FIRST, traditional is not meant to alienate any family unit!

I'd like to know when was the last time anyone saw a dad, mom and one or more children join the church?

One more qualifier, the parents had to be working and making a living wage with the church providing no incentive for economic benefit upon becoming members.

2004 was the last time I witnessed one of these group baptisms in my ward. Lasted three months. This was in California.

Please site the location.

ummmmm....











thinkin.....










thinking......










thinking.........









why is my hair turning grey.......









thinking.....











dead.

LOL

Late 1970s was last I personally saw two traditional families join.

Approximately 5 years ago maybe. I lose track of time easily. It was a husband, wife, & a couple teenagers. They were new to town. Lasted maybe a year. Husband was convicted of theft of him employer - a ward member. I think the wife and her kids kept coming for a while. They might still go off and on but not sure. Maybe for the financial help??

I was on my way out of the church by the time they left so not exactly sure of all the details.

Southeast Idaho. Very much part of the moridor.

About 1988 in Florida. Husband, wife, and two toddlers. They lasted about 6 months, and left over tithing issues, or so I heard. Too bad, she was exceedingly cute.

Not looking good so far people...

1993. I remember it well. in about 1 to 1 1/2 years they told us that church was too boring and they left for a nearby regular Christian church with good music and a real pastor. that cause a bit of a stir and people were miffed but got over it. haven't seen a normal family join mormonism since. Most of the people joining seem to have mental problems.

I've never actually seen it happen in my lifetime.

I've seen a family join before but they were immigrants, had no money, and the father wasn't with them, just the mother and children. They were really nice, even though they were going through a difficult time. The church members did help them out a lot, even helping them get a house, and they stopped attending after a while, so it was probably a good deal for the family overall.

Also, part member baptisms are not what I am referring to either. Where a great member family has the mom or the dad join who were previously NOT members.

Anyone???

About 10 years ago. Mom, dad, kids. They're still in.

Since then? The few converts have been single people, a few youth from broken homes (and who need rides to everything, even church), and a single mom.

My experience too.

Teen from broken home.
Single mom, twice divorced.
Divorced man, no kids.
Teen from single parent home.
Mentally challenged single lady.

ALL NICE PEOPLE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING and cared little about whether the church was what it claimed to be.

That was me at the time of my baptism. Teen from a broken home :/

I've never seen a traditional and normal family join. The vast majority were mentally ill and/or needing church welfare.

Same here...drawn to the family thing that was missing in my life. What I thought was the spirit, was just the lack of anger, conflict, and tension that existing in my dysfunctional and broken home.

No one with intelligence joins as an adult.

Teens with equal parts intelligence and naivety can join for various seemingly legit reasons, but if they truly are smart, they'll eventually find their way back out.

Seriously, great question!

My parents converted in the very early 70's. Soon after, one of my mother's friends converted...it took another eight years for her husband to get baptized. Their next-door neighbors converted during this time also. Sadly, all still active.

I haven't seen any 'golden family' converts since about '82. And, in my lifetime, I only know of the ones mentioned above. In every one of those cases, it was the wife that pushed the husband to join.

I've never seen one, not even on my mission. The most recent family that I personally know joined around 1990 in PA...young couple with a baby. They're still active and they have a son on a mission.

I hadn't even seen a single convert baptism in the last 10 years until a few months ago. A young lady was baptized shortly after marrying a member.

I know of one family that joined in '97 of '98. I think they stayed in, not sure.

My brother that has not been active in over 20 years is rejoining and bringing his wife and kids with him. He was a jack-mormon since youth. Never received the priesthood etc. He has a job but I get the impression they struggle financially. I can't imagine he will last long, he is half crazy. I do not think he will be a benefit to the church.

The siblings and I are taking bets on how long he will last. I am hoping, hoping for a year. The idea of him in the temple cracks me up like no other thought.

I know of only one:
Family of four, 1995, California
I think they're still in

There were 3 families that joined in 1990. It was the cleveland Ohio mission. One stayed in for 20 years. Another moved to Missouri so they could be there in the end times. Another lasted about 5 years, except their one son married the bishops daughter and is still in.

The missionary who baptized all of them left the church a few years after he got home from his mission.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2014 03:23PM by madalice.

Three years ago we had a family join. Husband was already baptized, but hadn't been to church in 20+ years. His wife and 2 or 3 kids all joined. They are all extremely active now (including the husband).

Four years ago we had a mother and son join. Her husband joined a year later. They divorced soon after. He never goes. Not sure about her as she got remarried and moved away. She and her son were active when they moved.

All four of these adults held jobs. I'm in a small Mormon town in Nevada.

Those are instances of the families that joined. There have been a few singles who have joined as well. I don't know what's going on out here. Seems like there are more who are joining than leaving. I'm the only one I know who left.

Sadly, about a year ago a man, his wife, and 3 kids joined the church.

This was in queen creek az.

You pretty much have to be LDS living in Queen Creek :/

Last family I saw was in 2009. Husband, wife, 3 school-aged kids. About 6 months in, the parents went to ward temple night, but just to do baptisms for the dead. I'll never forget the look of horror on their faces as they left the building. The ward never saw them again. This was in Las Vegas.

