Fresh off the press from the Wall Street Journal, yesterday's edition ...

"...Today the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reports 16 million Mormons world-wide, including one million in Asia, four million in South America and 600,000 in Africa. Mormon growth rates in the U.S. have slowed, but the church will continue to expand as its message resonates abroad....

There is a difference between planting churches overseas and being a global church. Many American denominations have spawned counterparts around the world. In most cases, those churches exert little influence on institutions back in the U.S. Unlike Protestant denominations, Mormons prize hierarchy and cohesion. As Americans form a smaller percentage of Latter-day Saints, more top Mormon leaders will come from Asia, Africa and Latin America. American Mormons will find themselves changed by the church that missionaries from Hosea Stout to Gerrit Gong helped create. Mormonism’s future is global."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mormonisms-global-future-1524177760?mod=nwsrl_opinion&cx_refModule=nwsrl

The WSJ takes the church's bullshit numbers at face value, apparently.

So much for responsible journalism :(

I don't see this as journalism. And I doubt the WSJ did either, since this is an opinion piece.

John G. Turner is not a mormon, but he has written at least two books that he has to know are only of serious interest to mormons:

The Mormon Jesus - A Biography

and

Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet

It's easy for me to believe that he knowingly wrote a puff-piece in hopes of getting more books sold. I don't subscribe to the WSJ so I couldn't read the whole thing, but I would be extremely surprised if there isn't a brief bio about Mr. Turner and the books he's recently written.

When you're trying to increase your fortune as a writer, it never hurts to get your name and your titles into print.

It's 'watered down' Mormonism. And so far there is no proportional representation of minorities within its rank and file leadership.

All roads lead back to Salt Lake City.

When expanding its borders via globalization ceases to profit the anointed, they'll pull back there too.

It is a long con and they must hold it to the bitter end!

No future at all in Europe and most of North America or Australasia. The SLC hierarchy knows it...and that explains Brother Russell's begging bowl trip to Africa, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Mormonism is a White religion. Thats the problem 101.
Its very history is based on many of the ideals that
the Nazi party was based on.

It divides families. It controls families. Its very
appealing to folks who have advantages and successful
business dealings. All the same issues that many in
America complain about daily.

There is no room for true representation of minorities
or folks who dont measure up? People of color. Single
women/mothers. Divorced folks. Folks without perfect
backgrounds are shunned and talked about.

Its all about $$$$$. Thats what it is really all about.

It is very good at wearing facades. Keeping up appearances.

The people who do the shunning and backbiting are some seriously messed up peeps. Their veneer has cracked and their true selves break through. It is a most dysfunctional church.

No one is good enough just the way they are in Mormondum. It's emphasis has never been on grace but rather, works.

Mormonism: looking for a global reach into areas where people don't have easy access to facts about history and doctrine on the internet.

My personal analysis is a bit different, because I don't think that the Mormon-targeted potential audience cares very much about Mormon religion.

For the most part, the targeted audience members have their own beliefs, and whether those beliefs are the traditional beliefs which exist within their people's history, or are Christian in some way (which includes Mormonism), a change in BELIEFS is unlikely for most of them.

The major appeal of Mormonism is two-fold, as I see it...

1) It is a vehicle to get educated in the Western ways of the world, so that children growing up (for example) can be comfortable with Western ways of life.

2) It is a possible, but very real to them, link to what they see (and, in their context, IS) a good university education at BYU or wherever. At the very least, they can make human connections with real Americans and real American institutions, which (at minimum) might be a valuable source of letters of recommendation down the line.

In the meantime, the nuisances of "being Mormon" are mostly dealable-with (not including tithing, which one of the main disruptors to the above two points), or can be finessed in some way.

In my personal opinion, there is not a chance of most Africans actually replacing their traditional, ancestor-based, beliefs with Mormon beliefs...

...though many Africans (given the "pot of potential gold" in educational, etc. benefits at the other end of the coming-into-view rainbow) would be willing to go through the outer motions for however long those motions take to get those benefits (for themselves, or for their descendants).