During the 1960's and 70's there were always things happening at the ward building. On Sunday's after Sunday School there was always a pot luck meal for the families that waited for Sacrament instead of heading home between meetings. There were the standard week day meetings but on the weekends we had a carnival fun raiser, Halloween parties, dances and even had Santa Claus come to the building and pass out oranges and nuts. The younger married women would even flirt with Santa Claus and sit on his lap.

Today - there is nothing in the way of a social life for LDS members. Maybe people need their religion to provide a social life as well as spiritual. Just saying.

I can't agree more. I have fond recollections of fancy dress parties, dances, trips and all kind of activities at branch and stake level. I remember the phrase "man is that he might have joy" being quoted on occasion.

When did it become such a joyless, miserable organisation?

It happened in the '80's. Women started organizing book clubs a la Oprah and the church clamped down hard. At that same time, correlation was the big push so that at any given Sunday, the lessons given in a ward in Davis County would be the same as ones given in a ward in South Africa. This means you dumb everything down to the lowest level.

Also, leadership got very greedy. They wanted all moneys to go straight to SLC and have the wards operate on a shoe string budget. They also decided to self insure all buildings. This meant that the kitchens could no longer be used for any meals. And NO fundraisers allowed except for the boy scouts. That meant no parties, no bazaars, no dances, no potlucks, no dinners, no fun of any kind was to be had. Pray, pay and obey became the watchwords.

I agree, when I was growing up there were roadshows, potlucks, holiday parties (I have fond memories of big Halloween activities at the church) talent shows, etc.

Now they have a ward Christmas party, and in the summertime they might have either a campout or potluck, but that's about it. Oh, they do trunk or treat, but it's pretty lame now. Show up, pass out candy, go home. They used to do chili cook offs and other fun things, but now it's just trunk or treat.

Two years ago there was a huge brouhaha over having Santa at the the ward Christmas party. Some ULTRA tbm members felt there was NO place whatsoever for Santa to show up to church, others said hey, it's a party, not sacrament meeting. They ultimately decided not to have Santa that year, even though they'd been having Santa show up nearly every single party for dozens of years (Santa would show up and the kids would line up and sit on his lap and get a candy cane). The ultra TBMs made a huge stink about Santa violating the sanctity of the church party, taking the focus away from Christ. You know, the party, in the gym, with dozens of toddlers and kids running amock and screaming.

Then there was talk about no longer having trunk or treat, but making it into a Fall festival instead, because getting dressed up as scary or evil things has no place on the church grounds (again, coming from an ultra tbm).

Mormons know how to suck the fun out of everything.

Why stick around where there is no fun? Our whole social life was the church. Boy, I'm really glad I bailed now. This could be a reason for membership decline.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2014 01:30PM by michaelc1945.

We even had spook alleys. Now they can't even dress in costumes because they are scary???? And Santa Claus at primary parties. There was always some activity, some dinner. And the meals were good.

When I got called to be in YW in the late 1980s, I was so excited to do a bunch of activities with them. We couldn't do anything because of insurance issues and we were always supposed to focus our activities around the church. The girls were bored out of their minds. MANY of the girls I had in YW have left the church. I love it.

I grew up in a small branch in the Netherlands. The church is not very big here.
The stake level activities were the only chance us youngsters (Mainly my sister and I) to meet other mormon youngsters!

I have fond memories of stake dances, and playback shows. It was stuff we looked forward to for months..


I remember us getting a good laugh out of what happened when a song that was played during a dance was deemed: "inappropriate".. Many of the older members who would chaperone the evening weren't too good at understanding English.. so some stuff did slip through and us youngsters would giggle over suggestive lyrics...

but if one of the leaders DID catch on to a naughty song being played, they'd RUN across the the dance floor in an almighty hurry towards the "DJ" and yank the song!..
(Pretty lame now, but back then I thought that was hilarious!)

Mormons do suck the fun out of life.
I'm so glad I don't have to do that anymore..

When Three Dog Night released “Joy to the World” (aka Jeremiah was a Bull Frog) as a single in February of 1971 it quickly became a popular and much requested song at our Central California stake dances. The priesthood was there with their flashlights and monitoring that we weren't dancing to closely together but they never seemed to catch the un-mormon like lyrics of that song:

"Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine"

"I'd throw away the cars and the bars and the war
Make sweet love to you, sing it now"

"You know I love the ladies, love to have my fun"

Sneaking something past those leaders made dancing to the song just that much more fun.

I found the bullying and tyranny of other boy scouts to be pretty awful as a member in the 70s, BUT the organization as a whole provided a lot of fun activities.

Sports was HUGE in our stake and my Dad and sister played on basketball and baseball teams.

I hated all that but did appreciate all the other fun things we did. The church had a private campground in the mountains called Camp Nauvoo and we went up there regularly for campouts. I would think our ward had at least one ward campout per summer, but it may have been one per month.

There were also stake musicals. I remember Carousel one year, and The Music Man another year. I'd be VERY surprised if they do anything like that now. Our ward put on several plays as well.

I was in a roadshow in 1976 and I think they had them every couple of years. They were a really big deal. We also had dance festivals in the years we didn't have roadshows. There would be huge regional dance festivals and big stadiums in the Bay Area. Amazing really.

