Tried and trusted

from Freemasonry Today - Winter 2022 - Issue 60

Q&A: Jonathan Spence

MEMBERS’ PATHWAY: ON THE GROUND, ACROSS THE PROVINCES

After the launch of the Members’ Pathway 2.0, we catch up with four Provincial Grand Masters to fi nd out that it has been invaluable in re-engaging the membership

NEIL CONNOLLY PGM HERTFORDSHIRE Every journey starts with the first step ‘One of the fi rst instructions we receive during the ceremony of Initiation is to “step off with your left foot”. And so begins our Masonic journey.

However, traditionally (or should I say habitually), our journey from that point can vary immensely. We progress through the fi rst three degrees, take up appointments as Lodge Offi cers, eventually becoming Master of the Lodge. Many join the Royal Arch and, perhaps in due course, move on to the other Orders where they enjoy the varied ritual and conviviality associated with that particular journey.

However, the pressures of the ever-changing pace in modern-day life, especially over the past 25 years, have resulted in all too many becoming disillusioned; their progress and interest wane and they are lost to Freemasonry.

Lodges are often surprised when a member resigns, believing it was their individual choice rather than one that was infl uenced by their Masonic experience within their Lodge.

The Chinese word for crisis comprises two symbols: the first is ‘danger’ and the second ‘opportunity’ Many Lodges are still coming to terms with recent losses, and their numbers have become perilously low. However, the number of Initiates in the past year has exceeded expectations and bodes well for some.

As an organisation, we still lose approximately a fi fth of our Initiates within three years of their Initiation. The Members’ Pathway seeks to provide a structure that enables Lodges to review themselves in terms of planning how they wish to be perceived, how they attract new members – then engage and support them. Then where this has not fully worked out, there’s guidance on how to try and retrieve a member in the initial stages when they are seeking to resign.

The challenge is twofold: realising the dangers of when the Lodge experience does not align with the expectation of the members, then seizing the opportunity that the structure of the Members’ Pathway off ers to address this.’

*Widely quoted paraphrase of Charles Darwin’s idea ‘The survival of a species is not determined by its intelligence or strength but by its ability to adapt to change.’* ‘In Hertfordshire Freemasonry, we carried out a Province-wide launch of the Members’ Pathway off ering guidance and support to Lodges who wished to engage with it.

Needless to say, there was a varied response, ranging from those who have fully embraced the concept to those that decided to “keep things as they are”.

There are three types of Lodges: those that are struggling, those that are striving and thriving, and those that are strong.

For the next year, we have chosen to focus on the 35% of Lodges who have enthusiastically engaged with the Members’ Pathway, in whatever category they fall, and to work with them to embrace the principles it contains.

There is no denying that in a Province of 180 Lodges, the resources required to assist all cannot be met overnight. However, as the appointment of Lodge Mentors and Membership Offi cers grows, we have seen the green shoots of the necessary adaptive change begin to fl ourish, thereby ensuring a strong future for our members and for our organisation.’ JOHN THOMPSON PGM DURHAM Don’t just be a member of the Province. Be part of it! ‘The launch of the updated Members’ Pathway in September 2021 coincided with the restart of Freemasonry after the Covid lockdown. At fi rst glance, it looked complex and felt like yet another initiative requiring even more from Provinces, Lodges and Chapters.

Under the strapline of ‘Attracting Members, Growing Lodges’, Provinces were asked to develop strategies to deliver the Members’ Pathway. There was a request for Lodges to appoint Lodge Membership Offi cers, although this was at a time when some were struggling to re-engage their membership. It started to feel like overload.

However, a deeper dive into the Members’ Pathway and a considered look at how it can help has led to a change in attitude in Durham towards understanding the potential of these resources.

Far from being a complex web of directions demanding us to adopt certain strategies, the Members’ Pathway resource in b.ugle.org.uk is a repository of good practice from which we can all learn. It gives us an opportunity to stop, take stock and refl ect on where we are now and where we want to go. The scheme has been a catalyst at Provincial level to reorganise and modernise. We are learning new ways to support our Lodges, Chapters and members to re-engage and enjoy their Freemasonry once more.

As units become smaller, we need to ensure every member feels part of not only their Lodge or Chapter but something bigger – their Province and Freemasonry in general. It is vital we explain why the Members’ Pathway is important. It is not just about falling membership – if that was the case, we all would have acted by now.

In this post-Covid era, re-engaging the membership, connecting members to their

Lodges, Chapters and to their communities, and actively demonstrating support from our Provincial Team is how we plan to attract members back to our units. Growing Lodges is not just about increasing numbers. It is about how much enjoyment we get out of our Freemasonry and taking satisfaction from the good that we do in our communities. This is something we can all take pleasure from.

Durham’s response will not be a task-orientated one of pushing Lodges to appoint Membership Officers and pinning a badge on Members’ Pathway Officers, but one of a gradual shift towards our ultimate goals. By explaining how the Members’ Pathway can help Lodges and move them towards true engagement, we are more likely to effect the change we are looking for. Our Provincial Team of Membership Officers, Mentors, Learning and Development, Almoners and Grand Stewards Lodge has started to grow with a shared purpose.

