Many Masonic discussions seem to revolve around the fact that so many members do not regularly attend Lodge.
I think we need to ask ourselves a couple of questions when we consider that fact.
Do we actually expect our Brothers to attend Lodge?
If we do expect them, do we make that expectation clear to them?
Those questions lead me to wonder…
At the start of our meetings, should we call the role of our Masons, checking those who are present off our list?
Should we then take the list of Brothers who were not in attendance, divide it up among ourselves, and call to check on our Brother, assure him that he was missed, and invite him to come next time?
Would that not serve to both take care of our Brother by making sure that he is OK, and improve the chances of him attending the next meeting?
Let’s chat about it…
As with each Thursday, today we will have a Live Open Thread for all those with a paid subscription to Emeth. The thread will open at 8:00 AM, and I’ll remain on it through the day.
Please do stop by the thread so that we can chat about whatever Masonic topic is on your mind!
In a way we do take role with our sign in book at most lodges. My vision involves a less public action. Attendance is expected in the form of 12 events a year. Doesn't have to be a stated business meeting. My proposed lodge would have 12 special fellowship meetings, 12 out of lodge informal family/party refreshments, and 12 public outreach/charity events every year. That's 48 events to choose from, pick 12. The secretary will keep track of attendees and pass a list of those missing to the chaplain to follow-up on possibly sick/distressed brethren who haven't attended any events in over 45 days.
I’ve said before, freemasonry is a volunteer organization. There are no requirements for attendance. Expectations? Yes. But as long as they pay their dues, they are members.
Should we call them? Up to the lodge. Personally I don’t see any need to beg brothers to come back to lodge. It’s a free(ish) country. The lodge hasn’t moved or (probably) changed. The members know where the door is.
Most of the members not attending are probably living too far away to attend but still pay their dues to their home lodge instead of just demiting.
"Attend lodge" means lots of different things worth parsing out. Participating in socials. Sitting in a stated communication. Pitching in on a charity project. Cleaning up the kitchen. All of those count (for me) for "attending lodge". It's a proxy for being an active and engaged member.
I personally have no taste for discussions about attendance, because I consider them to be discussions about the shadow, rather than the elephant that casts it. I don't think it's a good idea to introduce scrutiny or shame to who comes and who doesn't. We have a sign-in sheet so we know who came, that's basically it.
The elephant is whether members get value from their lodge experience. I would humbly submit that if the only activity the lodge undertakes is a dry business meeting / stated communication, then there is nothing reasonable to be done about any perceived attendance challenge, because it's a volunteer organization and you can't make people do things.
People freely associate to organizations they derive pleasure & value from. It's silly but our weekly ritual practices doubled in attendance & participation when the WM added a trip to the pub & socialization afterwards. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
What does your membership like? Is a trip to the pub a generic cure-all? Probably not. Sounds like a really valuable question for the lodge leadership to think deeply about and sort out.
From what I have seen, there is always a percentage of brothers who do not show up. My last lodge had 300 members, but only 30-40 showed regularly, and for special events, maybe close to 100. The lodges I have joined and visited in WA have 5-10 members showing, but typically less then 80 members. In one case, barely 50. So it appears 10% is what you can expect to show up.
Most of our members pay dues, but are simply to old or far away. Some simply don't like the direction of the lodge, and don't participate. For those who don't come, we 5-7 who show up keep doing our best, but they don't like it, and we end up on divergent paths. Since they won't come and vote or give voice in lodge, they are left out and we get stuck in a circle.
We spend 2 hours going over very dry and boring stuff. Did we pay our storage, do we pay our utilities, etc. We have spent numerous hours talking about if we should do dinner. It can be up to 30 minutes a night, and we always agree, but we never do.
There is no impression that we accomplished anything substantial at most meetings.
A clear vision is needed. Set clear expectations up, what are we talking about, keep the dry part dry, and spend more time on presentations. Make it worth their time, bring them back, and get and retain new members.
