Tuesday, November 3, 2009

For First Time in Years Baptisms Up 18% in U.S.

Reed Finlayson, a senior missionary serving with his wife in the Dominican Republic shared this from Elder Richard Hinckley of the Seventy about baptisms being up for first time in years:



Elder Hinkley also commented on the growth of the missionary effort in the church. He said this year we will see an increase in baptisms in the US of about 18%. This is the first time in a long time that the missionary efforts in the US have had a positive growth. He was asked why and stated he thought it might be due to a number of reasons. One was that the missionary committee felt that the membership in the US was finally putting into practice the direction of having the bishop take charge of the missionary effort and involve the members effectively. The other reason is his thought that the economic downturn may have humbled more people and has turned more toward thinking of spiritual things. I believe that to be true since his father said that would happen as we progress through these last days.
It is interesting to note that he felt that the growth was due to better member involvement and the socioeconomic conditions in the country.

2 comments:

Marco Greis said...

That's soooooo true
While in my mission in Brazil we baptized every week for 18 months in a row because the members there were so eager to assist the missionaries.
One area in special because the bishop had committed himself to motivate his members.

Anonymous said...

This defies the results of the Pew Research study which finds flat growth in the LDS according the self-identification of respondents.

More likely the LDS is counting baptisms of BIC children and those that are currently being re-baptized due to the supposed baptismal records being "lost" at the COB.