Membership Numbers: A Perspective

[Companion Joe]

I'd like to share something with you, a perspective on falling membership numbers. This comes specifically from the Council side of things, but I believe it fits aptly with the membership numbers concern in the Blue Lodge or any appendant body.

This is taken from the address given by one of our Most Illustrious Past Grand Masters when he was in the East for the annual assembly in Nashville, noting a net loss in membership to Cryptic Masonry in Tennessee:

Cryptic Masonry throughout the State is not making the advancement it should, nor taking its place in line with the other branches of Masonry. There is something lacking – we fail to interest the new members coming into our beautiful Order. I truly hope that this condition may be changed for the better before this time next year. To me, this is a very serious matter.

Grand Lodges and all Grand Masonic bodies may legislate, Masonic Education Committees may issue pamphlets and direct capable speakers along Masonic Lines, Study Clubs may be organized – all of these do good work – but this does not reach the young Mason toward whom our energies must be directed if we are to follow him into the new world of thought and energy which has lately come into being.

Thousands pass our portals every year who are good men and true, but who will never become active Masons until we have done something to arouse a new life in the Subordinate Bodies from the Blue Lodge to the highest degree of both rites. The old Masons are rapidly going to their great reward, and it is to the young Masons that we must look, in a few years, to carry on the great work so ably carried on in the past. We must put ourselves in their places and try to look at things from their view point if we are to aid and guide them.



And now, the rest of the story …

The was the address given by Most Illustrious Grand Master Thomas J. Luttrell at the 78th Annual Assembly of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of the State of Tennessee held in Nashville on January 23, 1928.

Nineteen – Twenty – Eight

You see, brothers, the sky isn’t falling. Masonic membership ebbs and flows just like the tide. But in the end, good men find their way to the greatest fraternity the world has ever known. It’s just up to us to encourage them a little bit from time to time.

 

[Bloke]

Loved the punch line of the date.

I agree, the sky is not falling. We have challenges, but they are the same those who went before and overcome.

Mind you, you just swap one set of problems with another - in my two craft lodges we are going gangbusters, looking after a new brothers and educating them is a real challenge.. but oh what a great problem to have

 

[Brother JC]

There are several Grand Master's addresses from that era floating around the webs, and they all speak similar truths. That's one reason why my hand comes up and my ears fold down when the doomsayers start their litany.

 

[hanzosbm]

There are several Grand Master's addresses from that era floating around the webs, and they all speak similar truths.

Just to play devil's advocate; you say several from that era. What about other eras? My point is, we are looking a previous time when people said Masonry was in trouble as a way of comforting ourselves that everything is fine. If these types of letters were constant, then there is warrant in the comfort. But, if there were multiple letters like this all from a single era, and then they went away, couldn't it instead be argued that there was a legitimate problem that thankfully was corrected? And if so, doesn't that mean that we should heed the warnings of the past rather than saying 'it'll be fine'?

 

[Warrior1256]

You see, brothers, the sky isn’t falling. Masonic membership ebbs and flows just like the tide. But in the end, good men find their way to the greatest fraternity the world has ever known. It’s just up to us to encourage them a little bit from time to time.

This actually makes me feel better about the state of numbers within The Craft.

I agree, the sky is not falling. We have challenges, but they are the same those who went before and overcome.

Ditto.

There are several Grand Master's addresses from that era floating around the webs, and they all speak similar truths. That's one reason why my hand comes up and my ears fold down when the doomsayers start their litany.

As a relatively new Freemason all of the above helps set my mind a little more at ease concern this matter. We still have to strive for better methods for recruiting more good and younger men. Thank you brothers.

 

[Brother JC]

Unfortunately, there is no concise data for the past three centuries. The data we have shows a regular ebb and flow of membership. Quality versus quantity has been a constant, with the exception of the post-war "glut" years.

 

[dfreybur]

Just to play devil's advocate; you say several from that era. What about other eras?

The best answer is not to look at lectures that complain about members. The best answer is to look at jurisdiction membership numbers then divide those numbers by the US Census data for the state that jurisdiction is in.

