Amazing new graph - publisher increase compared to country population increase rates

by jwfacts 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Simon
    Simon

    Great research and fascinating reading. The number of hours per recruit really does highlight how incredibly ineffective the publishing work is ... but it doesn't cost them (the org) anything (vs buying a super-bowl ad).

    One thing which makes country-to-country comparisons "not so useful", is the huge amount of migration.

    This could also factor into individual countries. I'm sure the birth-rate for certain groups in Germany for instance are quite different and it's unlikely that the JW recruitment is consistent between them (think "Muslims" for instance).

  • steve2
    steve2

    Long gone are the days when a significant chunk of new baptisms were non-born-ins. In my local community, interest from non-Witnesses was common, as shown by the number of newbies having Bible Studies, attending meetings and progressing to "field service".

    Nowadays that has virtually reversed. Bible Studies are commonly held with the unbaptised or lapsed children of JW parents and baptismsl candidates have virtually all been raised in the religion.

    Another observation: The calibre of "newly interested ones" (non-born-ins) is revealing. I hear of new studies being started with people who would not be a credit to the organization: Unrmployed/unemployable, mental health issues and social disadvantage - not the calibre of recruits that will turn around jw organization's reported operational running cost difficulties. You need recruits who are employable - preferably in well paying jobs because the organization can benefit from the income. And you need recruits who won't be a social and psychological burden on the organization. Troubled congregants are a drain on elders

    Back in the day of healthy growth rates, there was a successful move to abbreviate the length of time newly interested ones studied before getting the hard word to attend meetings, join in the field service and get baptised. Because of the dearth of fresh new recruits for studies, there are many cases of Bible Studies being conducted over several years because it provides a relatively easy source of field service hours in the comfort of homes - rather than treading the dreary streets with lots of nit-at-homes.

  • blondie
    blondie

    Thanks, Paul. Unfortunately, the memory of many jws if old enough won't see this easily.

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot

    Good thread.

  • kpop
    kpop

    I think you are going about this the wrong way, very wrong. Percentage can look very big or small because it is part of a total. So if I say "my company saw an increase in employees of 100%" that sounds like a lot! But I forgot to tell you my company only has 5 employees and now we have 10

    But however if I said "my company saw an increase in employees of 0.9%" that sounds very bad. Very slow growth. But I forgot to tell you that my company has 500,000 employees (in China this is common) so my company had 500,000 but added an additional 4,500!

    Do not need to look at % because in nominal terms it is meaningless. In nominal terms the world population is growing at 211,807 people every single day or 75 Million every year! Compare this to the JW cult which is "growing" by 115,000! So we have growth of 75,000,000 versus growth of 115,000. Which one is more? And this puts into serious jeopardy "Jehovah is patient with us" BS because for every day that he is "patient" 211,507 people will die at Armageddon. Does this make sense?

  • konceptual99
    konceptual99

    Thanks for the figures and graphs! The time and effort put in is really appreciated!

  • konceptual99
    konceptual99

    @kpop,

    We had the discussion re percentages on another thread. For some examples then using the raw figures is telling but in trying to track data over many years and identify trends then using ratios and percentages really is the only way of showing the real story of the numbers.

    Having said that, specific example you use and the inference re Jehovah's so called patience is an excellent one and one of my favourite examples of the nonsense I used to believe.

  • jwfacts
    jwfacts

    Kpop, your comment makes sense, and I discuss that very point at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php, where there are a number of other graphs.

    The point of this particular chart is to show that Jehovah's Witnesses are not growing at a greater rate than the population. Although they claim 1.8% compared to 1.13% for the global population, this comes from just a handful of developing countries. In many countries the growth is less than the population in general, showing that they are contracting, once taking into account children being born into the religion.

  • stuckinarut2
    stuckinarut2

    Also, numbers of ones coming in is one thing, but the QUALITY of such ones needs to be taken into account.

    The fact is that most coming in don't even meet the "high spiritual standards" of "the perfect witness" according to the GB guidelines.

  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein

    Of the real important fact is that the JWS is an utter failer of a religion based upon for its very slow rate of growth. even more tell tailing is the fact this religion is one of those that actually comes to people's doors.

    Over 140+ years and this all this religion has in total world wide.

    As Charlie Brown would say ...... " Good Grief "

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