I don't believe it. It's disinformation or more simply put: propaganda.
The Mormon church is bleeding members right and left. Millenials are leaving it in droves. It can't hold onto its younger members or retain them the way it did older generations. They're wising up or have wisened up.
The train has left the station and it isn't coming back.
What's left IMO is a dumbing down of the church in terms of its membership. The ones who don't dare to question at any cost because they value their Mormon identity above all else. Including truth and sanity.
It's an institution that's lost its moral compass, if it ever had one.
Members salvation and exaltation is contingent on their duty and loyalty first and foremost to the cult. Nothing else matters. Cult first to secure their place in eternity.
What a bunch of hogwash!
As for putting families first, that's a bold faced lie as well. Anyone who's been LDS knows families are a distant second to the cult. Cult is always first in the priority. Families are expendable.
This article seems suspicious. It reads like a puff piece meant to flatter the subject. Was the author (Daniel Cox) bribed to write it? Lots of factoids but no facts. I'm not seeing hard numbers to show that the cult is maintaining its membership. Compared to other Christian religions perhaps the cult is doing ok but that does not mean they are maintaining their numbers. What numbers does Daniel use anyway. The cult is infamous for inflating their numbers.
Speaking of statistics, the church (or not the church?) listed its stats about temples on its temple website. I believe they did this to give the appearance of growing numbers to mislead investigators. I say "or not the church?" because it's weirdly not taking ownership of the temple website, and McTemples are a defining piece of the cult. It's like they want credit if the attraction turns out to be good for business, but will spin it as not endorsing the website if it proves bad for business. No integrity.
I posted this with the intention of demonstrating that the rebranding is futile and will likely never be adopted by anyone except active members, but yeah, I agree that the bigger story is why a (IMHO) highly reputable source and a seemingly well-respected researcher would use church-friendly statistics and polls without challenging them.
Probably 2/3's or more of the church are inactive. I figure there are about 4 million active members if even that. The church looks huge if you are in Idaho, Utah, and parts of Arizona. Get out of those areas and it's a nothing burger. You my see a lit up temple off of I-5 or off the Washington DC beltway but other than the glowing motherships to Kolob nothing to see really.
The Mormon church's position on sexual and gender diversity was seriously misrepresented. They may have softened how they talk about it, but the actual policy is still hardline.
The article paints Mormonism's above average retention as a good thing. Just because they're good at controlling others, doesn't make them good.
ChurchCo doesn't consider a member "lost" until they officially resign or are exed. But by normal people measure, they've lost two thirds to three quarters of their members.