Does anyone know at what point a branch is dissolved when it gets so small? We had 19 people in church on Sunday and it seems like its getting smaller and smaller each week. We've only lived here for 5 months but everyone tells us that we have over 100 members in the area, but only have a 25% activation rate. Pretty bad, huh? I'm worried that the branch is going to dissolve and we'll have to drive 1 hour to church. Has anyone ever heard of reactivation missionaries?

__________________

Oh hun...I wouldn't worry about them dissolving your Branch. The Mammoth Lakes branch has about 15 members, and 1/2 of them are DH's family..

Does your branch not have misionaries? I know that Bishop does. And I think..I could be wrong, that they sorrta go all over. Like every now and then they go up to Mammoth, and whatever. I would maybe call the Bishop Ward Bishop, and see what the deal is with the Missionaries. As for "reactivation missionaries" I've never heard of them before.

Good luck hun!! I know it's hard up there. The wards/brances are so small. But, they are in a really great Stake. That much I know is true. And they all seem very close knit. I would definatley recommend attending any stake activities you can. I know it's a bit of a drive. (or is Ridgecrest only and hour from you?) Either way.. And I would call the Mission Pres as well, maybe he can help with "reactivation missionaries"

__________________

Wow that is really small! I think if anyone were to ask about reactivation missionaries they'd be told that every member is a reactivation missionary! Or that we call reactivation missionaries "visiting teachers" or "home teachers" Good luck. I'm sure there are pluses and minuses to such a small group.

Marianne

The branch that I attended when I first joined the church was small like that. I really enjoyed the close-knit feeling of the branch. However, I was never in a leadership position so I imagine that it would be hard to have a full board!

I've never heard of reactivation missionaries. I agree with Marianne that it is up to the members to reactivate. But I'm sure the missionaries would be more than glad to help.

__________________
Angela

When I was a stake missionary (I guess they are now ward missionaries), one of our major goals was reactivation. I was under the impression that that was the major difference between the full-time and the stake missionaries -- full-time missionaries work with investigators and stake missionaries work with inactive members. I am not sure whether that was just the case in our stake and/or mission or whether that's official policy.

Additionally, there are several rather isolated branches in my home stake that are small in number; our stake would call a few couples from the wards to attend the small branches. They'd end up teaching lessons, giving talks, etc. -- whatever needed to be done. I believe they were given the title of "missionaries" -- but I'm not sure whether they would actively seek out nonmembers or inactive members to encourage them to attend.

Anyway, not "reactivation missionaries" persay, but I have seen examples of missionaries called to reactivate AND missionaries called to serve in branches.

__________________

I've been to branches that small up in the mountains in AR but it's amazing how close they are to each other. I hope you enjoy your new family! I would say the few active members you have would be the best way to reactivate the other members. Get them in for activities and they'll start coming back. Food works great for this. Hope you get bigger numbers soon.
aNNa

__________________

Thnx guys for the info. We share our missionaries with Bishop an hour a way so they are only in town every other week.

__________________

My parent were called to serve a "part time" mission in a branch in their stake in Michigan. Immediately they were made the bishop and young womens president!LOL They just do whatever they can to help the branch. I think they rely heavily on the missionaries in the branch to visit people, etc. A lot of their problem is the people in the branch are too poor to own a car, so they have no way to get to church. So I think that's their big struggle for attendance. I've never heard of reactivation missionaries, although I think the regular missionaries do a lot of that.