MSANA membership stats , oh my !!

You have to remember, we are seeing the last of the Brothers die from the membership boom that began just after WWI and happened again just after WWII. Out numbers will, most likely, never return there. Our membership will even out where it needs to be. And the sooner that misguided Brothers quite trying to get back to those numbers by any means necessary the better. Yes, I'm looking at you, GL's in New England.

This leaves us with the problem of these huge temples with no way to maintain them and Lodges holding onto them with death grip as they are dragged down. There are options, but they all require extra work on the part of the Lodge but I have seen some Lodges able to keep their over sized temples through creativity..

• Sell the building
• Have multiple Lodges meet in the same building
• Historical landmark
• Rent building for functions
• Craftsmen Clubs

The numbers declining are not the problem. That is natural. The problem is when we convince ourselves that they shouldn't be going down and we break our own rules or lower our standards to try to increase the those numbers. When we do this, the Order as a whole is weakened.

I agree, with you guys. What happened to quality over quantity???

Alex/08/86

Quality is key to preserving the Craft and I believe that most MM want to be around like-minded and dedicated Brothers; in my humble opinion! NO PAIN.... NO GAIN!

A Lodge should be a small group of Brothers who all know each other on a deeply personal level. There should be no problem having several Lodges in an area if there is that much interest. You should know every Brother in your Lodge as well as you know your best friend. If you don't, your Lodge is too big.

With that in mind, a smaller, more personal Lodge doesn't need a huge building. We can go back to the way we were and meet in backrooms and such. Then, the focus of all of the Lodges can be centered on building Masons, instead of holding enough events to be able to pay the electrical bill.

I love this thread already.

I did have to do a double take at the title. Thought it said MENSA!

For those unfamiliar with the MSANA and if you have not seen the stats for membership, here is a link:

Masonic Service Association of North America

Bookmark the site and look around. the MSANA has some great resources for your Lodge.

Let's not forget that there were other motives beside Masonry to join a lodge during those boom times in the 40's and 50's. Joining Fraternal organizations were one of the few ways a family could get life and health insurance at group rates. Most employers did not offer such benefits back then.

If you think there are a lot of men who join Masonry and do not become active now, think about the number of men who joined then just to be able to get insurance.

For more on Masonic insurance MASONIC INSURANCE - Do Masonic lodges offer policies to members?

The numbers from post WW2 are significantly lower now. I for one am glad to see that my jurisdiction is making changes to afford quality over quantity.

Sadly, I keep hearing the same old story about drumming up members, but I think the concept is finally dying due to the realization that we have neglected the very foundation of the fraternity for far too long.

Last night at our District Masters and Wardens meeting, the DDGM stood up and said ritual was the most important thing we have. The District Instructor chimed in and said that young men are the future of Freemasonry, and Ritual is Freemasonry.

I wanted to start clapping because somebody finally gets it.

Hey, I might resemble that remark...lol.Did i miss something about the GL's in New England??

Numbers are important!

The reason that so many are "hung up" on our membership numbers, is that membership is the lifeblood of Freemasonry. Here is an illustrative story.

In the 1830's a religious group called the "Shakers" was formed. Their group forbade recruiting, or asking anyone to join. They had no missionaries, and all members were required to practice celibacy, including the married members. The Shakers died out.

In the 1830's a religious group called the "Mormons" was formed. Their group sent out missionaries, and every member is expected to be a missionary. Members are given "tracts" and "information cards", with information about the church. The Mormons send out more missionaries, than all other Protestant denominations combined. They used to practice polygamy, and Brigham Young had 27 wives. Joseph Smith had 300 wives, counting the women who married him posthumously. Today, members are expected to have big families, and all male members are expected to serve a two-year mission. The Mormons have embraced the internet, and all media. What started as a group of 6 men, in upstate New York, is now a world-wide religion, with over 12 million members, in 117 countries.

The Shakers are extinct.

Who should Masonry emulate? Masonry is not a religion, but we should take a lesson from both of these religious groups.

When I was made a Mason in 1982,my mother lodge (KY) had over 600 members. Today my lodge has less then 200. Two lodges I have belonged to in the past (VA and NY) have vanished. Gone with the Wind. I see lodges all over the USA closing, and consolidating. I was recently in Georgia, and I tried to visit a lodge, but they no longer hold meetings. I was in one Georgia lodge, and I had to serve as JD, because not enough members showed up for the meeting.

If numbers are not important? What is?

I understand not advertising to get major numbers, but how people still know or even heard of freemasonry now. I think the word should get out somehow so we dont lose the fraternity completely eventually. Mass membership, mass degree nights I dont agree with. We need numbers, but we need active numbers in the lodges, so we dont have to fill officers seats with past officers. Being a member should require a standard of attendance. I dont understand being hung up on national or worldly numbers when we can only control local numbers. I did have 2 friends of mine ask about joining. Gave them a petition. And gave them this website.