Thoughts on Recruitment
By W.Bro Allein Moore
Once upon a time, Freemasons were told that they must wait for a man to approach them with a wish to join the fraternity. Seeking out possible candidates was not approved. This has changed in recent years and seeking out candidates is encouraged by most District lodges. The slow decline in worldwide membership has made it necessary to give greater thought to recruiting new members.
In my opinion, we are not giving enough priority to recruitment. Some brethren even say that it is better to have fewer members of good quality, suggesting that any increase would automatically result in unsuitable candidates. This rather jaundiced view suggests that there are very few good men in their community.
Why the pressing need to build numbers?
The urgency in bringing in new members stems from the fact that income to Grand Lodges, Provincial Grand Lodges, and District Grand Lodges…
Thanks for this WBro Alex. I agree that we need to form plans for meeting expectations, and have two observations: 1. The PDF seems, to me, to be geared toward lodge logistics and increasing membership. Although the advice in forming and executing strategy is broadly applicable, it doesn't explicitly bring out that point. 2. It seems that expectations vary widely. Some are here for fellowship/drinking, others networking, charity, ritual and a smaller group hoping for self-improvement. Whatever someone is looking for, outside of fellowship via the festive board (that the JW does, nothing seems organised at the lodge or district level. Even if there is a large enough group they seem to have no way to easily connect.
A possible solution may be a district directory, with names, titles, jobs and contact details so that self-organization would be easier. Even better if district would provide some infrastructure for things, like mailing list, websites, etc.
Basically, it just feels we're too fragmented to achieve much in the way of helping each other meet expectations.