My husband and I left the church in 2011. The year we left 9 families had made the exit in that same year.

My husband ran into someone from the ward the other day. They told him that 7 families had left in 2013. They didn't move, they left the church.

I have no idea what the numbers are for 2012.
With 16 families leaving, there must not be too many people left. That's a ton of people for one ward to lose. Not only that, they've lost some of the most staunch members.

If this is going on throughout the church, they are in the panic mode. I know for sure that 4 of the families were also the top tithe payers.

No wonder they're telling everyone to stay off the internet.

That is pretty impressive for one ward.

Wow. Now I want to know where you live. Are you in Utah?

I live in western washington.

Huzzah for us here in WA!!!!!!

I love it here!!!!!

There's bunches in Oregon as well. The NW rocks!!

It's clear to me that Starbucks is responsible.

JOng...thanks for the laugh!

You have something there. Maybe it should be added to the logo: Dedtroying Mormons one shot at a time.

Haha

People are coming to their senses.

Sadly not in my family, but hopefully if they are determined to ride the U.S.S. Mormon CultShip to the bottom they'll know why it had to be taken down.

I do love to hear the stories though, I do like to believe that even though my reality isn't impacted by my efforts that the realities of others is changing for the better.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2013 06:25PM by gentlestrength.

Haha I wonder what Tommy and the brethren think about this. This is what happens when staunch members RMs temple patrons etc realise the lies and fraud of TSSC

It makes sense. This is the age of information. My old grandma has a computer, and so does my 5 year old niece. Life is more varied and interesting. The world I'd smaller than ever. And we all have friends of other cultures and religions. Most women work, these days. There is too much to learn and too much to do. These past two decades have been the wrong time for the Mormon cult to consolidate and become impersonal and less "fun". Plus the demands on the good cult members are ridiculous. I know a former Bishop who went inactive, and said he "just burned out".

I agree that most Mormons who leave don't bother to officially resign. Yesterday in a conversation about Easter, a Mormon friend simply said, "we hardly ever go to church anymore, since they changed the ward boundaries. A lot of our friends have stopped going, too." No mention about not believing, no mention of resigning. This friend is approaching retirement age, and her children are in college and leaving the nest. Her last two sons did not go on missions.

These days, there are a hundred reasons to leave that cult.

Mia, in 2011, what was your bishop's first name?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2013 12:22AM by mia.

I think I live in a place that's a bit different than most.
Very few people that live here have lived here for very long. People have a tendency to move here to get away from it all.

There are a lot of retired people in the area. Many of them don't live close to family. Many of them are a bit reclusive. A lot of them are highly educated.

Most of the people I know of that left the church were used up and burnt out. They were done raising family. They have a lot of free time to be online.

I think that's a combination that has played into this exodus.

Also, I have to give the stake president some credit. I can't think of anyone he hasn't offended. Him and his wife are really full of themselves. He's been the catalyst for quite a few teenagers and 20 somethings leaving. He played a large part in my own exit. Without his inspiring nasty personality and over inflated ego, I probably wouldn't have went on line and started researching the truth. I really owe him a huge thank-you.

Die "church" die!!

+1

I'm contributing my truth (poison) to get this church to die! I second that.

Were that many people offended, or did they just want to sin?

Why isn't this happening in my neck of the woods???

16 Families?

Heck, some wards and branches don't even have many more than that.

A friend mentioned to me that a stake she served her mission in lost at least 20% of active members (2011-2012) - those members just went inactive, not resigned, though. And it was brought up in a stake-level meeting.

I happen to think the "sudden revelation" about lowering missionary age limits has something to do with the fact that people are leaving in droves. After all, missionaries - not mission presidents who possibly get stipends - are self-funded.

That 10% gets harder to pay when times get hard and the government wants more of your money. Plus, what does the church really offer anyone anymore? I always thought when times finally got tough. The out of touch, money hungry, corporate church would fail because it no longer offers anything worthwhile to the members. The old church did to a certain extent because it hadn't been correlated yet and there was local leadership instead of drones following orders from Salt Lake.

I've never had any conversations with you on this board, and have never met you in IRL either, but I think of you every time I pull up next to a Jeep thingamabobber.

I had a district leader in Japan who's name was Levi. Everytime I see you post I see his face. I know it's not him though because he's facebook profile is VERY TBM....

I know that when times get tough, you have to decide what is necessary and what you can do without. I guess when the church has nothing to offer, members can do without it.

Yeah it's pretty obvious that the GA's are worried; just look at the drop in the missionary age. Send out the youth before they go to college and the chances of them doing any real research online or talking to exmo's drop significantly. Of course, it's not a sustainable course of action, and I think the church will continue to decline despite these futile efforts.

