DesNews, our favorite source for sketchy, positively-spun church news is at it again; this "news" article claims new missions are being created to handle the still-swollen missionary ranks two years after the age-drop announcement: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865619186/Creation-of-11-new-missions-indicates-the-work-continues-apace.html?pg=all

Here's the sidebar summary: "The creation of 11 new missions in the Church is an indication that missionary work is still accelerating after the announcement in 2012 of the lowering of the ages of missionaries."

The third paragraph also begins by referring to "growth," but if we read closely, what we see instead is the opposite.

First, they claim missionary numbers are still close to the peak number (right after the age drop):

"The growth comes nearly 2.5 years after the historic announcement of the lowering of ages of eligibility for missionary service for both young men and young women. That resulted in an immediate and dramatic surge in the Church’s missionary force that peaked at nearly 89,000, up from less than 60,000 previously... As of Jan. 7, the missionary force totaled 84,728, Elder Evans said."

But later, their own stats reveal that the actual number is much lower:
"At the moment, there are more than 100 missions that each have around 250 missionaries."

100 x 250 = 25,000. Not 84,728. In order to get that number, you'd have to have 338 missions with 250 missionaries each.

Then, they reveal the real reason the 10 new missions (two of which are in Utah) were created:
"'Our effort will be to reduce that amount over time to a maximum of about 200 missionaries per mission,” Elder Evans said. “Long experience has taught us that missionaries and mission presidents do better with about 200 missionaries as opposed to a larger number than that.'”

So it's actually not growth. It's about reducing the number of missionaries in each area. Why would they need to reduce the number if the missionaries were busy teaching and baptizing a rising tide of investigators? They wouldn't. They're cutting the number because there's not enough work for 250 missionaries to do. (There's probably not enough for 200, either, but they have to put those missionaries somewhere!).

Evans, who really should stop making TSCC look so bad, goes on to explain exactly what the Utah missionaries will be doing -- and it's not recruiting new converts:
"“We also have in Utah many members of the Church who need strengthening and, in some cases, even rescuing, and whose children and friends and families need to be taught the gospel.”

Translation: we're going after the underage children and the part-member families -- and all the Utahns who are leaving the church.

He cited the case of one community in Utah’s Cache Valley that has only 10 people in the entire stake boundaries who are not Church members. Yet a set of sister missionaries assigned there are kept productively busy teaching friends and families of those they help bring back into activity."

Let's see: only 10 people in that stake are NOT members, but the pair of sister missionaries fill their days pursuing all the inactive Mormons (and anyone connected to them) that they can find. Which means... there are a LOT of people in that stake who don't go to church any more.

And that's in the heart of the Morridor.

Evans goes on to gush about new missions in South America and how they're very "productive" but gives no numbers of baptisms, wards or stakes, or anything else that might illustrate what he means by "productive."

What this article really reveals isn't new "growth" -- it's a church that's desperately trying to create the illusion of such while it hides the fact it's not doing very well.

I reported the following on another post:

The California San Jose Mission launched the pilot-program to "Hastening the Work of Salvation" in 2011. Apostle Ballard began the program. Since then the mission totals peaked at 290-300 missionaries due to the surge (lowered ages to 18 for Elders and age 19 for Sisters).

This past weekend I heard from the missionaries that 'the surge' is officially over and the mission is down to 240 missionaries. That's a reduction of 50-60 missionaries. This isn't growth.

TSCC has a cagey way of failing to define the term 'growth.'

Growth is growth.
You can have growth of 10% (e.g. from 100 to 110) and you can have growth of -20% (e.g. from 200 to 160). Comprende?

The Church has 406 missions.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-statistics/

From the article: "At the moment, there are more than 100 missions that each have around 250 missionaries."

A careful reading reveals that the goal is to reduce these large missions to about 200 like the other missions.

"Our effort will be to reduce that amount over time to a maximum of about 200 missionaries per mission,” Elder Evans said. “Long experience has taught us that missionaries and mission presidents do better with about 200 missionaries as opposed to a larger number than that.”



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2015 01:35AM by Leaving.

Right. 100 missions with about 250 missionaries each = 25,000. 306 missions with about 200 missionaries each = 61,200 for a total of 86,200. So Evans's stated number of 84,728 active missionaries holds up.