Numerous Contradictions Hide Stagnation of LDS Growth

11 June

Trying to nail down the true numbers of how many missionaries the Church has is like the old saying of trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. Their numbers change with the wind, making it impossible to take anything they say seriously.

In January 2015, the LDS Church claimed they had approximately 85,000 missionaries on their rosters. Two months later (March), LDS apostle Jeffrey R. Holland predicted the Church would have a ‘baseline’ of 100,000 Mormon missionaries by 2019 – see Salt Lake Tribune for more info.

Fast Forward Four Years …

Instead of their missionary force increasing by 15,000 to meet the 100k prediction, in April 2019 the Church Newsroom showed a decrease of 18,000, bringing their total to 67,069 missionaries.

However, that number contradicts another stat they published on their site which said the total number of missionaries had decreased to 65,137which is what we used in our report.

Complicating matters further, in February 2018 they reported on the closing of 19 missions, and another 12 in 2019. Somehow the stats for the number of missions remained unchanged at 400 according to their General Conference Report. Unfortunately, we’re not surprised.

Just so they stay on track for contradicting themselves, and confusing others, they also posted on another report in January 2019, the number of missions was down to 399.

Bottom Line …

Their cat-and-mouse game can be summarized in their ‘obligatory’ statements they make at each General Conference when it comes to their imaginary auditing report –

2019 General Conference

“…Church Auditing, which consists of credentialed professionals and is independent of all other Church departments, has responsibility to perform audits for the purpose of providing reasonable assurance regarding contributions received, expenditures made, and safeguarding of Church assets.

Based upon audits performed, Church Auditing is of the opinion that, in all material respects, contributions received, expenditures made, and assets of the Church for the year 2018 have been recorded and administered in accordance with approved Church budgets…The Church follows the practices taught to its members of living within a budget, avoiding debt, and saving against a time of need.”

They don’t give factual information, and their reports for each year are virtually the same. See 2018 General Conference, and 2017 General Conference for examples.

Questions …

Why should you trust anyone who doesn’t provide the whole truth?

Do you believe God would do this?

If you’re LDS we pray you think on these things. Christian churches don’t operate this way. All the Christians I’ve known tell me the same thing – a line item report for all expenses is given at the end of each fiscal year, and it’s either approved, or rejected by a congregational vote. These reports also include the number of missionaries supported by that congregation.

The moral to this story is that the Church’s growth is stagnant, and the way they’ve hidden this fact is by giving numerous conflicting stories.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

1 Cor 1:18

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