& as well leave it to "Apostle" Quentin L. Crook...one of LDS-INC's most illustrious prevaricators to deliver this "remarkable" news recently...

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2025/06/21/lds-news-convert-baptisms-reach/

Or so it seems to me...

How many can afford to tithe?

How long do they stay active?

Where is the correlated ward and stake growth?

How many don't tithe because they know how rich the church is?

Show me the numbers. Talk is cheap

If this is true then its also true there is a sucker born every minute.

The church's claim for total members is still highly suspect, however. And I note that the count of children of record has dropped significantly over the past fifteen years.

If a child defers baptism past (?) months, I believe they're counted as converts when (if) they're baptised, even if parents are both members.

Figures don't Lie, but Liars figure....

It was just a matter of time, Make Mormonism Great Again¡

How the heck did they miss their own revival?

Asking forgivness is never in their (house) deck of cards.

They just never can come through and ever act, normal.

“In the last 12 months ending May 31st, the Lord’s hastening of his work resulted in the largest number of convert baptisms in any 12-month period in this dispensation.”

Just the way they talk makes me laugh! Or cringe when my brother starts going on like that.

As with the difference between relative or absolute percentages, so is there a difference between "relative or absolute" types of members.

Seems possible that the Mormons are using the same reporting mode as big Pharma uses when claiming drug efficacy. Either way, I don't really care except it's a horrible thing to do to a child.

I have no idea what the real numbers and story is with growth.

I suspect that Mormons are keeping up with the times on how to message and create "truth" when it comes to image and communication. Nowadays, you simply say what you want to be true, and it travels so fast no one can block it. There is such a firehose of information that people just read it, believe it, and move on to the next thousand things the media says.

I do think it is likely that religion will keep waxing and waning in popularity over time. I know that humans are gullible, tribal and not all that bright in general. So, maybe Mormons will have another growth day in the sun.

Mormons are always going to find ways to take advantage of less economically advantaged people. Now the church has so much money it can concentrate on numbers maybe.

Doesn't have to be real to get the placebo effect. You make me realize my family is going to be glowing over this news. Going to feel positively superior again. The long foretold falling away period is over and we are now "Preparing the way of the Lord."

Rejoice! Rejoice! REJOICE!!!

Also from the Tribune: https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2024/05/29/mormon-land-surprising-news-about/

East Africa, meanwhile, is booming, the U.S. is rebounding, and many growth measures have met or surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Still, there are causes for concern: West Africa, unlike the continent’s eastern and central regions, has seen its Latter-day Saint growth slow. While the U.S. enjoyed an increase in net membership, it once again had the largest net decrease in wards and branches. California continues to bleed Latter-day Saints and growth rates in Utah, home to the global faith’s headquarters, remain near historic lows.

I believe the numbers. I also believe that these are raw surface numbers.

I have a friend in a major metro area in California that I shared this article with. He is active and in stake leadership. His reaction was interesting. He said the stake had had very little convert growth since Covid, until about a year ago, when all wards started getting one or two converts per quarter. The exception was a foreign language ward that has had about 50 converts per quarter recently, and a lower but still substantial number prior to this year. (I'm being deliberately vague on location and nationality of foreign language ward)

He had two other comments - most of the liberal members of the stake no longer attend, and housing costs are so high, that young families simply cannot afford to move into the area. He is in a particularly high priced area. Families move in and have to live in an apartment, but if they then have children and want to move to a house, that is simply out of reach, even if both parents have pretty good jobs. The choice comes down to an hour and a half commute (on good days) or change jobs and move.

All wards, other than the non-English one, have experienced some shrinkage, some have had significant shrinkage.


He speculated that the recent growth in LDS converts may be connected to the national trend of a leveling off of growth of "nones", and Gen Z, particularly Gen Z males, showing more interest in religion in general. He had heard that activity was also picking up in the Catholic church.


I'm not sure what's happening or how long it will last, but something seems to be going on.

I will add that Quentin was addressing a group of new mission presidents, so this was a rah-rah sales meeting basically, so I would take what he said with a grain of salt. He is probably putting the best possible spin on the numbers, and omitting the bad news, like retention.

I was wondering the same. Must be hard to make being an MP appealing at all these days let alone exciting. And there are so many it feels kind of common now. But I guess for many it is a feather in their baker's hat.

>> He speculated that the recent growth in LDS converts may be connected to the national trend of a leveling off of growth of "nones"

Even the Pew Research Center says it's too early to tell. There has been a recent drop in the numbers of religiously unaffiliated, but it could be temporary.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/24/has-the-rise-of-religious-nones-come-to-an-end-in-the-us/

And I agree with your friend that housing costs are a major factor, especially in Southern California. My nephew and his wife moved away from NYC because buying a home was out of reach there. They were only barely able to afford one in Portland, Maine due to the growth of residents who were fleeing the Boston area for the same reason.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2025 02:08PM by summer.

It all comes down to numbers. As an Accountant it is relative to what you are comparing against. Or in other words...what do you want it to be.

If in prior good times you were converting 10,000 people a year and the next year it dropped to 9,900 then you have a decrease of 1%. Now for giggles lets say that year over year for the last couple of decades it dropped down to just 100 converts per year. But then suddenly you increase to 120 in the current year versus the prior year. Now you suddenly have a 20% short term increase. But in all reality you had dropped from 10,000 converts a year in the good ole days to just 100 a year (remember these are hypothetical numbers) showing an overall long term drop of 99%. But suddenly you go up 20% based on just a one year trend and you get all giddy, ignoring the long term drop trend.

They are riding a wave on stats instead of comparable physical numbers. Kind of like trying to ride a mega wave on a inflatable kiddie pool ring instead of a surf board.

They *might* be baptizing more people than ever, but is the church growing? One number that they could report, if they chose to, is the number of people attending sacrament meeting every week. With all of the people leaving the church, and converts who quit showing up almost immediately after baptism, I seriously doubt that weekly attendance is increasing.

As a former ward clerk, I can assure you if they started reporting attendance, those numbers would be inflated.