Is the Church largely failing in its 3-fold mission?

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by Adam

...that the Church is largely failing in its three missions...

Instead of taking the originating thread of this post off on another tangent, I thought I'd throw this out for discussion in a thread of its own.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

Instead of taking the originating thread of this post off on another tangent, I thought I'd throw this out for discussion in a thread of its own.

Without statistical data, how can we judge but anecdotally?

It seems as if we are not doing as good a job in our missionary work.

Our member retention is down, and the percentage of temple work is down. What do you think?

[DrumNFeather]

The broad answer is that it could do better...

I would think that the 3 fold mission falls on the shoulders of the members and their interest in any of the three categories and acting on that interest.

So, you could argue that if the "church" is failing in its three fold mission, it is actually the members failing to execute...right?

[MikeWaters]

I don't think members are fully invested.

If they were, me and a few others of you would be posting from jackson county.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by DrumNFeather

The broad answer is that it could do better...

I would think that the 3 fold mission falls on the shoulders of the members and their interest in any of the three categories and acting on that interest.

So, you could argue that if the "church" is failing in its three fold mission, it is actually the members failing to execute...right?

That's a good point. Is the failure membership-based or institutional-based? I think it's clear from Adam's post he is implying that it's institutional-based.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by Archaea

It seems as if we are not doing as good a job in our missionary work.

How so? Even if numbers are down, is that more a reflection on mankind, or its missionaries and/or the institutional controls and training?

Were Mormon and Noah failures?

Originally Posted by Archaea

Our member retention is down, and the percentage of temple work is down. What do you think?

Is that really true? Based on what stats?

[Tex]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

That's a good point. Is the failure membership-based or institutional-based? I think it's clear from Adam's post he is implying that it's institutional-based.

I agree that's what Adam's saying ... but I disagree with the premise. No offense to Drum (and I really mean that) but saying "we can do better" isn't telling me much. Hinckley says as much. The Lord says as much. The church is an imperfect (though divine) institution led by imperfect men and there's no question we can do better.

The question is: are we failing?

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

That's a good point. Is the failure membership-based or institutional-based? I think it's clear from Adam's post he is implying that it's institutional-based.

Isn't Adam the fellow who claimed he could speak Arabic and knew more about Iran than a woman born and raised there?

What we learn from this....1.) Adam overestimates his own capacity a wee bit and 2.) Adam is a perpetual troller.

But his blasting of a cheap ass whiny BYU fan years ago was pure comedy and will earn him repentence for his multitude of sins of basically becoming the BYU Catblue/SeattleUte.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by Tex

The question is: are we failing?

of course we are. but the atonement allows us to pass.

[All-American]

I don't think any party present has the information necessary to say for certain that the church is largely failing in its three fold mission. The only numbers we have on any of the three are for baptisms, which, after the drop lasting up to 2004, have been going up (with no way to determine retention, of course)