The number of members of the global faith increased by 0.6% to 16.6 million.
(File photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) LDS baptism before the pandemic in Africa.
Growth hit a COVID-19 barrier last year for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – especially among new converts.
The total number of members increased by 98,627 to 16,663,663, according to the 2020 statistics released on Saturday as part of the 191st Annual General Conference of the faith. This represents an increase of 0.6% over the 16,565,036 reported in 2019.
But with tens of thousands of full-time missionaries released or transferred last year, convert baptism dropped to 125,930, from 248,835 in 2019, a drop of almost 50%.
Many members also delayed babies’ blessings – since Sunday services were interrupted for a while – so fewer children were added to the lists.
The church registered 65,440 children registered in 2020. This is almost 31% below the 94,266 added to the membership count the previous year.
Despite the pandemic-related struggles, the number of Latter-day Saint congregations worldwide has grown to 31,136, from 30,940 in 2019, an increase of 0.6%.
High-level Latter-day Saint leaders noted the challenges that proselytists faced during COVID-19.
In some cases, “they teach abroad, socially distant,” apostle Gary E. Stevenson told an audience at Brigham Young University last month. “Elsewhere, where there are greater restrictions, missionary teaching originates from missionary apartments, done virtually.”
In February, a fellow apostle, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, encouraged missionaries in a worldwide virtual devotional to “be creative” in their efforts to “help people learn about the Savior of the world.”
Uchtdorf told young Latter-day Saints not to “neglect the proven principles and practices of before the pandemic, but to learn, add and adapt the technological advances the Lord has provided to carry out his work in his time and age.”
Independent researcher Matt Martinich, who tracks the church’s demographics at ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com, recently predicted the anticipated decline in growth, although the sharp drop in converts has been much greater than he anticipated.
As vaccinations increase and cases of coronavirus decrease, Martinich expects these metrics to recover this year, “as conditions begin to normalize in many of the countries where the church operates.”