Can we?

[billyjfootball]

Can we survive? I'm worried, fellows. I'm worried. There's been a lot of merging of lodges around here. I'm scared that my lodge, which has been around since the late 1800s, will close or merge. We initiate a guy every three months. After that three months, they're gone. Never seen again. It hurts. Makes me sick, sad. We cannot sustain ourselves!!! Nobody wants to make extra meetings. It's down to about a consistent 9. When these older, awesome elder-statesman decide to hang their aprons up, what will happen? Seems like we're fading. Hurts me to say it!!! Back in day we had 60 guys at an extra meeting and now we have nine. I'm worried. I'm thinking merging might be the best thing. I'm sad but HOPEFUL of our future.


Sent from my iPhone using My Freemasonry mobile app

 

[Brother JC]

It is sad but we set ourselves up for it. If the lodge you’re merging with is vibrant I’d say do it, use that momentum. But if it’s another “consistent 9” you’ll still need to find a way to get active.
Best of luck!

 

[Glen Cook]

Can we survive? I'm worried, fellows. I'm worried. There's been a lot of merging of lodges around here. I'm scared that my lodge, which has been around since the late 1800s, will close or merge. We initiate a guy every three months. After that three months, they're gone. Never seen again. It hurts. Makes me sick, sad. We cannot sustain ourselves!!! Nobody wants to make extra meetings. It's down to about a consistent 9. When these older, awesome elder-statesman decide to hang their aprons up, what will happen? Seems like we're fading. Hurts me to say it!!! Back in day we had 60 guys at an extra meeting and now we have nine. I'm worried. I'm thinking merging might be the best thing. I'm sad but HOPEFUL of our future.


Sent from my iPhone using My Freemasonry mobile app

When you call them to go to lodge with you, what is the response?

 

[Keith C]

My Lodge is the result of two Lodges that merged in 2014. One Lodge had a vibrant group of members and a solid financial base, due to the forced sale of their Lodge Building (long and sad story of an over-reaching local Government) and the other had a shrinking membership and a Lodge building with "great bones" but in need of a bunch of work. I was raised just under a year ago (11/30/16) and we have had one or two extra meetings every month with one or two brothers receiving degrees. We are, however, barely keeping up with brothers who have left for the house not built by hands. Happily the majority of new brothers are becoming active. I will be Junior Warden next year ( I was Junior Deacon this year) a Brother who went through the degrees with me will be Senior Deacon next year and all but one of the newer brothers have been filling chairs for degrees.

Keep positive! Everyone from both lodges that formed my lodge would agree that things are better now than they were in either lodge separately. A merger may be a big positive for you.

 

[David612]

Of cause we can, not every lodge will.
At the end of the day going to lodge has to be more interesting than the latest Star Trek Discovery episode.

 

[Bloke]

Can we survive? I'm worried, fellows. I'm worried. There's been a lot of merging of lodges around here. I'm scared that my lodge, which has been around since the late 1800s, will close or merge. We initiate a guy every three months. After that three months, they're gone. Never seen again. It hurts. Makes me sick, sad. We cannot sustain ourselves!!! Nobody wants to make extra meetings. It's down to about a consistent 9. When these older, awesome elder-statesman decide to hang their aprons up, what will happen? Seems like we're fading. Hurts me to say it!!! Back in day we had 60 guys at an extra meeting and now we have nine. I'm worried. I'm thinking merging might be the best thing. I'm sad but HOPEFUL of our future.


Sent from my iPhone using My Freemasonry mobile app

The question is not will you survive, but how too, and the the first port of call on that journey is knowing why do you not keep those 4 men you're initiating every 3 months. I'd be asking them.

Often, Lodges just don't value candidates, but their like your masonic children, you have a duty to them and they will be your successors and will carry on your name and your traditions. They're one of the most important assets a lodge can have, and they are often not valued as they should be.

 

[Elexir]

This problem is not just limited to freemasonry but to all fraternetys.

I am in an other fraternal order besides freemasonry where some of the older high ranking members describe how the change in time and how familes work diffrently then when they joined. Another problem has also been that they hade a large influx of members at one time and becuse of that they was content and didnt work that hard to make sure it stayed that way.

 

[David612]

Those involved in masonry are also spread thin, how many are members of multiple craft lodges, side orders, work full time, are on committees, are mentoring a new candidate and so on, many brethren get so involved and don’t have the time to look beyond the superficial of the fraternity..

 

[Warrior1256]

Two of my lodges are experiencing the same problem.

 

[CLewey44]

I joined to find out the mysteries as most of us did but was pretty disappointed. Not disappointed in Masonry but how it was presented and the follow-up from there. To be frank with you, I enjoy the concordant body I'm involved with more than BL and growing from there requires BL membership so I do keep it. Not saying I don't enjoy BL however other groups are more my speed. I don't get excited to go to most BL meetings but I do look forward to my appendant body's meetings. I've said it before and I'll say it again, T.O. is the future of American Masonry I think. There is a lot of enthusiasm in T.O. lodge development than your run-of-the-mill BL. It was the best BL experience I've ever had and it is my ultimate goal to be a member of one of them. My dad and granddad's generation and version of BL is what is dying off. Masonry is likely going back to healthy numbers in a lot of ways. At least I hope so with the emergence of T.O./Euro lodges.

