I would hope to see more innovative measures (engaging the public in a strategized way) before jumping straight to this.
What do you regard as recruiting? Can we hold open houses, invite the public and answer questions,,,,,,,,yes.
I was informed that we may now recruit members instead of being ask. I was wondering has anyone else heard this?
One of the things my Lodge is doing to let the public know we're here is CHARITY work. Go to your local Walmart...there IS a manager that helps organizations with philanthropies. An easy one that we do, is you tell the manager you would like to collect canned goods, or dollar bills to donate. When people find out that the Masonic lodge is helping out the needy because you're out there in a group keeping each other company it looks REALLY GOOD!! The needy, your lodge and Walmart benefit. The needy get the food, your lodge gets the recognition, and Walmart gets the money from all the cans purchased. When we did this, we had traveling brothers ask about our stated meetings, Mason's wives stop and talk to us about their husbands, interested men asking questions, and every once in a while funny looks, but who cares?? It's still ASK...and I like it that way...we currently have 3 EA degrees coming up, 3 investigations, and a few Master Mason degrees in the next few week. It looks to me as if Masonry is slowing headed in the better direction again. Keep your head up, wear your Masonic rings and pins, not to brag about Masonry, but to let people know we still exist, we're still active and we lodge our Craft!!
Not One Person
By Brother Dan Weatherington, from the Masonic e-mail journal CINOSAM
Not one person ever joined Masonry because George Washington was a Mason. Not one person ever joined
Masonry because Harry Truman was a Mason. Not one person ever joined because of any of our great Masonic
heroes. Joining doesn't make you any of those people.
Not one person ever joined in order to give a million dollars a day to charity, or homes, or crippled children.
You don't have to be a member to give money.
Not one person ever joined because our ritual is outstanding, or our minutes are accurate, or a hundred
other things we worry about. They don't know about our ritual.
They joined because someone they knew and admired was a Mason. It could have been a father, a friend, a
man down the street, or someone a thousand miles away.
Who, it didn't matter. They admired him and wanted to do the things he did, and they did it by the millions.
Want to help our growth? Be the kind of man someone admires. Someone will notice.