Official Visit Algonquin Lodge #434 – Jan. 15, 2007
By R.W. Bro. Harold J. Johnson, DDGM

Planning the Future

My brethren I am going to attempt to dispel the theories some have verbalized over the past year or two concerning the idea of planning the future.

I can certainly remember my own feelings when I first heard of Long Range Planning in the workplace. I saw it evolve into an exercise of trying to predict how much money you needed to be able to operate your particular corner of the world for the next five to ten years. You can imagine the frustration over spending countless hours speculating what your work efforts might be over that time period, how much it would cost, and constantly changing that outlook as reality struck.

The world around us constantly changes and it seemed that any attempt to predict the future and true monetary needs was a total lesson in frustration. Then came the game playing of constantly creating pockets of money that you knew would never be used for the original purpose just so you could have that little pot available to cover all of those wonderful little blips that life generally throws our way.

What a total waste of time and effort or so it seemed in my own little jaded opinion.

No wonder the derogatory phrase “bean counters” became prevalent in our work places. If this my brethren is the basis for your opinions of the Long Range Planning concept in our lodges, then I am here to try and set that record straight.

The Long Range Planning principle set out by the Grand Lodge has very little to do with Financial predictions and budgeting. It has everything to do with planning how we can make changes within our lodges to attract and maintain membership and keep our place in society as a highly regarded and vibrant entity.

All you need to do is look around at the membership numbers in our Lodges to realize that we are struggling at this time to simply maintain our current level. Our traditional practices restricting us from directly asking people to apply for membership were established with good reason. Just imagine for example how you would feel if you “asked” someone to apply only to find that he failed the initial examination by the board or did not receive a favourable ballot.

The result could ruin a friendship or cause you such embarrassment as to make you consider leaving the craft yourself. By having him ask you, that stress is greatly reduced as you would only have conveyed the request on his behalf and not spent hours trying to talk him into it.

So how do we get the message out that our fraternity is worthy of consideration?

There are several avenues which we can pursue to accomplish this task but the most important principle behind it is to raise our public awareness and public profile in our own communities. This does not just happen because we say it should, but to really be successful, we need to make a plan to achieve the best results possible.

Many a good friendship has started over the casual atmosphere of a family style function such as a picnic or barbeque. One where masons and their families and friends are invited to attend and allowed the opportunity to see us as a family oriented organization where opportunities exist to have fun and fellowship together. You can then extend that principle to include the fact that by promoting that family event you also involve the members of your own lodge. This is something that can keep their interest in attending both the events and the Lodge itself which ultimately benefits both themselves as well as lodge and the work of that Lodge.

I recently paid a fraternal visit to a Lodge where the Secretary had received a letter from one of the wives of a Lodge member admonishing and chastising that Lodge for not holding any family functions during that year. What an embarrassment to that Lodge and its officers to have to be reminded in that way of their lack of planning and efforts to include the families in that Lodge in even a simple way.

That same Lodge had also let its efforts at organizing a Ladies night slip into oblivion. There are two very serious problems we create by not making these kind of efforts to keep family involved. We risk the onset of apathy in the Lodge as the application of work only will not entice the camaraderie and friendships to blossom. Remember the phrase “..all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”?

Secondly, we need the support of our spouses as we can not include them in our regular meetings. To shut them out completely will not give them a favourable opinion of our institution and could cause friction in the relationship at home. The result could further reduce our membership ranks.

Just as an addendum to the reference to that aforementioned Lodge. They are currently having serious problems with their Officer Line and can not attract men with the commitment to follow through to the Master's chair. I feel very sure that the lack of fellowship opportunities in a casual atmosphere is contributing greatly to that problem.

Brethren we can do much more to attract and retain members. Other examples of methods of attraction are. Holding an open house and inviting non Masons to come in and ask us questions. The Friend to Friend program offers a great DVD explaining Masonry which we can use at these type of events especially if we are reticent to talk about it ourselves. And my brethren, we now have a copy available in every Lodge in the Province. Have you used yours yet or even viewed it yourselves? I challenge you to include it as an educational topic one evening so that all of the brethren in your lodge can take some inspiration from it.

We can further enhance our community profile and awareness with our charitable efforts. I am not simply talking about giving away money here as that is only one narrow aspect of charity. Helping each other in a time of need and helping our neighbours and the community in the same manner are also acts of charity.

We have Lodges within our own jurisdiction that are making positive contributions to the health and welfare of their local communities. One, by promoting and working on a community plan to promote the establishment of a new educational facility within the community. This Lodge holds several events each year to which the community in general is invited and they are well respected and well known to their local community. We have yet another Lodge which has for several years now actively organized and supported the establishment and running of blood donor clinics within their community. I wonder how many people now owe their very existence to this effort?

There are many ways to make the public aware of our existence and involve them in our efforts but it takes effort and planning on our part to accomplish this. Not just a quick one shot deal to have an event and leave it at that but a continuing effort to explore and promote the many ways that we can contribute to the vibrancy of our community, our lodges and our membership.

This my brethren is our challenge. Are we ready to take it up, or will we just sit and moan about our declining memberships and interest in Lodge and wonder whatever happened to the good old days?

We are not alone brethren, your Grand Lodge is knocking themselves out preparing the tools we need to help us accomplish our goals, but what good will they do us if we put them on the shelves to gather dust? Lets get them out, read and use them. It is now up to us to get out of our easy chair and make things happen.

Lets not try to kid ourselves into believing that our Grand Lodge programs are just a passing fad or just too much work. Nor should we hope that if we leave it alone they will eventually be forgotten about. If that is your approach then sit back and watch as we fade away like the proverbial dinosaur.