the excuse camp. I would think: It is because of the internet, morality, the time of the Gentiles being fulfilled, families being under attack. etc etc etc
But recently I realized something, I was using these excuses as a rationalization and excuse not to fix the problem. As I’ve been studying General Conference talks on missionary work I realized the Brethren do not use excuses but give solutions. They never talk about slowing growth but of the need to increase growth. Consider the words of President Gordon B. Hinckley:
“Last year there were approximately 300,000 convert baptisms throughout the Church… It is wonderful. But it is not enough. I am not being unrealistic when I say that with concerted effort, with recognition of the duty which falls upon each of us as members of the Church, and with sincere prayer to the Lord for help, we could double that number.”
So here are some practical things we, as members of the church, can do to lengthen our stride and enlarge our vision and help reverse the trend!
“I wonder if we are doing all we can. Are we complacent in our assignment to teach the gospel to others? Are we prepared to lengthen our stride? To enlarge our vision?”
1st. We Can Better Prepare Missionaries To Serve.
One of the most shocking things I have found with missionaries recently is how many have admitted they had NOT read The Book of Mormon before going on a mission. And many did not have a testimony themselves. For too long, members of the church have had the ‘aim low’ philosophy of “Well, if you go on your mission and only convert yourself you were successful!” That is not true! Your purpose as a missionary as stated in Preach My Gospel is to “Invite others to come unto Christ.” Your job is to share the gospel. It is a prerequisite that you already have a testimony. As Elder B. H. Roberts. explained: “You cannot convert people beyond your own conversion”
How can we expect our missionaries to have the faith necessary to produce miracles if they don’t even know the church is true? The MTC is a place designed to teach disciples how to be missionaries! It is not designed to teach doctrinally illiterate youth how to be a disciple. That is our job! It is the job of the home teachers, youth leaders, Bishop’s and ultimately the parents to teach the basic doctrines to the youth. It would be better to delay a mission for a month while a young man reads the Book of Mormon for the first time than to send him into the field testimony barren and therefore a burden to the missionaries who need to babysit them instead of teaching the Gospel to others. So let us better train perspective missionaries so they will have faith to perform miracles!
“I am not asking for more testimony-barren or unworthy missionaries. I am asking that we start earlier and train our missionaries better in every branch and every ward in the world.”
Spencer W. Kimball
2nd. We Can Set Correct Expectations
Whatever part of the vineyard the Lord has called you to labor in has work to be done! The Lord Himself declared “For behold the field is white already to harvest” D&C 4:4. Many missionaries and members believe missionary work is true, but just not where they are serving/living. I’ve heard countless missionaries say things like “It’s different here in South Carolina” Or Russia, France, Tennessee, North Dakota, New England, Iowa. etc etc etc. IT IS NOT TRUE. No mission, nation, city or land was exempted from the Lord’s declaration that the field is white! There are millions of people who are prepared to receive the gospel if we are but willing to put in the effort to find them.
I remember sitting in the Provo MTC when the MTC President stood up and talked about so-called “dead areas” or areas where there was little or no work. He then resolutely declared “There are no dead areas, only dead missionaries!” Meaning that the idea that there are parts of the world where there is no one prepared is not true. Now, it is important to remember that the work in each area is different, therefore one size measurements, like the number of baptisms, do not work. We are called to build up the Kingdom and strengthen the members, and that takes many different forms.
One of my favorite areas of my mission I did not see a single baptism. But my last Sunday we had 21 less actives come to church. Some would consider that a failure, but my mission president always taught “A soul rescued is as valuable as a soul saved.” A reactivation is as valuable as a baptism. Also, it is vital to realize we are there to love and invite. If we do that, we have fulfilled our duty regardless of if they get baptized/come back to the church. As long as we continue to love them we did not fail!
“There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save. The harvest truly is great.”
Thomas S. Monson
3rd. We Can Recognize It Is Our Duty.
The problem is not how many missionaries we have; we have doubled the number of missionaries over the past 30 years! The problem is that no matter how hard the missionaries work, they won’t be able to fulfill OUR duty as members. “Every member a missionary!” Was the clarion call of yesteryear by David O McKay, but preceding that statement was the charge that each family “bring at least one new member into the Church each year.” In the war against Satan, the call of the Lord to Hasten Salvation was truly a call for all hands on deck.; for everyone to man their Battle-stations.
“Missionaries will continue to do the best they can, but wouldn’t it be better if you and I stepped up to do a job that is rightfully ours?”
L. Tom Perry
4th. We Can Become Member Missionaries.
When President Oaks heard President Hinckley’s call to double covert baptisms he was the head of the missionary department. He set out to make this a reality. 15 years ago he ordered a study on what led people to get baptized the Missionary Department’s conclusion was that we could double baptisms by doing any one of the following:
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Increase the number of investigators found through media campaigns by 13.5 times. (That would require an extremely large increase in our media budget.)
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Increase the number of investigators found directly by missionaries by 6 times. (That would require an enormous increase in the number or the effectiveness of our missionaries.)
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Increase the number of investigators found through the members by 2.7 times.
Over the past 15 years, the church has poured millions into branding, Mormon.org, and social media marketing. Consider this: In spring of 2017 I was at a meeting at Temple Square where they reported that more than 1% of all baptisms in 2016 were self-referrals from to Mormon.org due to the #LIGHTtheWORLD Christmas campaign! That is the directly traceable ones! With the surge of missionaries, we have also seen missionary numbers rise from 56k to 70k+ in the past few years.
