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Few younger masons

kastonw

Premium Member
I've been a Mason for a year and a half now and have visited a several different lodges and have noticed there are very few younger masons . I've sat in lodges and listened to new patitions read in new brothers being in there 50s and 60s in my mother lodge I'm the 2nd to youngest at 24 the youngest is 19 and i find it sad that there are not any younger men joining bc later down the line it will be us younger members that keep it going but this may have been the lodges I've been to

virtus junxit mors non separabit
 

sjwb

Registered User
Same in Australia generally. We need to look at how to involve younger members. Love to hear of ideas that have worked


Steve
 

KSigMason

Traveling Templar
Site Benefactor
It is slowly happening, but my Lodge is getting younger by the day. I'm Master of my Lodge and I'm 29. All but 2 of my officers are under 40.
 

Hardtimes

Premium Member
Our mean age is roughly 35, but we are a military lodge (mostly) overseas. And interest couldn't be better and attractive to younger brothers who see us out and about. My small island of Okinawa has 3 PHA lodges and 2 MS lodges and we all attract interest because we are visible.
 

Rothgery

Premium Member
Well in our military lodge I say most of our members are mid-thirties and below. Only a few are in their forties and older. That's just one, of the various lodges that we have on base, of many bases out here.

So I'm see a large amount of younger masons out here. Eventually they head back stateside and join other lodges. So there are still a lot of younger people interested in masonry. From my point of view


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RyanC

Registered User
Kastonw, we don't recruit but no where does it not say we can not tell our friends & family members the good thing about Masonry.
 

Backwoodslion

Registered User
The lodge I am joining I will be the yOungest at 22 and the rest are above 50. But in a small town like mine I don't know how to get more young people interested. They are all too influenced by the negative things they hear about freemasonry...
 

cacarter

Premium Member
I'm probably the 3rd youngest in my lodge at this time at the age of 25. The other 2 are in college so they're not around during the year, making me the youngest by nearly a decade. At my home lodge there are more younger masons, the WM is 32, SW is 34, and JD is 31. That lodge also has the advantage of being in a college town and attracts college age "kids."

The one thing I have noticed in both lodges, and appendant bodies, is that youth attracts youth. If you're in college and you join, friends and acquaintances who know might become interested, or your joining serves as a catalyst for them finally pulling the trigger on joining. If that stigma of freemasonry being an "old guys club" can be broken, by the profane seeing younger masons, then it's possible the average age at a lodge meeting could be brought down.

Don't make it secret that you're a mason, but also don't be THAT guy who shoves it in peoples faces. Be willing to answer any questions your friends might have about the fraternity. Invite them to a dinner and give them a tract to read.
 

crono782

Premium Member
I'm definitely not the youngest in my lodge, but pretty far down the ladder at 31 years old. we have a number of brothers in their 20's, some in their 30's and a lot in their 40's.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
Masonry skipped a generation about late boomers. Across history masonic popularity has had multiple grow and shrink eras but as they tend to last several decades in each direction many think any current trend is likely to continue.

What we're seeing now is a reversal from a downward trend to an upward trend. There are a lot of old guys and a flood of new guys with fairly few in between. That you see plenty of guys in their 50s is unusual. Most lodges have their missing generation at that age group.
 

kastonw

Premium Member
I love the Web but when it comes to the masons I think the Web hurts us more then anything me and a guy I work with were talking about some of the stuff he read on the masons and I he went from being somewhat against the masons to having a better in site on us which made me happy

virtus junxit mors non separabit
 

Backwoodslion

Registered User
I love the Web but when it comes to the masons I think the Web hurts us more then anything me and a guy I work with were talking about some of the stuff he read on the masons and I he went from being somewhat against the masons to having a better in site on us which made me happy

virtus junxit mors non separabit

Yeah I have tried that and people believe the internet. I agree that the internet does masonry more bad than goods
 

DanMorris

Registered User
The one thing I have noticed in both lodges, and appendant bodies, is that youth attracts youth. If you're in college and you join, friends and acquaintances who know might become interested, or your joining serves as a catalyst for them finally pulling the trigger on joining. If that stigma of freemasonry being an "old guys club" can be broken, by the profane seeing younger masons, then it's possible the average age at a lodge meeting could be brought down.

Don't make it secret that you're a mason, but also don't be THAT guy who shoves it in peoples faces. Be willing to answer any questions your friends might have about the fraternity. Invite them to a dinner and give them a tract to read.

Yes, this is how I see it too. I am the youngest in my lodge being the age of 20. The next youngest brother is about 30.

When I joined initially, I was worried about having topics to discuss with my fellow brothers and relating to them - I work a part time job, have no wife or children, don't golf or do sports, and don't drink. But as time goes on, I realize there are other things to discuss, and I can still feel that bond with my brothers who are the kindest, funniest men I've ever met. They respect me as much as I respect them.

When I introduce myself to fellow college kids as being a Mason, they are bewildered and definitely interested. It's easy to open their minds about the craft - all that needs to be done is to get them questioning.
 
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