20 New Masons for THIS Lodge: Here's How
How This Regional NSW Lodge Went from the brink of Extinction to Thriving
This Lodge was on the brink of extinction. Losing thousands of dollars a year and struggling to attract the good men in their area to Freemasonry. Fast forward a couple of years and after a complete transformation, they not only have made 20 new masons but have built a thriving lodge.
What was their “silver bullet” that caused this success and how can any lodge replicate it?
Let’s start with the obvious, there are no silver bullets to any problem or situation. Quick wins are also a faux pas. But if I had to sum up how they did it, I would say the key to their success is “enablement”.
However, I will break down all the things they did so you can see that this isn’t just an edge-case scenario that applies to one lodge but can apply to any lodge, anywhere.
You may be wondering, how does this relate to “Daily Masonic Progress” which is meant to be learning the lessons and principles from Freemasonry?
I believe Freemasonry provides us with the theoretical lessons, principles & instructions to life through the text of each ceremony; while the Lodge environment gives us a “training ground” to apply those lessons practically.
Admitting they had a problem
The lodge admitted they had a problem. I know this will bruise everyone’s ego to say that you also have problems in your lodge (life or business). But if the current state of things, is not optimal, you must allow your heart to recognise & admit you have a problem. This is not a negative thing at all which is a mistake many make, it’s humility. Too many Masons think “I am perfect” or “everything is perfect”. It’s not - Masonry teaches us that no matter what state we are in, we are not perfect, but are instructed to make continual progress towards “perfect”
The Masonic Lesson: Being prepared in their heart, knowing they needed to do something.
Identifying the problems
The Lodge removed their emotion from the situation and starting doing an analysis of everything that was going on in the lodge. Starting with their finances. Identifying that they were losing thousands of dollars each year, unnecessarily. They looked at where the financial losses were coming from. But in reality, it’s simple math. If Expenditure is greater than Income, well you lose money.
They also identified several other areas in their lodge that weren’t up to the Masonic Standard. I will go into them later.
The Masonic Lesson: By previously being prepared in their heart for the task ahead, they allowed their eyes to discover with an unbiased view and see things in black and white.
Stopping the bleeding
Any Lodge, Business or Person that is losing money needs to stop the bleeding. They had some tough decisions and actions to take, but they balanced courage and diligence to steadily persevere through the process.
The Lodge had to put their dues up and they had to stop having a “free south”.
This is where courage and diligence (avoiding fear & rashness) was a key enabler. The Lodge presented the finances to the members, so it was clear & transparent for all.
They put in a Dining Fee and increased the quality of the festive board to make that an enjoyable part of the evening. Bring their south up to the standard of a decent meal.
Now for the dues. Putting the dues up is tough for any lodge or any organisation. We avoid increasing our dues out of fear that Masons will leave.
What normally happens is, the lodge wants to put the dues up to cover the increasing costs. Then you normally have a few hands go up, threatening to resign if they do. Normally a lodge caves into those few and nothing changes. Why does the good of the majority suffer for the good of the few? Lodges have mechanisms to deal with that, the Master can apply reduced dues to those few affected brethren.
I won’t give the exact numbers, but rather this example paints the same picture.
The Lodge had 50 members, dues were $300 a year. They needed to increase the dues by $50, which was not the ideal increase to solve the financial problems but a more palatable start.
If all 50 paid the increase, the Lodge would have an additional $2,500 in revenue.
But 3 called off, which cost $1,050 in revenue. Oh no, we can’t lose $1,050!!
Except: $2,500 - $1,050 = $1,450
The Lodge was better off financially by $1,450 because they increased their dues.
How much better off would they have been if they gave in to the few who objected?
Zero. Nil. They would have LOST $1,450 had they not put the dues up.
The truth is, they couldn’t afford to not increase the dues.
That extra $1,450 in revenue, along with the change to the South, allowed the lodge to stop losing money. But it also increased the value of Freemasonry to the Brethren.
It created a small mentality change where many of the Brethren were now a little more motivated to get their extra $50 worth. Suddenly, we have now increased engagement too.
Over the last couple of years, the Lodge has continued to increase their dues to give the Lodge financial security.
But there were still a few more things they did to turn the lodge around.
Enablement
One key thing the Lodge did was enable each member to champion and take ownership & leadership of initiatives.
When someone is passionate about a project, they don’t need motivation and they don’t need “commitment” to make it happen, they are inspired to go ahead and run it.
Many of the Brethren have their own projects:
A brother who is an avid NRL fan has an open invitation to the Brethren of the Lodge to come over and watch the game with him.
Another Brother has an invitation for coffee catchups at local cafes,
One is organising a Trivia Night at the local bowling club,
One champions the Bunnings BBQ
One champions the Group Chat
One champions’ the Birthday Messages on a Brother’s Birthday
(Recently, one of the older Brethren turned 92. The ‘Birthday Champion’ organised the brethren to member to phone him on his birthday. Getting 30+ phone calls from his Masonic Brothers no doubt made his year. This is Brotherly Love, and blesses him who gives as largely as he who receives.)
But they also enable the officers of the Lodge to take leadership and ownership of the duties on which they are charged. They stopped having the same brother who’s organised the South for the last 20 years organise the South. The Junior Warden is fully enabled to fulfil his duty.
Apart from what I have already mentioned, enablement achieves a whole lot more:
The brethren were able to meet outside of the “1 Night a Month” for Masonry and suddenly they forged relationships and built community which meant when the formal lodge night rolled around, they wanted to go and spend time with their Brothers.
It created the environment for informal Masonic Education. I say informal because discussing the meaning of different parts of the ceremonies, the lessons and the principles of Freemasonry with the footy on, is not exactly formal. But having these Masonic conversations more regularly meant that everything had a Masonic element to it.
Provided relief. With everything going on in life, its trials and tribulations, it’s often easy to think we are alone. But being able to just talk with your Brothers about some of the difficulties in your life, and have those brethren truly care and provide you with emotional relief can have a greater impact than any financial relief, plus it’s not superficial and you don’t feel indebted to them. After all, when times are tough, having a brother who just supports you mentally & emotionally can make all the difference.
But how did they get 20 New Masons?
When you create a community that doesn’t just exist once the Lodge has tyled or when it’s retired to the festive board - it’s very easy to invite your friends who are not masons along. Then, they naturally integrate into the community surrounding the Lodge and become eventually Masons.
This sounds like it’s genius, yes it is, but it’s actually really simple.
I said at the start that there are no silver bullets or that their secret was '“enablement”.
Well, actually, the silver bullet is to “Live Freemasonry” and the only way to live Freemasonry is to “Become a Freemason”.
But what do I mean by this? If we treat Masonry as something that only exists between the opening & closing of the Lodge + the South and not who we are as a person, as a Mason; then you cannot achieve this.
Only by Becoming a Freemason and living a Masonic life can you achieve this same turnaround in your own life or in your Lodge.