The Church is doing all they can to make options 1 and 2 a reality. But practically speaking the most effective option is #3. And that one the Church cannot do itself. It is the members that must step up to the plate.
Consider the following 6 quotes about member missionary work:
Clayton M. Christensen
Spencer W. Kimball
George Albert Smith
Conclusion: Responding To The Call To Double Missionary Converts.
The Lord has NOT declared the work is over; or that numerically, it is coming to a close. Will we have to work harder? YES! Will we need to step up to the plate and fulfill our duty? Absolutely! I truly believe that we will be able to reverse this trend. Everyone will need to participate, we won’t have time to waste, we must open our mouths and actually share the gospel with words. We must employ our fingers to share the gospel on social media. We must treat everyone as a son or daughter of God worth saving. If we shirk not our duties, and in love, invite everyone around us to hear the gospel our extra efforts will be rewarded.
“The extra effort necessary to double our baptisms is within our reach if we can just unite our efforts.”
Dallin H. Oaks
If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy this post. 8 Ways to Hasten Salvation Using Facebook!
Carola Strauss
Monday 11th of April 2022
If baptisms have been going down for over forty years, why are we building so many more temples?
Jeremy
Monday 11th of April 2022
Hey Carol,
I did not say they have been going down for 40 years, but rather that we are currently at a 40 year low.
And a shift in temple build has occurred in the last decade. Previously, before a new temple was announced, they would see how much it was needed in terms of are the nearby temples at capacity, how many members of the new temple area are currently temple workers, how much demand is there etc etc etc. This often caused temples to be announced slowly as they took 10+ stakes to justify normally.
They have shifted. Instead of waiting until the people will be able to keep a temple busy, they are now building temples far closer to the people allowing them to start building multigenerational convert families. Countries like Combida do NOT justify a temple in terms of previous requirements. But new requirements look at the cost and burden of going to a nearby temple, which was HUGE, so now they are bringing a temple to the people. The Cambodia temple will probably service less people in a week than the Mount Timp will service in a weekday. But that is ok, it is scalable.
Also, they found that baptisms increase after open houses, and retention skyrockets. So the old way of waiting until members were ready ensured temples were used and if that is the metric of ROI then it was wise, but realizing that the new temples help prepare the people and build the kingdom, and if that is the metric of ROI then it is far better to have lots of smaller less used temples.
Does that make sense?
Rod N.
Monday 7th of October 2019
The number one and two things that will, in my experience, attract and retain new members and returning members are sacrifice and service. The 2015 church video "Lift" explains the transformative effects of these choices better than I ever could. Sacrifice by the ward members to serve the "one" lost in the wilderness (and I guarantee that there is more than one "one" within your local unit boundaries, member or otherwise, who would be blessed by the sacrifice and service) is what is needed to change (and if necessary humble) the hearts of the members - to open their hearts to be welcoming to new and returning members. Nothing else will work if the hearts of the members are not in it. With the hearts of the members in the right place, miracles happen.
I know of a ward that has grown more than 20% in average sacrament meeting attendance in 2019 as compared to the same quarters last year. Part of that comes from 19 baptisms so far this year, all of whom have remained active and engaged. All. Not one has been lost, because of the welcoming nature of the members. The rest (and this is actually the best part), has come through "less active" (or whatever buzzword you prefer) members and families being loved, nurtured, and welcomed into returning to activity. It has been a wonderful thing to witness.
When I last checked, this one ward accounted for over half the total baptisms recorded during the first half of this year in the stake. Why? Sacrifice and service. Humble, welcoming members. Nothing else will work if you don't first have this.
Tom
Thursday 15th of March 2018
Don't take this as an attack, it is not nor is it meant to sound like such. But the problem is not nor has it been the number of baptisms. It's retention and the feeling that the new converts all too often get that they were just a trophy number. Being a Native American from the Deep South, I have not only experienced it first hand but I have seen it over and over and over again. The Church leadership WILL NOT listen , have not listened and don't intend to listen. The answer to the shrinking numbers problem is simple but no one wants to hear from the lowly Converts especially IF they are from the South or Native American. This is easily verified and is NOT just my opinion here. The track record speaks for itself.
Kevin Rex
Friday 23rd of February 2018
Amen. The most important thing I learned as a missionary to Peru in the early 1980's was the influence to convert that the Book of Mormon has. The Lamanites of Peru, and of all of North and South America, especially, can benefit from the most correct book on earth, and the better of scriptures because it is so plain and precious. It can be read simply and without defensiveness, just the way God intended it.
DAVE
Monday 19th of February 2018
The church is, I believe, losing more members than it is gaining. It is tough to be a missionary in a community that has so many inactive members. I live in Gilbert, Arizona. We have a huge LDS population. The average sacrament meeting attendance is usually at 40-45%. Our bishop told us during a recent sacrament meeting talk, that he had just recently looked over the Ward's membership list of names.. He stated that our Ward had 450 members. The bishop only recognized the names of 222 people. Our attendance rate is so low that most members have 2 and sometimes 3 callings. The church's General Authorities do not seem able to come up with a solution to the wavering number of enthusiastic, active members tHE CHU