 

[JJones]

Can we survive? I'm worried, fellows. I'm worried. There's been a lot of merging of lodges around here. I'm scared that my lodge, which has been around since the late 1800s, will close or merge. We initiate a guy every three months. After that three months, they're gone. Never seen again. It hurts. Makes me sick, sad. We cannot sustain ourselves!!! Nobody wants to make extra meetings. It's down to about a consistent 9. When these older, awesome elder-statesman decide to hang their aprons up, what will happen? Seems like we're fading. Hurts me to say it!!! Back in day we had 60 guys at an extra meeting and now we have nine. I'm worried. I'm thinking merging might be the best thing. I'm sad but HOPEFUL of our future.


Sent from my iPhone using My Freemasonry mobile app

What steps have you or your lodge taken to address this? Have you met to discuss what you've done so far and why it hasn't worked? What research has been done on lodge improvement?

It's a lot of questions but of you don't have an answer for one of them then you need to give it some consideration if this really concerns you. Some lodges probably just need to die or merge (we have one in my town) but usually lodges die from inaction.

 

[Warrior1256]

To be frank with you, I enjoy the concordant body I'm involved with more than BL and growing from there requires BL membership so I do keep it. Not saying I don't enjoy BL however other groups are more my speed. I don't get excited to go to most BL meetings but I do look forward to my appendant body's meetings.

I can understand this and feel some what the same way.

 

[Ripcord22A]

I joined to find out the mysteries as most of us did but was pretty disappointed.

I was disappointed to find out that we aren’t running the world

 

[Ripcord22A]

>I joined to find out the mysteries as most of us did but was pretty disappointed.

That is the standard experience and yet it is not a one-sided problem.

1- Have you considered why the various knocks are different rhythms? Why knocks at all?

2- When we get a new IG I spend a little time with him as he tries various speeds for the knocks until he gets a feel for the right tempo.

3- So what is the right speed for perambulating the candidate? Why does that feel right?

4- And why do we perambulate clockwise? When a brother goes the wrong way do you feel something change in the temple? What has happened to the energy?

Etc

1- nope. How else are you supposed to request entrance some where? Be like “Yo! I’m out here y’all gonna let me in?!”

2- literally everyone I’ve seen as a Tyler, JD SD or candidate just knocks 3 times.

3- the right speed is to pass the candidate in front of the S,E,W stations as the sections of scripture are completed so the officer can Gavel at the proper time. It feels right cause it flows right

4- clockwise is cause time moves foreword and we want to move forward. Right is life left is death. NO and nothing




Sent from my iPhone using My Freemasonry mobile app

 

[JJones]

I think somebody has already pointed this out but the reason we are losing members soon after they join (especially the younger ones) is that we are not living up to their expectations they had prior to joining.

Most men expect big things out of an old, respectable, and somewhat mysterious fraternity like ours. Imagine how they feel when they join and learn their lodge is likely all about fish fries, pancake breakfast, low dues, poorly maintained buildings, poor leadership, and a wide-open West Gate. These are the things we need to fix if we want to plug the hole in our bucket.

The links included all go to my blog, by the way. It's easier to link people to my rants than to type it all over again, so I hope nobody minds.

 

[Glen Cook]

1- nope. How else are you supposed to request entrance some where? Be like “Yo! I’m out here y’all gonna let me in?!”

2- literally everyone I’ve seen as a Tyler, JD SD or candidate just knocks 3 times.

3- the right speed is to pass the candidate in front of the S,E,W stations as the sections of scripture are completed so the officer can Gavel at the proper time. It feels right cause it flows right

4- clockwise is cause time moves foreword and we want to move forward. Right is life left is death. NO and nothing




Sent from my iPhone using My Freemasonry mobile app

EC Lodges have a particular manner in which the K are given in each degree. Your correspondent failed to note this.

 

[Ripcord22A]

EC Lodges have a particular manner in which the K are given in each degree. Your correspondent failed to note this.

Never been in an EC lodge. I’m just going off my experience where they just knock

 

[CLewey44]

When we get a new IG I spend a little time with him as he tries various speeds for the knocks until he gets a feel for the right tempo.

So what is the right speed for perambulating the candidate? Why does that feel right?

....ummmm....ok, this is just....

 

[Warrior1256]

1- nope. How else are you supposed to request entrance some where? Be like “Yo! I’m out here y’all gonna let me in?!”

2- literally everyone I’ve seen as a Tyler, JD SD or candidate just knocks 3 times.

3- the right speed is to pass the candidate in front of the S,E,W stations as the sections of scripture are completed so the officer can Gavel at the proper time. It feels right cause it flows right

4- clockwise is cause time moves foreword and we want to move forward. Right is life left is death. NO and nothing

Good answers Brother Rip!

1- nope. How else are you supposed to request entrance some where? Be like “Yo! I’m out here y’all gonna let me in?!”

LOL!!!!!!!!!! Little bit of humor Bro.?

 

[David612]

Step One: Take a new candidate
Step two: Perambulate vigorously.
Step three: Add light..