Size Does Matter
Don't let her lie to you
Golly, how’s that for a clickbait headline?
Seriously though, the size of a Lodge probably does matter a lot more than we realize. Is a Lodge with 1000 members on the rolls, of which 25 regularly show up OK? What about a Lodge with 100 on the rolls, of which 20 show up? Which Lodge is in better shape? What about a Lodge with 30 on the rolls, of which 18 regularly attend?
I think that size does matter.
Why?
Because if we have fifteen members in our Lodge, and Brother Bob stops attending we are going to notice, and we are going to care. We are quite likely to reach out to him and ask him why.
But if our Lodge has 150 members, we probably aren’t.
And in a lot of ways, that reaching out is the difference between Lodge success and Lodge failure.
So, what is the perfect size for a Lodge?
In my Jurisdiction, we need 7 to Open on the EA Degree. Assuming we own a Temple, we probably want 4 more so that those 4 can handle most of the building responsibilities instead of the Lodge Officers having to do that as well. We probably want 2 more to help with Degrees, Mentorship and such. We probably want someone to head up our programs, and someone else to oversee our website, social media and the rest, so that’s 2 more. Now we are at 15.
Men do though, have a myriad of responsibilities outside of Freemasonry. If we have 15 active and committed members, probably 4 won’t be able to attend on any given occasion. That means we likely need 19, let’s call it 20 for good measure.
Masons move, but don’t want to lose every connection with their Lodge and their Brothers there, so they will be on our rolls, but will be unable to actively participate in our labors. So, we can’t count their number. They have to be set aside in our calculations, and with each passing year, this number will grow. We therefore have to Initiate enough new men to replace these men, if we hope to maintain our target number.
Brothers also of course die. Every year. Again, we must make enough new Master Masons to replace those who have passed away, if we want to maintain a certain number of active members of the Lodge. We need not replace however those who have moved away when they pass.
I think that, in my Jurisdiction, a century ago, we forgot that Lodge size matters.
Our Lodges just started Making Masons.
And we had those 1000 plus member Lodges.
But, did any of those 1000 men, beyond the small handful who did the labor actually receive a quality Masonic experience in return for their dues?
What is the ideal size of a Lodge?
I don’t know. What I wrote above is just a hunch, something to get us thinking.
What I do know, is that we need to think about it, and we need to decide how big, or small our Lodge should be.
If we hope our Lodge to thrive. If we hope to create truly Legendary Freemasonry.
Other Things
MW Russ Charvonia wrote an important book about Masonic Civility. He has the following to say about it:
The Civility Mosaic--How Anyone Can Use the Principles of Freemasonry to Repair Our World
By Russ Charvonia, PGM of California, and Michael Ashley
Civility, as we see it, isn’t simply about playing nice. It’s about giving people the resources to have rational and productive discussions about hard subjects. It’s also about finding ways to work more productively with all of our brothers and sisters for the greater good of society.
In these dark and turbulent times of discord, The Civility Mosaic urges us not to abdicate our human duty. It’s our hope that it encourages every reader to be the proverbial stone dropped into the placid waters of complacency, allowing our actions to be ripples of change, spreading to far shores.
https://www.macoy.com/The-Civility-Mosaic
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I wrote a treatise of my vision for a well organized lodge a few years ago of what would constitute a healthy lodge.
I have edited it some. Start with a full list of the 14 primary officers.
1.Master
2.Senior warden
3. Junior warden
4. Secretary
5. Treasurer
6. Senior deacon
7. Junior deacon
8. Tyler
9. Chaplain
10. Marshall
11. Musician
12. Senior steward
13. Junior steward
14. And one extra position not codified in ritual. Call it the Lecturer. Or educator, or outreach specialist. The person who is responsible for education programs in the lodge and public outreach beyond the lodge. Who will go to other organizations such as Chambers of commerce, town halls, other fraternities, etc and represent the lodge.
14 backups/understudies for each position if a primary cannot attend a meeting. 14 new trainees to fill the primary posts the following year. 14 previous year primaries in their 'off' year. 14 new masons in their apprentice fellow. Total is 70 masons. Less than 42 is barely surviving and should consider consolidation. More than 98 is getting cumbersome and should consider splitting.
The basic philosophy of Dunbar's number rings true here; 5 inner circle friends (officers), 15 close friends (active members), 50 good friends (total Lodge membership), 150 acquaintances (Larger District or Jurisdiction connections).
Of course, these can flex 25% or so to match the 20 members you note as active Lodge membership and I would agree. Our last meeting we had 26 or 28 guys in attendance with 5 or 6 visitors that puts us right in that sweet spot of 20ish active members, and we don't currently have Stewards installed so that would bump us another 10%.
It's been really great to see the 'newer' guys starting to take ownership of the functions of our Lodge and now we have more time to help coach and mentor and not do the 'running' of things as well.
Is there a perfect number, I don't think so, but man, 20-30 active Masons with a reserve of another 20 or so sure makes for an enjoyable experience, especially when you are all in general alignment and agreement on most things including a set of guidelines such as; Membership experience, Masonic education, Leadership and management, Beyond the lodge (inside and outside the fraternity), Philanthropy (different than Charity), and use of Technology