[RoughAshlar]

I imagine that your lodges have gone through or are having the same problem as ours. Counting myself, there are two young MM's in our chairs and seemingly no interest by our membership, which leads us to recycle our PM's through the chairs and of them there are only 3 who are really dedicated and probably wont be around much longer as they are getting into the age danger zone.
We have lots of youthful MM's, and even more FC's, and EA's, but getting them to come to lodge or partake in out side events is pulling teeth. In fact, keeping them interested enough to progress past EA has been difficult recently.

What do you do to get your membership engaged, keep them interested and motivate them to get involved?

[Ashlar521]

This is a tough question that has stumped many , many lodges . We have tried many different things to get memebers active in the lodge. From more educational lectures , big meals and golf outings for the memebers . But the thing that helped the most with getting members active again was by being a little more laid back having a more relaxed atmosphere at our stated meetings and not so up-tight and by the book , traditionally speaking . I was aginst it at first , but our numbers have jumped up from just a handful to a "almost" packed house now . More members are jumping into the conversations now than just the same 3 or 4 there used to be . Quit a few said is was refreshing and more enjoyable to come to lodge now . They learn more now about Freemasonry than before , instead of one member giving a educational talk and moving on , everyone jumps in with questions and comments now . We have our laughs and joke around with one another when the time is right and serious when it is proper to be so . We have went from open the Lodge at 7:30 take care of buisness , close Lodge and go home by 8:15 to not getting out till 10:00 or later and really enjoying it .

I think that now , competing against TV , the internet and other activities that claim our attention that the lodge needs to roll with the times and do things a little different than they did in the days before these modern conviences to regain the members entusiasm for the craft . Many traditionalists maynot agree , but we really have to look on the sidelines to see where we are heading . I remember a time when we had maybe one man on the sidelines for a stated meeting and now we are having close to packed houses all because we loosened things up a little . Our numbers grow every month and more and more brothers who have not been to lodge in years are now coming back .

[RoughAshlar]

Glad to hear that things are going so well for your lodge, its not something I hear much of lately. We have been trying to open things up and stream lining the lodge business and minutes to get to the good stuff quicker, it so far hasn't made a difference in attendance though.

[Ashlar521]

We just " loosened our neck ties " , so to speak . Eased back on the formal atmosphere . Thats all , and that helped out tremendously . Like I stated before , I was against it . I love tradition and the formal atmosphere of it all, but I love having more brothers attending Lodge and enjoying it even more .

[Ashlar521]

I hate to see this thread disappear to the next page . This is a great topic and would love to see what others have done to try and boost their attendance .

[Esquire]

I think one of the problems with keeping new initiates interested and engaged is the fact that once they join they really can't participate until they attain the Third Degree. In my jurisdiction, this means at a minimum a new candidate cannot attend a Lodge meeting for at least three months from the time he joins. But the typical Entered Apprentice doesn't have the time necessary to master the memory work in order to progress through the degrees in the statutory minimum time required. Therefore, it is sometimes six months, eight months, even a year before the new member gets to attend his first regular meeting at the Lodge he's joined. Is it any wonder that there is a high attrition rate among new initiates?

Some jurisdictions have addressed this problem by holding one-day degree sessions in which the candidate is initiated, passed, and raised all in one day. I'm just a lowly EA myself, so who am I to question the wisdom of this approach? But it just doesn't seem right. What you have at the end of that one-day session is a bunch of "Masons-in-name-only." They have not committed a single word of the degrees to memory. They have not been exposed to the Masonic fellowship that comes from working closely with your mentor as you work through the degree materials, not only to memorize, but to learn. In short, I don't think the one-day approach is the way to handle the problem of retaining new members and getting them involved.

Once I am raised in my own Lodge, I plan to propose the following as a solution to the problem: Whenever we have EAs working toward the FC degree, we open the Lodge on the First Degree at each regular meeting. This is solely for the purpose of allowing the new EAs to participate at some level on a monthly basis until they are raised a MM. Of course, no business can be conducted, but while the Lodge is open on the First Degree, one of the Brothers will be responsible for giving a brief educational exhortation to the new Brother(s), then they would be excused, and the Lodge reopened on the Third Degree for the regular business. If we only had FCs, then we do the same thing: open the Lodge on the Second Degree.

(Of course, my suggestion may be for naught if the laws of my jurisdiction state that a lodge can only be opened on the First Degree for the purpose of conferring that degree. I’m not sure if that’s the case.)

[RoughAshlar]

We don't have that particular problem, we conduct all the lodge business in the first so that all members can attend. My understanding is that the U.S. is a bit of an abnormality in that regard. We only open in the higher degree's when conducting a candidate through a degree or when we have information to pass on that may only be communicated in that higher degree.

[BG_TRBL]

We have had a steady decline in attendance and participation for years now. Every few years we get a surge of new members, and new participation, but it all seems to trail off. I wish I had a way of knowing how and what to do to keep them involved, and participating.

[walls0stone]

I feel that would hurt the group to loosen the ties. We have men coming into our lodge now who seem to be in a transition. Aprox 30 Y/O, and theyno longer wish to run around with the same old "boys", they come in for the structire and tradion of it.

Masons are a group that moves a man to do things that are good for himself, his family and his comunity. Structure is important for all of us to get them most out of the orginisation. As more young men swing back to reality and the world of Chatrooms, gaming and vurtual friendships looses proves to be unreal, the Lodge and what it has to offer will grow again.

Nothng like real people and reality