Comments about ‘Mormon church membership nears 14 million’

The growth of the Church is mind boggling. This is indeed the "stone cut out of the mountains without hands". I am happy to be a part of this marvelous work. Enjoy conference time brothers and sisters!
Love, Butuanons

I think we are still the fastest growing denomination in the World. Soon, we will pass the Hindus and Muslims

Actually this is slower growth than in previous years (not only in terms of percentage, but in hard numbers too in some cases). Also, we are not the fastest growing denomination in the World. Passing Hindus and Muslims? Both of those have over half a billion adherents (the latter over a billion).

Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that my church is growing... but given how the trend is going, our growth is slowing (our decline in missionaries compared to the previous year shows that) and I think there's strong parallels to my former church (Methodist) just shifted 50-60 years since they started earlier and peaked around the 60s-70s after worldwide missionary efforts before declining in membership like they are now.

Jesus would come back soon. Everyone start praying for that as part of each and every prayer.

Actually, 2009 was the third-worst year for membership growth in the LDS Church during the past 59 years at only 2.34%. The two years with lower growth rates since 1951 were 2003 and 2005 at 2.25% and 2.32%, respectively.

LDS Church growth has been slowing during the past 20 years. Here are average annual growth rates, decade by decade, since 1951:
1950s - 4.30%
1960s - 5.65%
1970s - 4.71%
1980s - 5.29%
1990s - 3.61%
2000s - 2.54% (first nine years)

During the past six decades, the year with highest rate of growth was 1989 at 8.74%. This followed President Ezra Taft Benson's plea in October 1988 General Conference to flood the world with the Book of Mormon.

If the growth rate in 2009 was the same 8.74% as in 1989, the LDS Church would have increased by 1,180,644 members instead of the actual number of 316,345.

"Strait is the gate and narrow the way, and few there be that find it." From what I understand, even though the church will fill North and South America and even the world, there will still be few members when compared to the entire world population. The important thing is that we become stronger spiritually. The numbers will take care of themselves.

The notion that the Church is the fastest growing on earth is absolutely laughable. Keep drinking the kool-aid as you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. 14 million (in the entire world)is not even half of the population of California.

The estimated world population is: 6,812,639,676

Church Membership is: 13,824,854

Simple math --- 99.8% of the CURRENT world population is not LDS. Pretty small numbers.

Of the 13,824,854 members of the church an estimated 50% are "active"...meaning attending at least once a month...far fewer are temple recommend holders, etc...

This is not meant to be cynical...just a reality check.

The church is wonderful, but I think we should report more meaningful numbers, like "active" members of the church...number of temple recommend holders, or statistics relating to work performed in the temple...

...in the end the numbers don't really matter. What matters is individual faithfulness.

It should also be remembered the progress of the church is 2 steps forward, one back when you consider that probably 60% of the church worldwide in not active

To Excel Jockey -

That is a very interesting stat there. Imagine the hubub if there were 1,180,000+ converts in a single year!

Honestly, that is one stat that I had never thought of. Thanks!

For a nonprofit, you lot really get wound up on the 'sales figures', don't you?

How could we possibly report the number of "active" members? How many times per month/year do you have to go to church to be active? If I go to church every Sunday but not pay tithing am I active? If I don't go to church much but I play church basketball and softball am I active. We all no that there are a lot of less-active members when we see the numbers (as in any church or religion).

I'm just thrilled to be one of the 13.8 million people that are trying to return from whence we came. I've never been more proud of my Church and I believe this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints will have a very prominent role to play in the coming years in keeping America great and free so that the gospel can continue to be taught throughout the world.

When u think of the Church starting in 1830 with 6 people and now at 14 mil, that is the fastest growing church by percentage. Now project this with the extra x 1000 years the other major world religions already have not to mention that many govts force their religion on their people plus the amount of their congregations who are now inactive or religious by custom only. Truth be told out of my mere 37 years on Earth living in California I have only known a handful of people from other religions who went to church every week. It's funny how when people hate the Mormon church they try and downplay every true thing about it.

"How could we possibly report the number of "active" members? "

We actually always have done so in the old quarterly written reports and today's systems where we count sacrament attendance. That sacrament attendance number gives us a good close estimate of what the active population in today's church is, roughly. But that percentage isn't mentioned anywhere publicly as far as I'm aware.

To Al, (just to clear up a case of "faith-promoting" misinformation):

Mormons = less than 14 million, and growing about 2% annually.

Muslims = more than 1.5 billion worldwide, with growth reported anywhere from 2 - 3.5% (depending on which surveys you read) At that rate Mormons will never come close to Islam in numbers.

Hindus = around 1 billion, most of them in India, not growing much, but it would still take thousands of years for Mormons to catch up to the numbers of Hindus.

Here's an interesting comparison. Seventh-Day Adventists organized in 1863 (from the leftovers of the William Miller movement of the 1840's). In less than the time the Mormon church has been in operation, the Adventists now claim more than 16 million members.

But for the REAL fastest growing religious demographic, the answer is: Non-Religious. In 1990 they accounted for 9% of worldwide population. As of 2009, they are now about 16% (according to Pew Forum).

But I suppose Al will continue to believe what he wants to believe.

Well, you could use the method provided by the church if you want. When I was a missionary, and since then as I have served in leadership positions, the church would have us define someone as "active" if they came to sacrament meeting at least once a month. It isn't that hard of a concept. The church has the activity rates for each and every ward, and could easily release them if they felt the need to. The fact of the matter is that they don't want to report those numbers because it would make them look quite insignificant.

Truly these numbers don't matter on an individual scale, only on an organizational scale. Individually, we all must pray to God and ask for his direction in our lives. As B said, the Church will never be large in proportion to the rest of the world, but this does not diminish its importance.
We are thrilled when we see people join the Church because we know the impact the gospel of Jesus Christ as restored by prophets today has on individuals and families.

As a side note to clear some confusion above:

Growth rates are all relative numbers. If I have $1 invested and earn $1, then my rate of return is 100%. If I have $100 and I earn $50, my rate is half as much (50%).

So when talking about the fastest growing churches, enormous churches like the Catholic church may add millions of people but have a relatively small growth rate.

Blessings to all!

Actually, LDS church growth has slowed and is behind that of many other religions at this point. I'm not sure when the 'fastest growing religion' phrase was attached, but if you check any real statistics from official sources, the church's growth has not been notable for years.