Just want to get a quick pulse of Mormon activity in your area. Are the wards & stakes growing or shrinking? Splitting or combining? And what area are you in?
LDS Inc can throw out whatever numbers they want, but we can still see their parking lots, and listen to our TBM relatives complain about the defections. They can't hide that.
I know that 9 families left our ward about the time we did. about 6 of those were some of the stalwarts. They didn't move, they quit. Last Sunday when we drove by the church, only about 1/4 of the parking lot was full. ten years ago they added onto the parking space. It filled up, but is now empty.
I'm sure there have been more. My husband goes fishing with a guy in the bishopric, I'll have him ask. I'll keep you posted.
Mia,that's amazing and wonderful. 9 families leaving at the same time!! I wish I knew 1 person in my area that has left the church. I know they are there,but I don't have a clue of one single person that has left. To be able to sit down and talk with someone that has left is still one of my dreams. I have been out about 20 mths.
I spent most of the last 15 years in a temple stake. It experienced rapid growth, but we all knew it was just members moving from another part of the country to be nearer the temple. Even within the stake whilst they were splitting wards within 10 miles of the temple / stake centre, they were closing branches further away.
My personal ward, I have lived in for 21 years. In 1991 there were about 70 active members attending sacrament. By 2000 there were about 120. In 2012 there are about 100.
The head of the scout committee in our ward was complaining to me a few months ago that the scout budget in our ward had been reduced because the attendance in our ward had dropped so much and the overall ward budget had been cut because of it. They were hoping to get more money in the next quarter, though, because they had a couple of missionary farewells and homecomings which would boost the attendance at Sacrament meeting, which in turn would entitle them to more money in the ward budget.
The merger was in-city big west coast city Split 1 was suburban west coast city Split 2 was suburban midwest city
I think demographics/economics has alot to do with it. The church is still growing in places where young families move...suburbia. It's consolidating where the same families are moving from...in-city and rural.
In my experience, big US cities have a mormon ring. Even Salt Lake has it. There's a concentration where the demographics and economy attracts a mormon population. In-city and rural locales are losing numbers or are static.
Shrinkage in my ward attendance in a semi-rural Utah area. Probably down 20% over the past 5 years and noticeably older. Average age of 55+ now. NO ONE attends between age 18 and 40. Worthy priesthood holders eligible for High Priest are non-existent.
And I'm experiencing "shrinkage" in my nether regions as my TBM wife distances herself from me for my RfM views... TMI?
It's pretty stagnant in our area. In my little town, they took two average sized wards & split them into three weak wards about five years ago. It gave the appearance of growth! My understanding is that all three wards are struggling now.
In a small town 17 miles away they took what used to be two fairly strong wards & recently had to make them one ward due to falling attendance.
Not enough members to keep the urinals clean apparently!
For several years our ward was pathetically under attended. Maybe 120 people in SM was a high number? Average was abt 100. The housing market had quite a lot to do with it. Older homes, overpriced, drove families to other newer parts of town. Those areas saw a huge boom in our stake during 07 08 09, and there was a singles branch and new ward created on that side of town. Our ward was dubbed the red headed step child of the stake, and we continued to struggle as far as numbers go.
Now, there are probably 200 or more in attendance at SM. Where we rarely opened the overflow, it is open every week now.
I forgot to mention, they also built a new bldg in the stake last year, bringing us to four just in our city.
But I will say, after coming here (and admittedly when I was still all believing), I look/ed at the RS birthday names on the weekly bulletin, and count how many I don't know or have never seen before. I would venture to say that its near 75% inactive based on that list alone. I've been in the ward 15 years, and in southern CA.
There are 5 "STake houses" in our neighborhood. Each of the 5 stakes had 2 or 3 wards in them. After I left, all 3 of the wards in our stake house were combined (consolidated?) in to one stake. The same is true of all 4 stakes, and there is only one stake (consisting of one ward) in each stake house. Except for the stake that has the singles ward, and thus two wards meeting there. I think that is major shrinkage! In our neighborhood, the non-Mormons now out-number the mormons 60% to 40%, approx. Two non-Mormon families just moved in on our street!
The future doesn't look good for Mormonism if we take the average age of active participants into account. Out of 100 active members in my ward, I would estimate the number aged between 21 and 40 to be just 10. One of those is on the Bishopric, another is the Bishops wife. One will be eternally single, and the other 7 are not exactly "strong" TBM Mormons, being a little flaky in their attendance and having only two kids between them.
Most of the kids in primary are to parents aged over 40. But by far the largest demographic are those aged over 55 - the babyboomers - who had cemented their testimonkeys before Al Gore invented the internet. The number of 55+ DYING each year is greater than the number of babies born to the under 40s.
I'd say yes to both ward and stake. Wards are combining often here. That never happened when I was growing up...they were making wards not combining them.
Went out of my way to go to town today after seeing this post. Left a couple of years ago but the parking lot definately looked a little less crowded for a fast Sunday. Probably in the 75-80% range from when we attended. I know the bishopric was just changed over and the old bishop and his wife moved out of town. Over the last 10 years, most of the families with the full "quivers", had their kids grow up and move away. After counting, I can think of about 20 youth that are now grown and gone and I'm fairly certain they have not been replaced. I have driven by on Wednesday nights and noticed the a whole lot less activity going on. I'm going to have to start paying more attention though in light of recent events.
Growing up in No. CA, we had two wards then three then four. That was in the 70s and 80s. Now they are down to three and the third ward is struggling, according to my mom who still lives in my home town.
Stagnant in my ward in the San Diego area. There has been no real growth in 5 years. They are thinking about creating a new stake because my stake has 15 units in it (big area). However, they were telling me they need 70 more Priesthood Holders in my area to create a new stake... fat chance that is going to happen... The growth has flat lined. Elders Quorum has barely anyone attend and there are mostly older (over 50) members in my ward. High Priest Group is way bigger than Elders Quorum.
Like everyone said... the Baby Boomers are heavily indoctrinated and will die believing. The young generations are leaving in droves.
Lots of growth in my home ward but its entirely due to a large influx of move ins. Nearly all of it people from the Morridor who have been transferred or are studying in the area. Folks stay a few years and move on again but there always seems to be an annual influx of move ins that more than makes up for the move outs. It they all went back out west tomorrow the ward would become smaller than a branch. Very few indigenous locals. Very few convert baptisms.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2012 11:24AM by kookoo4kokaubeam.
The local Morg Unit in my area has been growing, and my TBM friends like to talk about how it is the fastest growing unit in the stake. What they forget is that we live in one of the fastest growing communities in Florida, and that they are barely keeping up with the growth that the other churches are experiencing. Almost zero of their growth is from missionary work, and those they do convert, rarely stay long.
All a bunch of Mormons moving here in order to trade in white sand beaches for snow.
Lots of growth in my area. They just split 3 Wards into 5 and the parking lots are full on Sundays. We have a friend that is the YW Pres and she said that they had 30+ active YW before they split their Ward and now have about 20. She knows of our unbelief and she has her doubts as well but is tied into the social aspect of the church.
One thing she did mention was her frustration with the Stake leadership when they divided the Wards as they didn't take into consideration school districts and as a result they have 3 different high schools attending their Ward when it was only one before. She said they broke up a lot of friendships when they drew up the Ward boundaries.