I remember my parents getting dressed up for couples dances, and Mom was always making things for the church Bazaar. Not to mention potlucks, cookouts, game nights, etc. All at the ward or occasionally at members' houses.

I agree that wise churches realize that they should provide social supports along with spiritual supports. The Mormon church willfully discarded one of its biggest strengths.

I used to occasionally attend services at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City (its St. Francis feast day celebration is not to be missed. One year they had a parade of animals down the central aisle culminating in the entrance of an elephant. Can you imagine?) Anyhoo, one thing I realized while attending this church is just how much it successfully recreates the community feeling of a medieval cathedral. It is truly a community center and a beehive of activity every day of the week. It makes you understand why churches became so important. Church communities took care of their people in every conceivable way. Successful modern churches "get" that. The modern Mormon church does not.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2014 07:32PM by summer.

It really must depend on your location.

My final ward of the last 8 years and before that another ward in the same stake of 10 years did all kinds of stuff.

My final ward had an activity quarterly.

We had/have Halloween parties, lots of fun things to do and trunk or treat, with a prize for the best decorated car, and oh, yes, we have had chili cook offs at the Halloween parties, too.

Of course Christmas parties, no killjoys in our ward, so Santa and fun, as well as kids doing the Nativity and singing carols together. And always a Giving Tree for many "adopted" families. Also most years in my final ward we did a charity drive for the Share House, a homeless shelter for men. We put together some kind of kit, with toothbrush and toothpaste, socks, deodorant, etc.

Every year the Stake does a youth something. Whether it be a roadshow or a dance festival or something big. And the dance festivals are regional, so they're huge, and they're pretty amazing, actually. Lots of talented people contributing tons of time and effort.

Father/son camp outs every year. Ward camp outs once a year.

This is all current stuff.

I know they cut the budgets so things aren't like they used to be years ago, but I personally think it's because people are much busier doing other things and there's no attendance.

I remember bazaars and fundraising, but that's because we all had to dig deep into our pockets to fund the building of the Seattle temple at that time.

Then they stopped doing that because temple building funds started coming from somewhere else.

Oh, and just last year the Young Woman had a spaghetti feed to raise money for girls' camp. So, yes, fundraising is allowed in my final ward, too.

So, yeah, maybe it's location or local leaders or individual ward budgets or something. I live in an area with a heckalot of mormons.

I feel like I'm defending them, but I'm just putting out there that not every experience and not every ward and not every stake is the same.

I really thought all of these fun things didn't exist anymore. Why is your ward/stake able to get away with it?

I live in the Pacific Northwest.
And I have no idea how they get away with it. I was in that stake my entire life so have no other frame of reference!

Maybe because there are so many Mormons in this area, but are far enough away from Utah?

Last year our ward Christmas party/dinner was cold ham--cold potatoes--cold vegetable--and warm water. This year I will pass.

Do any morridor folk remember the old Valley Music Hall? It's the beehive looking building you see off I-15 near Woods Cross.

In the 70's and early 80's our stake hosted huge shows there. We did the The Music Man, Lil' Abner, Oklahoma, Fiddler on the Roof, etc. The productions were high quality and mostly sold out. The stake had no trouble getting a full orchestra of professional musicians. Many of the actors were pros too. And it was theatre in the round. The stage rotated and all. Very cool venue. Roadshows, Stake Conferences and Regional Conferences were hosted there too.

Then Churchco dumped the whole thing. The building sat for years until they turned it into a conference center. In doing so they scrapped the theatre in the round. Too bad.

So yes - good times all those years ago. The church has now devolved to member toilet cleaning. Whodathunk?

I agree with "Devoted Exmo" .... The Church Leadership got greedy and wanted as much money as possible for wealth-building. It's a USER Church. It's a taker and NOT a giver. It cares more about money than anything else.

If any other Church operated so stingily, they would be out of business. And I'm hoping that happens to the Mormon Church. They deserve it.

I also remember doing fun activities in the 80's though now it seems most if that stuff has been reduced or eliminated as the funding and ability to raise money was cut off by SLC. I don't go but from what I hear from family, the local ward is on par with what others here are saying. A couple of years ago we were invited to the truck or treat thing. They described being in a cold parking lot going car to car on Halloween instead of trick or treating. I guess its a preference thing but taking your kids out of trick or treating to hang out in the church parking lot seems wrong or maybe the word is peculiar.

I guess when the lord is a MBA holding lawyer worried about income/expense ratios and liability issues, this is the church you get.

That's our trunk or treats. Park your car, hand out candy (in the dark cold parking lot) then go home.

It differs from ward to ward though. The other ward that meets in our building has more elaborate activities, but that is because that are a very affluent ward that funds their own activities (even though they're discouraged from doing that). They are also a much bigger ward with a lot of "leadership" types. Our ward by contrast is working with a skeleton crew, with some people taking on 2-3 callings. It was always a problem trying to fill callings because the capable people you wanted to call already had a heavy calling or two.

I would never belong to a church that didn't have more social activities than they have church services. And a locked wine cabinet for refreshments.

The old HP fucker who was my nemesis after Dad passed away in 2000 invited me and my Catholic wife to every fucking event in the GD ward & stake...he never missed an opportunity to annoy, it seemed. We ignored all the invites. Interestingly, in all the years my parents were alive after we got married, never once did they bother us or pressure us to attend Mormon events.

Ron Burr