After I was initiated, I was told attendance was important and I should attend as much as possible. The logic in this was clear, I couldn’t hope to progress through the degrees without regular attendance. I was new and creating new friendships so attending was exciting. As I progressed through the degrees I was never reminded that my attendance was important or expected. For me that wasn’t necessary, I looked forward to meetings and interacting with my brothers but I saw brothers, new and old, fall off in their attendance. It’s easy to say they quit coming because they weren’t getting anything out of attending. The meetings were too long, there was no education, there was bickering amongst brothers but those are excuses not reasons. I’ve always been taught you only get out of something what you put into it. When I became Master of my lodge I told the brothers I wasn’t the head of the entertainment committee. I had programs but I regularly shared if there was something a brother was interested in then he should put a program together and present it. I also saw overzealous brothers, who had good intentions, sour brothers on attending because they didn’t want to interact with them. In the end, attendance wains for any number of reasons. As a fraternity, I believe we fail our older brothers on multiple of levels. We don’t check in on them, we don’t offer assistance and we forget them, I know I’m guilty. But I also know if a brother doesn’t speak up, asking for assistance, or sharing what he’s seeking or hoping to get out of lodge, his experiences will never change. The responsibility for attendance doesn’t just lie with the brothers that attend.
I think the real question here is “Why are they not attending?” I would guess that in many cases the lodge is not providing what those brothers need to make it important enough to show up. Every lodge has a personality and men join those lodges based on expectations that they will benefit from lodge programs, whatever that may be, education, fellowship, outreach etc.
If brothers are not showing up the lodge needs to look at itself and ask why and what can we do to make the Masonic Experience something worth showing up for.
I certainly agree with the thoughts expressed that a Lodge must give men a compelling reason to attend. It has to be meaningful, and it has to have good fellowship. I think that here in Washington we have been trying to drill home the idea of improving the Lodge experience for a long time now, and I think that at least some of our Lodges are working to do just that.
But, alas, some are not. A couple of weeks ago I visited a Lodge not far from my home. I ended up being about an hour early because I assumed that they would have dinner beforehand. I assumed wrong. They didn't even have water, coffee, & cookies. They just showed up at the appointed time and went straight into their meeting. Following it, they just left. Again, not even coffee. Lodges that do that are going to die, and to be frank, Lodges that do that both deserve and need to die.
Bad Lodges need to be left to die so that they can no longer ruin Freemasonry for those who seek initiation within them.
All of that said though, I do like the idea of calling role, and checking up on those who do not attend. Not to shame them into attending, but to remind them that we care, and to make sure that they are OK.
In a way we do take role with our sign in book at most lodges. My vision involves a less public action. Attendance is expected in the form of 12 events a year. Doesn't have to be a stated business meeting. My proposed lodge would have 12 special fellowship meetings, 12 out of lodge informal family/party refreshments, and 12 public outreach/charity events every year. That's 48 events to choose from, pick 12. The secretary will keep track of attendees and pass a list of those missing to the chaplain to follow-up on possibly sick/distressed brethren who haven't attended any events in over 45 days.
I’ve said before, freemasonry is a volunteer organization. There are no requirements for attendance. Expectations? Yes. But as long as they pay their dues, they are members.
Should we call them? Up to the lodge. Personally I don’t see any need to beg brothers to come back to lodge. It’s a free(ish) country. The lodge hasn’t moved or (probably) changed. The members know where the door is.
Most of the members not attending are probably living too far away to attend but still pay their dues to their home lodge instead of just demiting.
"Attend lodge" means lots of different things worth parsing out. Participating in socials. Sitting in a stated communication. Pitching in on a charity project. Cleaning up the kitchen. All of those count (for me) for "attending lodge". It's a proxy for being an active and engaged member.
I personally have no taste for discussions about attendance, because I consider them to be discussions about the shadow, rather than the elephant that casts it. I don't think it's a good idea to introduce scrutiny or shame to who comes and who doesn't. We have a sign-in sheet so we know who came, that's basically it.
The elephant is whether members get value from their lodge experience. I would humbly submit that if the only activity the lodge undertakes is a dry business meeting / stated communication, then there is nothing reasonable to be done about any perceived attendance challenge, because it's a volunteer organization and you can't make people do things.
