Less-active Mormon

Less active and inactive are terms historically used by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to describe a person who is not actively participating, but who is still on its membership records. Generally speaking, these are individuals who do not attend the church's services and are not otherwise involved in its activities or callings. Some less-active members maintain good relations with and positive feelings toward the LDS Church. Reasons for disengagement can include lifestyle issues and problems with social integration.[1][2]

The LDS Church does not release statistics on church activity, but it is likely that about 60 percent of its members in the United States and 70 percent worldwide are less active or inactive.[3][4][5][6] Activity rates vary with age, and disengagement occurs most frequently between age 16 and 25. Young single adults are also more likely to become inactive than their married counterparts,[7] and overall, women tend to be more active than men.[8] A 1998 study showed that a majority of less-active members return to church activity later in life.[6] Further research has shown that "a completed mission correlates well with staying Mormon for the long term, even among people who were not very active in the LDS Church growing up. In other words, eight in ten people who had been less active as kids were still Mormon in adulthood if they had served a full-term mission."[9]

The Jewish equivalent of "less active" is "non-observant". The Catholic equivalent is "non-practicing" or "lapsed".

  1. ^ Cunningham, Perry H. (1992), "Activity in the Church", in Ludlow, Daniel H (ed.), Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York: Macmillan Publishing, pp. 13–15, ISBN 0-02-879602-0, OCLC 24502140
  2. ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (23 September 2011). "Active, inactive – do Mormon labels work or wound?". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
  3. ^ Member activity rates are estimated from missionary reports, seminary and institute enrollment, and ratio of members per congregation - ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com/
  4. ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (January 17, 2014). "New almanac offers look at the world of Mormon membership". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
  5. ^ An "unverified" worldwide LDS activity statistic of 36% was briefly published in 2014 on the Deseret News website. See:
    "LDS DEMOGRAPHICS PUBLISHED, THEN SCRUBBED BY DESERET NEWS". Mormon News, October 13–17. Signature Books. October 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
  6. ^ a b Albrecht, Stan L. (1998), "The Consequential Dimension of Mormon Religiosity", in Duke, James T. (ed.), Latter-day Saint Social Life: Social Research on the LDS Church and its Members, Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, pp. 253–292, ISBN 1-57008-396-7, OCLC 38962731, archived from the original on 2011-10-06, retrieved 2011-08-09
  7. ^ Riess, Jana (October 5, 2016), "Worldwide, only 25 percent of young single Mormons are active in the LDS Church", Religion News Service
  8. ^ Bushman, Richard Lyman (2008), Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 55, ISBN 978-0-19-531030-6
  9. ^ Riess, Jana (2019). The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church. Oxford University Press. p. 46.