My younger brother just turned 18 and he's planning on heading out straight from high school this summer...I know there's nothing I can do to stop him and it really frustrates me now that my wife and I are leaving TSCC.

I wish it was like that in my family. The Mormons in my family can barely function without priesthood instruction. I'm pretty sure they are going down with the ship.

Six members of my family walked (ran) away from TSCC last year. Didn't go inacitve, they made it clear they would never return because it's not true. They cut off all visits and I was sooo happy because I thought it would never happen. They had callings went to the temple etc and over a period of a short few weeks.......apostized.


For people who think they have family memebers who will never never leave.... I was once like you are now.

...a niece who had been semi active (mostly because her husband isn't as far down the off ramp as her) announced on FB that she couldn't fake belief anymore so she's not going to church anymore. And a nephew told me he and his wife are secret apostates.

Besides the ones who have actually left, I think there are a lot who would like to. My wild guess hypothesis is that if 75% of the members on the books are inactive then maybe 75% of the active ones wish they could leave.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2013 09:31AM by Stray Mutt.

I don't think that's happening where I live, but since I've no Mormon family members, I'm not really affected by it at all anyway. But I think if it was happening that my one TBM friend would have mentioned it.

I wish that someone I know would leave. I live in Orem, so it's a monoblock of Mormons around here. Leaving the church has caused nearly all TBM acquaintances to think I am mentally ill, led away by Stan or need fixing in some way.

I love to read posts like this because I also have that wish that TSCC will have to come clean and tell the truth. But then I see they keep building temples, churches and malls. TBM's keep having droves of children. They throw out membership numbers that put them in a positive light.....I need to know for sure!!! What are the actual numbers!!!! AAAARGH!!!!!!

I just left tscc about a month ago, and I took my family with me. The funny thing is that once I left I found all my childhood friends where also no longer participating in the church.

In fact killer moment for me was when the Apex, NC stake president gave a talk and mentioned that tithing income was decreasing and we needed to be more faithful and pay more to the church. I thought to myself what an @ss, people are losing their jobs due to the recession, and you are wondering why tithing rates are going down.

I wish I would have found this site earlier, it would have saved me a lot of money! LOL.

All but 3 people I knew back in my YM days are still active - mostly because their wives a uber TBM, not because they truly believe in TSCC.

Only 2 out of 10 missionaries I knew back on my mission are still active, but "lukewarm."

Retention rate of new members has been low in every stake I've been in, the best being 35%.

Last year, many TBM members in a nearby stake are not able to renew temple recommends because they haven't been able to pay full tithing - as a result of bad economy, of course.

So, go figure.

TwoJedis - What part of Oregon are you and SithLord in? I grew up in Eastern Oregon, but live in Ogden, UT now.

I think the church actually introducing more honest historical terms such as "seer stone" and the fact that there are multiple versions of the first vision is helping people see the truth about the church. Long time members "know" what they have been taught through the years, and now the church is changing it. That has got to be confusing for tbms. I have been letting all of my family members know about changes in the bom that are happening. Hopefully they will see the light...or at least a flicker!

Members have been leaving the LDS church individually, or in families to some extent for decades - or more accurately, since the church was begun, even starting up many factions after the Smiths deaths.

Now days, we are more aware of these kinds of changes in membership partially because of the Internet.

Whatever the reason, there is a core of believers, that most likely, will continue to keep the church beliefs alive and vibrant in their circles for decades to come.

It's my view that if it was really an extreme cult, it would have dissolved long ago. But, in my view, because it functions, in the main, as a hereditary,cultural, religious, patriarchal tribe, it is not going to disappear. It's possible but, in my view, not likely.

As I understand how Mormonism began as an American God Myth, and how it fits in the Big Picture of world religions, even though it is rather small, it is how it functions, in a tribal fashion; that keeps it moving from generation to generation, especially in highly populated Mormon areas. Once it takes hold of the population, as a majority it is not just a religion, it takes a level of control of the political climate, the schools, the government at all levels.

It this point, I don't have any evidence that members are "leaving in droves." Some areas may see some big losses, but others are growing and in a building mode to satisfy their needs.

If and until we have accurate information on membership we will continue to speculate based on what we observe.

First time post. More than half of the kids from my Provo home ward are inactive and most of them don't believe. It is really only a matter of time. It only takes an intelligent person 5 minutes online researching before they figure out it isn't true anymore.

Didn't Elder Jensen give a talk (before he was retired by TSCC) where he indicated that people were leaving the church at an unprecedented rate? Does anyone still have that link?

nofear Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Didn't Elder Jensen give a talk (before he was
> retired by TSCC) where he indicated that people
> were leaving the church at an unprecedented rate?
> Does anyone still have that link?

Here is one version.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/31/us-mormonchurch-idUSTRE80T1CM20120131