People freely associate to organizations they derive pleasure & value from. It's silly but our weekly ritual practices doubled in attendance & participation when the WM added a trip to the pub & socialization afterwards. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
What does your membership like? Is a trip to the pub a generic cure-all? Probably not. Sounds like a really valuable question for the lodge leadership to think deeply about and sort out.
From what I have seen, there is always a percentage of brothers who do not show up. My last lodge had 300 members, but only 30-40 showed regularly, and for special events, maybe close to 100. The lodges I have joined and visited in WA have 5-10 members showing, but typically less then 80 members. In one case, barely 50. So it appears 10% is what you can expect to show up.
Most of our members pay dues, but are simply to old or far away. Some simply don't like the direction of the lodge, and don't participate. For those who don't come, we 5-7 who show up keep doing our best, but they don't like it, and we end up on divergent paths. Since they won't come and vote or give voice in lodge, they are left out and we get stuck in a circle.
We spend 2 hours going over very dry and boring stuff. Did we pay our storage, do we pay our utilities, etc. We have spent numerous hours talking about if we should do dinner. It can be up to 30 minutes a night, and we always agree, but we never do.
There is no impression that we accomplished anything substantial at most meetings.
A clear vision is needed. Set clear expectations up, what are we talking about, keep the dry part dry, and spend more time on presentations. Make it worth their time, bring them back, and get and retain new members.
After I was initiated, I was told attendance was important and I should attend as much as possible. The logic in this was clear, I couldn’t hope to progress through the degrees without regular attendance. I was new and creating new friendships so attending was exciting. As I progressed through the degrees I was never reminded that my attendance was important or expected. For me that wasn’t necessary, I looked forward to meetings and interacting with my brothers but I saw brothers, new and old, fall off in their attendance. It’s easy to say they quit coming because they weren’t getting anything out of attending. The meetings were too long, there was no education, there was bickering amongst brothers but those are excuses not reasons. I’ve always been taught you only get out of something what you put into it. When I became Master of my lodge I told the brothers I wasn’t the head of the entertainment committee. I had programs but I regularly shared if there was something a brother was interested in then he should put a program together and present it. I also saw overzealous brothers, who had good intentions, sour brothers on attending because they didn’t want to interact with them. In the end, attendance wains for any number of reasons. As a fraternity, I believe we fail our older brothers on multiple of levels. We don’t check in on them, we don’t offer assistance and we forget them, I know I’m guilty. But I also know if a brother doesn’t speak up, asking for assistance, or sharing what he’s seeking or hoping to get out of lodge, his experiences will never change. The responsibility for attendance doesn’t just lie with the brothers that attend.
I think the real question here is “Why are they not attending?” I would guess that in many cases the lodge is not providing what those brothers need to make it important enough to show up. Every lodge has a personality and men join those lodges based on expectations that they will benefit from lodge programs, whatever that may be, education, fellowship, outreach etc.
If brothers are not showing up the lodge needs to look at itself and ask why and what can we do to make the Masonic Experience something worth showing up for.
I certainly agree with the thoughts expressed that a Lodge must give men a compelling reason to attend. It has to be meaningful, and it has to have good fellowship. I think that here in Washington we have been trying to drill home the idea of improving the Lodge experience for a long time now, and I think that at least some of our Lodges are working to do just that.
But, alas, some are not. A couple of weeks ago I visited a Lodge not far from my home. I ended up being about an hour early because I assumed that they would have dinner beforehand. I assumed wrong. They didn't even have water, coffee, & cookies. They just showed up at the appointed time and went straight into their meeting. Following it, they just left. Again, not even coffee. Lodges that do that are going to die, and to be frank, Lodges that do that both deserve and need to die.
Bad Lodges need to be left to die so that they can no longer ruin Freemasonry for those who seek initiation within them.
All of that said though, I do like the idea of calling role, and checking up on those who do not attend. Not to shame them into attending, but to remind them that we care, and to make sure that they are OK.