A Notable and Significant Increase in the Church’s Missionary Numbers

     Recently, I have heard a lot of pessimistic reports about religious faith in our country such as: “In this negative world, church attendance has plunged, intolerance of traditional religious values has skyrocketed, and Christians have been dragged into court for their faithfulness — many into the court of public opinion, if not an actual courtroom.”
    I have heard some of the same pessimism and negativism and worry in recent conversations with members of the Church of Jesus Christ, especially about the current activity and faithfulness of the youth of the Church.  But, a recent news article provided a differing and much more positive view.  (Deseret News article,  June 28, 2023, “The number of Latter-day Saint missionaries is rising rapidly”)
    I was thrilled and excited by Elder Quentin L. Cook’s press announcement that     “Despite fewer missionary-age Latter-day Saints, the Church has seen an increase in the number of full-time missionaries from 56,000 at the end of 2021 to 68,000 [this month]. And we really do feel like we’ll exceed 72,000 by the end of the year,” Elder Cook added.
    “And so, with fewer available, more are going out,” he continued. “If you look at the youth, their activity rate is higher than it has been. So they have responded in a wonderful way to the clarion call of a Prophet — both in his April 2022 general conference address and in his invitation as president of the Church for youth to gather Israel on both sides of the veil.”
    “...young people who are signing up to go on missions ... in higher numbers, and higher percentages, than previous generations, Elder Cook said.
    According to research by professor Justin Dyer at Brigham Young University, “the most recent generation [in this country], overall, places less importance on religion and attends religious services less frequently than previous generations. However, this does not hold for youth of some denominations, including Latter-day Saints, where attitudes among the recent generations... are on par with or actually more favorable to religion than some earlier generations.”
    This contradicts the popular notion of young people being less beholden to faith.  “In comparing the generations when they were high school seniors, millennial Latter-day Saint youth feel religion is more important than all other generations.”
    Professor Dyer concludes that this trend is “notable and significant.”
    As Elder Marcus B. Nash, a General Authority Seventy and the executive director of the church’s missionary department, concluded, “There’s just something going on, and I don’t know how to explain it other than the prophet spoke in April 2022, and this rising generation — that he teaches us was held in reserve — [is] responding.”
    I am excited and proud of the youths in our family who are part of this trend.