For the Province of Durham, the Members’ Pathway is about positive change that will lead to increased involvement and enjoyment of our members, their Lodges and families. We look forward to seeing how we grow.’

MARK CONSTANT PGM NORTHAMPTONSHIRE HUNTINGDONSHIRE A Members’ Pathway reflection ‘As I take up the reigns of the Province, I reflect that during my time as Assistant Provincial Grand Master, I was responsible for the implementation of the Members’ Pathway.

This has proved to be very useful as I now map out the Province’s future, with the prime objective of seeing Freemasonry thrive. Achieving this aim requires attracting members and ensuring they are positively engaged with our work and their fellow members, so they enjoy their Freemasonry. As a consequence, we retain their interest as active members over the long term.

Working closely with our Provincial Grand Membership Officer WBro John Fergusson, our focus in the early days of the original Members’ Pathway in 2018 was not to try and implement the whole individual steps strategy. The feeling was that this would be problematic to apply across the Province. We therefore decided to focus on the key elements – attraction, engagement and retention. There were challenges, such as impressing upon our members the importance of the Members’ Pathway, making clear how success depends upon each member contributing, as well as overcoming the natural resistance to change.

Following a consultation period across the Province with senior members and identifying where good practice was happening, we focused on these areas and individual Lodges that, in some manner, mirrored the Members’ Pathway. These were presented to the wider membership as best practice, aligned with the new strategy.

The roll out of the updated Members’ Pathway in 2021, with a cake-baking theme, was not initially well received. However it did, in its own way, publicise the new framework. Consequently, when the refined literature (including the excellent model now used) was presented, it was professional, clearly understood and has found much more acceptance across the Province.

To demonstrate the importance of the Members’ Pathway and its implementation, our Provincial Membership Working Party has members of my executive in charge of each of the key elements. Responsibility for its implementation is then cascaded through our Group Officer scheme (VOs), with one single point of contact for each group, ensuring local meetings across the Province can take place between our Provincial Membership and Mentoring Officers and the Group Officers responsible for the Members’ Pathway.

This approach means the Members’ Pathway is disseminated by senior members who are accountable for its implementation and regularly communicate back to the centre. This approach has evolved, but we have always been single-minded about clear communication on the important messages and the overarching objective of creating a happy, vibrant and growing membership.

We are open to changing and fine-tuning our approach, while signalling, through our actions, the importance of the Members’ Pathway model. Having created a knowledgeable senior team, from the Executive through to our Group Officers, we have demonstrated its importance and built a support structure that can ensure the next phase of the roll out is successful as we start appointing individual Lodge Membership Officers.’

‘This has proved to be very useful as I now map out the Province’s future with the prime objective of seeing Freemasonry thrive’

JAMES ROSS PGM WEST WALES ‘Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.’ George Bernard Shaw ‘I am not certain that George Bernard Shaw was thinking about the Members’ Pathway when he wrote those words, but they aptly summarise the challenges we faced in 2019.

The initial Members’ Pathway and the updated version 2.0 have sought to define exactly how to keep our Lodges relevant and healthy. In West Wales, we launched the original to our Lodges in 2019 and the update over the last 12 months.

The first launch included in-person meetings in each of our three counties. They were well attended and lively, with the Membership Team delivering presentations with Q&As. However, not every aspect of the Members’ Pathway was welcomed with open arms. Particularly controversial were the ideas that Lodges might have a social media presence to attract new members and that a small regular interviewing committee might replace trial by every Past Master, which was especially popular in some Lodges.

We followed our launch meetings with interactive workshops where we asked Lodges to share what had worked for them. Much to our surprise, we discovered that some of the loudest critics of the Members’ Pathway had set up social media sites and formed small interviewing committees. In one case, the social media site that originally the Lodge didn’t want or need had immediately attracted three new candidates. Perfect news for an interactive workshop!

Traction for the Members’ Pathway wasn’t lost during the pandemic, but the momentum we had worked so hard to achieve certainly was. Fortunately, while we were doing quizzes on Zoom, the Pathway Working Party was remodelling the Members’ Pathway ready for a relaunch.

I appointed Steve Fearn to be our first collared Provincial Membership Officer and asked him to sort out the relaunch. Steve, who works at Aberystwyth University, started with a Zoom meeting for Lodge membership teams to explain the importance of what was going to happen.

Since then, he has been contacting every Lodge membership team on a fortnightly basis to introduce a different aspect of the Members’ Pathway. Steve quite rightly identified that the modular nature of the new material lends itself to short, sharp and, most importantly, regular and ongoing communication. We still give presentations about the Members’ Pathway to individual Lodges and the Provincial Membership Team is always available to help, but Steve’s innovative ideas are already making a difference.

Our challenge now is to maintain the focus on membership in our Lodges. There is complacency in some places and an unwillingness to change in others, but West Wales is certainly heading in the right direction.’