"As one of those lifelong Scottish LDS church members, I must say that I'm disappointed by this article. Scotland does indeed have a rich Mormon heritage. Early immigrants from this great nation certainly played pivotal roles in the establishment of church colonies and growth within the Salt Lake valley.
However, much of this article, or the main thrust of it, is nothing less than hyperbole. Whoever wrote this, is being either poorly informed or disingenuous. I can't help but notice that many of the positive comments are from people who are not from Scotland, or indeed who do not live in Scotland.
The church is most definitely not growing in Scotland. It has been diminishing for at least 2-3 decades. We have witnessed units within the 5 established stakes that have closed around the country (mainly in the last 10 years). There are empty LDS meetinghouses dotted around. The floundering numbers have increased over time as units have had to be consolidated and boundaries re-drawn. All the while, attendance at sacrament meetings and other important indicators of growth have been in constant decline.
I also take exception at the picture painted of non-member Scots. This is a unique, proud and multicultural country of extreme beauty. Scotland does have an image, a culture of alcohol dependency. However, please don't tar the entire nation as a population of heathen drunkards. There are millions of wonderful Scots who are not LDS, indeed who may not be religious. Yet they are as principled, moral and virtuous as any others. Such generalisations only seek to put Mormonism on a moral high ground in a tasteless and frankly judgemental manner.
Might Scotland get a temple? Perhaps. And good for the LDS members if this were to happen, but if it did, it would not be due to growth measures of any kind. The Church has been systematically hollowed out over time by an unwillingness to adapt to cultural changes, social inequalities, guilt inducing authority from church leadership, nepotism within Stakes and Wards and a remarkable obsession with monetary success.
This article is a painted picture over an honest reality and quite disappointing. Scottish LDS history is interesting, but it should not be used to invent a version of the present that simply isn't true."
"Thank you for saying so eloquently what many more lifelong Scottish members will be thinking after reading this article. We are being spun stories of how the church is growing in Scotland and we are looking around thinking “the emperor has no clothes on” we can see our wards are in decline. We can see buildings empty and I have heard my dad say he was to not report back to membership records of people who had died as our stakes are in jeopardy of remaining stakes with the few members we have."
Note: I know her dad and he is a former SP, bishop, etc. Not sure of his current calling but probably a bishop currently if he's the one being told to not report deaths of members.
I think the Scottish Mormons are starting to see the reality, ha ha ha:
"it’s the sales spin that’s so frustrating. It’s so very obviously untrue, but they have to show positivity, and the sad and shocking situation is that some people actually believe it even though the evidence is in their very ward or branch every Sunday. Our wards are shrinking with long term life long members leaving and our stake is expecting that we will have doubled our membership within our stake presidents term and a lot of the members seem to be thinking that it could happen?!?
Is anything more been said about the 2020 vision?
I remember being shocked when I heard of Glasgow buildings that I used to go to in my youth, being demolished or sold, and an hour and a half away in Dundee we are hearing how fast the church is growing here in Scotland. What happened to honesty? Why did we never hear that we should be fasting and praying to help areas as membership is declining?"
--quote-- Today, the Saints in Scotland are wielding their influence not only in America but also in their own country. Statistics for the Church in Scotland at the close of 2017 showed 5 stakes, 25 wards, 12 branches, 9 family history centers, 1 mission, and a total of 15,557 members. Edwards notes, “The Scottish Saints remain relatively few in number but strong in commitment.” Liston adds, “Scotland is such an exciting land to live in at this period of time. The gospel is growing daily and the feeling of . . . love of God and country is deep in my heart.” --end quote--
So, that's 5000 (or less) active members? The stone rolleth forward.
> > So, that's 5000 (or less) active members? The > stone rolleth forward.
I'm going to state categorically there are not more than 3,000 active Mormons in Scotland. It's a small country and I'm aware of the ward and branch sizes.
The stone is rolling in reverse in Scotland I think. Much like the rest of Europe, but Scotland in the past was a strong foundation for the church, lots of Scots made the transatlantic crossing to strengthen Utah.
That stone is rolling backward all over the world--well, maybe except Africa and a few other third-world places where there is little education or internet access and lots of superstition.
California wards and stakes are being "re-aligned" faster than people can birth new mormons (oh, excuse me, I mean new little members of the COJCOLDS blah blah blah). The little McTemples that started doting the state are pretty empty. The L.A. temple that used to be packed with 300-400 people in a session back in its hey day is lucky to have 20 in a session and half the sessions it used to have.
As Millennials and the next generation hit the workaday world, with the cost of living rising so much faster than income, they want good reason why they should fork over 10% of their income to, as you so abtly said, "an institution that has been systematically hollowed out over time by an unwillingness to adapt to cultural changes, social inequalities, guilt inducing authority from church leadership, nepotism within Stakes and Wards and a remarkable obsession with monetary success."
Google "least educated countries," "countries with the lowest literacy rates" and "countries with the lowest/least internet access" and come back with your findings.
Sorry, I don't use Google. I don't believe in corporate monopolies. Especially from companies specialising in mass surveillance. Other search engines are available.
I know exactly what the poster was driving at. It's akin to the Bell Curve myth. It's also untrue as the LDS struggled to get a toehold in black Africa for decades thanks to race bars on the priesthood.
The church has also struggled in most of Asia. And the Muslim world. So the racist argument doesn't work here.
Based on 37 congregations and 15,500 claimed members, the average congregation size would be circa 420 people. The average attendance is actually less than 100 people per congregation.
The article is simply an attempt to put lipstick on a pig.
a more accurate way of measuring growth is a % of the compared population;
has the % of self-identified adults that acknowledge Mormonism (or any other group) against the total population grown, diminished, or stayed about the same?
Just right here in SoCal when I cruise past the meetinghouse with two chapels on the property, I can't help but see the lack of cars there in the parking lot on Sunday. But the local church just around the corner has three services and one on Wednesday with their huge "sanctuary" filled to capacity. Someone is not being honest.
I don't see any area, subject, or discussion where ChurchCo is being honest.
they ask members to sustain the 'leaders' without giving them any relevant information on COMPENSATION, qualifications, activities, policies or procedures on which to make informed decisions,
Elder Berry Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For a place with so many stakes funny no temple?
Not funny to the Mormons in Scotland. ;o) The two temples in England are a constant reminder of the English-Scottish issue.
The COB did consider a temple in Scotland. They had a (secret) plan to sell the Scottish Mission Office, Mission Presidents house, and maybe the Stake Center in Edinburgh too for development, and use the funds to buy some land on the outskirts of Edinburgh for a Temple and new Stake center.
I believe the funding was there and I personally knew the guy who was responsible for scouting the land for options. I even drove with him to a couple of spots.
Anyway, the leadership finally realized that the Scottish Mormons did an awful lot of temple work, and if they had a temple in Scotland, that the attendance in the English temples would plummet. So to protect their investment in the expensive Crawley/Preston temple in the North of England, they killed the Scottish temple concept.
Because in the early days of Mormonism, joining the church was a way to escape the slums and poor living conditions in Scotland. People would do anything to get away and the promise of a new life in America was appealing to some. Joining the Mormons was a way to make that move.