One would think that there would be a lot of return missionaries with accounts of many, many families joining.

One can only conclude that the missionaries have been masturbating.

1995, right at the end of my mission, a couple we had been teaching was baptized: mom & dad (w/toddler). I know they were active for a while, lots of friends in the ward, held callings, etc. But I have since lost touch with them.

That was in Brazil.

Since then (in USA), I only know of two adults being baptized: 1 husband from part-member family, 1 single middle-aged woman. Both in the Chicago area.

I don't recall ever seeing a family join the church. Sadly, I did get my two besties from grade school to join when we were in high school (3 decades ago), but only one is still active.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2014 06:28PM by Devoted Exmo.

I grew up in a little Wyoming part of the Morridor, and I don't remember a single traditional family ever joining.

I baptized one traditional family on my mission (Northern Europe). Mother, Father and two daughters. They only stayed active about a year. This was 2003. Haven't seen any join since then in any of the wards I've lived in (several European countries and 6 different states).

I baptized 4 families on my mission (for which I feel aweful)

2 were in aztech, new mexico. A mom, dad, and 2 kids. They are still active. The other was a mom and dad who had just had a baby. Still active. In 1998.

Another was in Espanola, new mexico. A mom dad and 2 kids, they went to the temple but have since stopped attending. This was in 1998.

Then an African American family with three kids. No idea if they are active but I really hope not.

My mission did some serious damage. Some thing I will regret all my life.

...that the downward trend in traditional, stable families joining the church is strongly correlated with correlation itself? TSCC has always been a crock, but in the 1950s and 1960s it had better social and community benefits, as well as more character than it does now.

Yes it is possible. My transition out has been a result of learning contradictory information regarding the truth claims of TSCC, coupled with weaker spiritual experiences and social satisfaction in my local congregation. These are all connected.

The lack of traditional family converts is directly tied to the Internet.

I recently saw a statistic which said that over half of the adults in the United States are now single -- people simply aren't forming families like they did 30 years ago. If the number of families being baptized has declined it might simply be a matter of demographics. It used to be unchurched people would still form traditional families and were a population Mormons could attract. Now traditional families are already likely to be attached to a Christian church and aren't as likely to feel a need for Mormonism. Many of the families we baptized on my mission simply didn't attend a church. Now those people are harder to find.

^^^ I think demographics explains a lot of it.

My first baptisms in Colombia came from an intact family unit. It's kind of funny looking back on it now. I was a greenie missionary, I found an intact family, committed them to baptism with my broken Spanish on my first visit, and they actually followed through. I had no idea how incredibly rare that was. They ended up being the only such baptisms that I had throughout my entire mission...and none of the dozens of missionaries in zones that I was in ever had one either.

As for the family I baptized, they moved away to a farm for work. The church didn't exist in the relatively remote location that they went to. I would be seriously surprised if they remained active.

In all the time since then (20+ years), I have never seen an intact, functional family all join the church at the same time. Not even once. Hell, I have very rarely even witnessed a mentally stable, gainfully employed single person that joined the church.

I have seen hundreds of primary and mutual age kids join (usually the kids of a divorced, inactive, single parent or the close friends of a TBM family). I have also seen a large assortment of unemployed adults join the church (usually people with drug/alcohol problems or mental illnesses or both).

I don't see that in my kids schools and my neighborhood. LOT'S of great traditional families.

Going anonymous:

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but here goes the truth.

In May 2011 Elder Ballard (Q12) came to the San Jose California Mission to begin the pilot program for "Hastening the Work of Salvation." Later that evening (a Saturday) those of us who were in ward councils within the mission boundary went to the Fremont, CA multi-complex building (it has two chapels, two cultural halls and is two stories). (48818 Green Valley Rd, Fremont, CA) Link to picture: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.4679776,-121.9029344,3a,75y,234.37h,86.42t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1soAD0lucg-RIeVO81qku7hQ!2e0!6m1!1e1

The meeting with Ballard was repeated the following Sunday for the other half of ward councils in the mission (location? I wasn't at that meeting so I don't know where it was.)

Ballard instructed the leaders how the pilot program would work. Missionary work was to be correlated with the ward council. As an example of how to do it he told of TWO COMPLETE FAMILIES who had recently joined the church. He didn't say where they were from, but I knew precisely who he was talking about when he made that comment.

Both families are in one ward: The Hillsdale Ward in the San Jose South California Stake that meets at a building on Kirk and Noreen Streets, San Jose, CA.

I was working as a TBM faithful with the missionaries and know personally the Elders responsible for teaching these two families.

First Family: Family of 4. Father baptized first in August 2010, then 3-4 weeks later baptized his wife and two boys. Both boys are in the Young Men's Program now. The family went to the Oakland Temple and were sealed.

Second Family: Family of 5. Father, wife and three boys were all baptized the same day 2011. Baptizers were the missionaries and the senior male who befriend the family. The family went to the Oakland Temple and were sealed.

Both new convert families were fellowshipped by very active TBM families. Both of the fathers of those families are currently sitting on the High Council for the San Jose California South Stake.