Before I petitioned I found exactly that data for one of the New England states. It showed the percentage of Masons among the states population across the two centuries since the US have existed. It showed a wave moving up and down for each century. I concluded that the elderly members today have spent 50 years watching lodge membership decline so of course they complain. But, and this is a huge but, the brothers who died 50 years ago spent their entire 50 years seeing lodge populations increase. The brothers of that era complained of poor attendance as they had never seen declining membership!

I have since gathered the same data for Illinois from its first US Census as a territory. The trend line was not as obvious but it was still there. Masonry spends very roughly 50 years building popularity in society and then roughly 50 years losing popularity in society. Back and forth.

Look up the data two centuries old. You'll stop worrying.

And if so, doesn't that mean that we should heed the warnings of the past rather than saying 'it'll be fine'?

Step one is to figure out if the complaints actually are real. If the sky is not falling then those complaints can be safely ignored. I've read the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The same complaints are to be found in those books. What we need to heed is the fact that people have been complaining as long as people have been writing, and of course millennia before that.

We need to learn lessons from the past. Very much a different idea than heeding warnings from the past that are known to be a part of human nature to complain.

For a century Masonry was social, a network of contacts in an era before trains when travel was still rare but a few people had to travel regularly. So history tells of statesmen whose Masonic network of contacts held parts of society together.

For a century Masonry was a type of insurance in an era when insurance had never been applied to anything but shipping. So history tells of brothers coming to each others aid even across battle lines.

For a century Masonry was a social network that used fund raising for charity to draw large numbers of members. So history tells of hospitals and enough members do build large unsustainable buildings.

Next year Grand Lodge Masonry will be three centuries old. What will be be in our fourth century? Look to the young petitioners and see what it is they are interested in to see what we will evolve into this century.

 

[hanzosbm]

Step one is to figure out if the complaints actually are real. If the sky is not falling then those complaints can be safely ignored. I've read the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The same complaints are to be found in those books. What we need to heed is the fact that people have been complaining as long as people have been writing, and of course millennia before that.

We need to learn lessons from the past. Very much a different idea than heeding warnings from the past that are known to be a part of human nature to complain.

I hear what you're saying, but my point is, if we're seeing 50 year cycles (and I'm not saying it's definitely 50 years, but just cycles), is that because things got bad, steps were taken to correct it, they got better, then they got lax and the cycle repeated? Or do these cycles exist (both ebbing and flowing) regardless of our response?

Imagine a car that around every 5000 miles starts to run a little rough, and everyone in your car complains that it's running rough, so you take it in to get an oil change and it runs better...for another 5000 miles. My concern is that we're essentially saying "it's run rough in the past and people complained about it then too, it'll be fine, no need to do anything to change it" and eventually the car falls apart. I'm not saying that's what is happening here, but it's possible, so I see potential danger in an attitude of 'Masons have complained about this same thing for hundreds of years, it'll be fine'.

So, going back to your previous statement; step 1, is the sky falling, are the complaints real? The clear answer is, yes. Membership numbers are declining, so the problem is real (assuming that you consider declining membership numbers as a problem, which I don't for the record). So I guess you could say that step 2 is determining whether or not we want the problem fixed. If not, stop. If so, then step 3 would be to determine if the problem requires intervention in order to be fixed (and here again comes the question about whether this is a natural cycle or requires a solution). If not, stop. If so, then step 4 would be to work towards a solution.

 

[dfreybur]

So, going back to your previous statement; step 1, is the sky falling, are the complaints real? The clear answer is, yes.

Plus sa change, plus sa meme chose - The more things change the more they stay the same.

Membership numbers are tracking the historical trend and are therefore the complaints are natural but not valid.

Feelings are real. Do not confuse this with thinking feelings are valid. People get afraid on the main descent of a roller coaster. If you find a person who does not know what a roller coaster it, hoodwink them and put them on a roller coaster they will be genuinely afraid. But they will not be validly afraid if they were told after being hoodwinked that there would be a temporary descent that thrills.

History matters.

Can Masonry fail? Sure. If we fail to evolve. Ignore those young guys looking for value at lodge and you could push towards failure. Resist lodge having events that interest young guys and you push towards failure. But lodges have always have those older brothers.