DiscussMormonism.com

Enemies Of The State Church

The big three (denoted by bubble size) are:
"Disagree with current policies"
"Incredulity over Church history"
"Church has lost its way or is deficient"

In other words, members have lost trust in their Church leaders. And who can blame them?

The debacle of the secret policy which became revelation once it had leaked, shows Church leaders have no intention of being transparent unless forced to do so. That erodes trust.

The publication of the essays confirmed only that which was already in the public domain via so-called anti-mormon sources. In publishing those essays confirmed that Church leaders had lied to members for decades, had allowed members to defend things that weren't true and that the doubts caused about the legitimacy of things like the Book of Abraham were well founded.

Members leaving because they feel the Church has lost its way or is deficient is again a signpost that members don't trust the leaders of Church to do the right things. Because their track record recently has confirmed Church leaders don't so the right things.

The Church doesn't have a member activity issue, it has a Church Leader credibility issue. The other bubbles confirm that.

Excellent observation, IHAQ. Reminds me of an article I read recently. The post below is largely excerpted from that article.

While I ordinarily don't like cut and paste any more than the next reader, sometimes (as used by Grindael and others) it's the best way to make a point.

In this case, the point is the difference between management (as practiced poorly by Church "leaders"), and actual leadership (which seems to be sorely lacking in the corporate suites of LDS Church).

Rather than use the quote function (because these are excerpts), passages taken directly from the article are shown in red - bolding is mine. The article linked above is short and well worth the time to read in its entirety.

Leadership is distinct from management because leadership is about transformation—personal and organizational transformation. While management, like stewardship, cares for what is, leadership is about what can be or what must become for an organization to fulfill its reason for being.

Leadership does not necessarily mean titles or authority. Leadership is a way of being in an organization, family, team, company, church, business, nation (or any other “system”) that, in the words of Ronald Heifetz, “enables a group to grow so they can face their toughest challenges.”

Since leadership is about transformation, and because we are hard-wired to resist change, every living system requires someone in it to live into and lead into the new future we are resisting. If someone is not functioning as a leader, the system will always default to the status quo.

Leaders act. Leaders function. While speaking is a form of functioning, and many leaders are known for their words in times of crisis, leadership is expressed mostly primarily in the actions that “enable a group to grow and face their toughest challenges.” Leaders lead by example, words, decisions and even silence.

Sometimes a transformative act is to stand in the middle of an anxious storm and say nothing. Just stand and stand there. Ed Friedman said, “The leader in the system is the one who is not blaming anyone.”- especially not the rank and file volunteer members of one's church.