Stake Missions Dissolved
as Member-Missionary Efforts Realigned
Posted March 21, 2002
All Stake Missions in the Church
have been dissolved following a letter issued by the First Presidency in March,
2002. All Stake Mission Presidencies and Stake Missionaries are being released.
A few ward missionaries will be called by the bishop in each ward, and the
calling of Ward Mission Leader will become a ward calling under the
jurisdiction of the bishop, rather than a stake calling. Designated members of
the Stake High Council will assume increased responsibility for coordinating
member-missionary efforts at the stake level.
The change follows several
reports of declining LDS member-missionary participation over the past several
years. Church Missionary Department research has previously found that 35% of
active LDS regularly participate in missionary work (Ensign, September 2000).
It was also reported that only 20% of LDS baptisms in North America come from
member referrals, down from 42% a several years before, and that while church
membership had grown, the total number of member referrals had actually
declined. Since 75-80% of covert baptisms occur outside of the U.S., this means
that the 5.3 million members in North America bring about 16,000 into the
Church each year through member-missionary efforts, or about 1 new convert per
330 member-years. While the LDS Church is still one of the fastest growing
churches in the United States, most of the growth is due to the fact that a
full one-third of all full-time LDS missions are concentrated in the U.S., with
less than 5% of the world's population, and that U.S. Latter-day Saints average
approximately one more child per family than non-LDS U.S. citizens. When the
LDS birth rate and full-time missionary efforts are taken into consideration,
member-missionary efforts account for just 12-14% of LDS Church growth in North
America.
A similar study of religious
practices of U.S. members of various Christian faiths by researcher George
Barna reported that only 26% of individuals identifying themselves as
Latter-day Saints reported making any attempt to share their beliefs with
others during the entire preceding year (http://www.barna.org, July 2001). This
rate was not significantly different from the number of Americans as a whole
who reported sharing religious beliefs (24%). The study found that Latter-day
Saints are only 40% as likely to share their beliefs as Adventists,
Pentecostals, and non-denominational Christians. These other groups all report
annual worldwide growth rates two to three times higher (8-10%) than LDS growth
rates (2.6-3.0%), paralleling their higher rates of member-missionary
involvement. LDS member involvement in missionary efforts runs at only about
only about one quarter of the rate among Jehovah's Witnesses,and those LDS who
do share their faith, do so much less frequently.
LDS Members in some areas of
Southern California report that pilot studies carried out several months ago
found that baptismal rates rose in some areas where stake missions were
dissolved. The leading explanations which have reportedly been given at some
local conferences include that dissolving stake missions brings a greater
feeling of ownership and responsibility for member-missionary efforts back to
local wards and branches, and that members may be more likely to share the
gospel when they overcome the notion that it requires a calling to do so. And
there may well be important principles behind this line of reasoning: in spite
of an increased focus on missionaries working with members and soliciting
referrals over the past decade, member referrals have dropped precipitously.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson once reported that the most fruitful period for
missionary work during the Church's first 130 years did not correspond to the
time of the largest full-time missionary force, but rather to a period during
World War II when large numbers of young men and women not on missions
participated in member-missionary work. It appears that the presence of large
numbers of full-time missionaries, or even of stake missionaries, may foster a
"complacency factor" among members and actually decrease the
likelihood of members participating in member-missionary work or
fellowshipping.
One of the great paradoxes of
North American LDS membership is that most Latter-day Saints feel confident
that the Church is growing rapidly, but cannot recall the last time they
attempted to share the gospel with a non-member. Overcoming this dangerous
sense of complacency and inspiring greater member-missionary involvement is one
of the greatest challenges in LDS Church growth, both in the United States and
in the world. It remains to be seen how much the realignment of
member-missionary efforts will impact church growth, but one thing seems clear:
there is nowhere to go but up.
Source: Cumorah News Service
http://www.cumorah.com/cgi-bin/news.cgi?Headline=stake+missions+dissolved 4/19/03 12:38:42 PM