Trends in LDS Church Growth; “This treatise illustrates the folly of neglecting the word of the Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants concerning the need for investigators to make themselves ready for baptism. There are more active Jehovah’s Witnesses in the countries of Georgia or Armenia than active Latter-day Saints in all of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Russia together. There are less than 100,000 active Latter-day Saints in all of Europe, including the United Kingdom. In comparison, there are over 1.4 million proselytizing Jehovah’s Witnesses in Europe, and 2.7 million who attend Jehovah’s Witness conferences. …
Mission policies are highly heterogeneous, yet much of the LDS retention problem stems from missionary approaches that emphasize quick baptism, often at the expense of the conversion process. Most individuals have read very little in the Book of Mormon at the time of baptism and have been to church only once or twice. Not surprisingly, one-year retention in most missions church-wide is below 40% …”
