The church is actively destroying its own culture

I think the mid-90s will go down as the peak of Mormon culture and influence. The church was still growing rapidly, it had a disproportionate amount of national political influence, it had nearly complete control over how it presented itself to its members, and - as someone who was born and raised in Utah - its influence extended into every aspect of TBMs’ lives.

Then along came the internet and with it decentralized information and a different way of forming social relationships. It was the beginning of the end of Mormonism’s rapid growth and the leadership has been trying to figure out how to deal with its impact ever since then.

There are so many different angles to the impact of the internet age on the church, but in my opinion the church’s ill conceived denying and reactionary approach has completely robbed the church of what kept countless people connected to it: the personal aspect of its culture.

Love it or hate it, the church used to have a tremendously diverse cultural fabric - roadshows, pageants, celebratory missionary farewells and homecomings, multiple types of informal church socials - the list goes on and on.

One by one, church leadership has dismantled and discontinued so many of these secondary social events. Not everything has changed or been discontinued, but enough of it had to make the church’s social fabric today fundamentally different and scaled down from what it was 30 years ago.

In addition to stripping out the fun, they’ve added things like cleaning the church for free - you know, because why not just add one more thing for members to try and do on top of all the other callings they have to deal with.

Add in the church’s greed, increasing number of scandals, and loss of control of its historical narrative, and the formula has been set for some members to be disillusioned with the prophets who have long been considered beyond reproach.

But I think what we are seeing now with the consolidation or wards and stakes is just as destructive as all of the other things combined. Boundaries for some people are changing constantly, which puts stress on friendships and relationships - especially for older people who have been in the same ward and / or stake for decades.

The church leadership is clearly on its heels and has no solution to the decline in member interest and engagement. As someone who left in the early 2000s - an early casualty of access to information - I get some measure of satisfaction watching this implosion of growth, but even more seeing the culture under attack from apathy, disillusionment, and burn out.

I strongly believe the pace will only continue to quicken as these things will only continue to build on itself over time. I, for one, intend to grab some popcorn and enjoy the show!