Turning A Lodge Around
One Lodge's story that we can learn from
One of the speakers at our Annual Communication was from Wenatchee Lodge. He was asked to speak, because the Lodge has been growing rapidly. If my notes from his talk are correct, they have Raised 18 Master Masons in a year, with plenty more new Entered Apprentices and Fellowcrafts to go.
This in a city with a population of 35,433 located in a county with a population of 79,926. An impressive year of work.
The purpose of the talk was to explain how the Lodge believes it accomplished this. What things they did differently, so that people wanted to join. I’ll touch briefly on each of these ideas.
The speaker said that they started with a simple premise:
“If you are not seen, you are forgotten.”
What a powerful statement that is, and undoubtedly true.
He said that they had custom hats made for all of their members. Not crazy hats like my new Red Hat, but regular ball caps, like men wear today. Good looking bright ball caps with the Square and Compasses, their Lodge name, and location.
So they gave these good looking hats to their members, and give them to every new Mason, and they encourage all those Masons to wear them. Providing visibility to their Lodge, and to Freemasonry.
They have implemented a high quality system of prospect management. Ensuring that prospects are contacted quickly, given the information that they need about Freemasonry and the Lodge. And making certain that no one who reaches out to the Lodge ‘falls through the cracks.’
They place expectations on their new Master Masons. Putting these newest Masons on Degree teams right after they are raised. Getting them to start learning the Work.
Lastly, they have developed a solid program of regular activities outside of the Lodge. Fun and varied events that the Lodge members can all enjoy together. These activities serve to both build Brotherhood within the Lodge, and make the Lodge visible in the community.
These simple things have resulted in tremendous growth for a Lodge that had been stagnant. We do well to learn from the example of Wenatchee Lodge I think.
If you would like to start a program of regular activities outside of the Lodge, here are a number of ideas that I have seen work quite well:
Get Out Of The Lodge Room
In the past two issues of Emeth, I’ve written about social and cultural issues, and how they relate to us as Freemasons. Those were heavy essays, rather difficult by their very nature. Today I thought I’d write about something lighter, but still of great importance to Masons. Namely, how we can both grow, and improve participation in our Lodges.
Huge Congratulations to RW Bill Hubbard, who was just Installed Junior Grand Warden, F&AM of Washington a few hours ago. Bill joins our Sunday evening Rummer & Grapes zoom gatherings when he is able, and I know that he will be a truly superb Grand Master in just a few short years.
A couple of housekeeping notes:
-I’ve not been able to include audio files with the last couple of posts, because I’m writing these from a hotel room. We’ll have audio again as soon as I return home.
-I’ll leave Wenatchee on Sunday morning, but on the way home have to spend some time in Yakima for work. As a result of that, I’ll not be back home until quite late on Sunday, so we won’t be able to have Rummer & Grapes this week. We’ll get back to it next week.
As always, thank you for your support of me, and of my efforts here on Emeth. It is deeply appreciated.
One of my Lodges is just starting on a path similar to Wenatchee.
I feel a sense of energy and optimism in that Lodge.
In discussing that very topic at lunch after that presentation, we agreed that it seemed that having a full time office person at the temple during the day was probably the bigger influence on attracting new members. Having the lights on during the day provides the curious the ability to walk in off the street and ask questions, get a tour, etc. It shows a bit more effort on the part of the person than just filling out a form online. I wish lodges had the financial wherewithal to afford such a luxury.