Bro Tim Arnold's paper discusses the concerning trend of short membership duration in Freemasonry, citing a 2004 survey in Buckinghamshire revealing that one-third of recruits resign within four years. Arnold correlates this with experiences of neglect and the dominance of long-serving officers, as noted by John Hamill, Director of Communications at the United Grand Lodge of England. He argues that cultural change within lodges cannot be mandated and suggests that Grand Lodge should prioritize education and communication to address retention issues. Arnold proposes creating an Education Officer position in each lodge to enhance knowledge transfer and engagement among members. He advocates for establishing a Masonic Development Charity to fund these initiatives, emphasizing the need for investment in modernizing Freemasonry to secure its future and support its members. The paper calls for a decade-long commitment to these reforms to ensure the sustainability of the craft.
Tim Arnold – England
December 17th, 2025
March 31st, 2026
manual
education and_development
Paper 14/2007
Title An Internet Paper Argues…
Author Bro Tim Arnold – England
An Internet Lodge paper argues that the average length of service in the craft is less than four years. (1)
Evidence I have obtained shows no improv ement five years after that study . In 2004, senior officers in
Buckinghamshire, England conducted a survey about recruitment and retention. The research revealed
that a third of all recruits resigned or stopped attending their lodges within just four years of joining. (2)
My own experience of my mother lodge bears this out. I got fed up with the thoughtlessness and rudeness
of some of the senior brethren. So I left. Sadly, I don’t think my experience is unusual. Author John Hamill
writes: “One of the contributions to falling membership is new members dropping out in a short time. In
some cases… it’s because of neglect…. Pa st masters hang on to offices for too long.”
In fact, Hamill observes: “It is impossible for long serving officers not to begin to regard their lodge as their
personal bailiwick. That cannot be healthy.” (3)
Exactly.
Hamill is now Director of Communi cations at the United Gr and Lodge of England. So Great Queen Street
knew of the problem 15 years ago, yet has been unable to stop it. The question is -- why?
My enquiries suggest an unfortunate realit y. That is, it is simply impossi ble to impose a new value system
on private lodges by diktat. Instead, Grand Lodge has tried to encourage new attitudes through piecemeal
provincial initiatives. But things move slowly in Freemasonry.
It’s time for Grand Lodge to up its game in this area. Culture change is never easy in any organisation,
but we could achieve it if we devoted the next decade to solving the problem through making education
and internal communications our absolute priority. T he main target audience would be Lodge Secretaries
and Directors of Ceremonies.
At lodge level, a new post should be created, that of Education Officer. It would provide the ideal role for
the departing past master, and would enthuse and mo tivate the leaders of the craft to stay in
Freemasonry, while making sure their knowledge was passed onto the next generat ion. They should be
able to access high quality visual aids and other support material from a Grand Lodge intranet,
safeguarded by passwords. Each initiate should have an education record, a passport to Masonry, if you
like, and the appropriate lectures would have to be mastered before he progressed to his Passing and
Raising.
The best way of guaranteeing the initiative would be through the setting up of a Masonic Development
Charity, operating at arm’s lengt h from Grand Lodge, tasked with speedily improving education and
internal communications within the English craft.
Doubtless some will criticise the idea of using charity cash to spend on Freemasonry. But, if we do not
start investing in modernising the craft now, there will be precious little to hand on to the next generation of
Freemasons. And that means our widows won’t have the kind of security that pensioners in our care
homes currently enjoy.
Charity begins at home.
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