he is probably referring how impressive the baptisms figure is, but considering they come from the publisher rate anyway its rather irrelevant, its not as if they are folks that have been cold called on the FS and progressed and been baptised in a small length of time.
2015 service report
by mommyfirstandalways 109 Replies latest members private
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freemindfade
Now we can see their desperation
- Return to the desert god call to action
- Increased pressure to baptize youth entrapping them in the control of the cult.
Looks like they have reason to worry. 2014 was this cults apex, it may take 150 years on this side, but I think the decline has started.
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slimboyfat
Ha I read it wrong! I thought it was 8,220,000 up from 7,965,000 or something.
These numbers look pretty bad if confirmed. In fact, if they're really that bad, might they be the last numbers that actually get published? Maybe we'll get edited highlights at best from now on.
The reason baptisms have flatlined I think is because a lot of JWs and their children have delayed baptism until kids are old enough to decide and to avoid unnecessary shunning. I remember Splane gave a special talk in Glasgow in 2011 where he was almost spitting at the mouth angry and insistent that parents must baptise their kids as young as possible. He clearly knows that's how to trap kids into obedience or face shunning, cynical bastard. But judging by his frustration it's a battle they're losing as parents and kids are opting to get baptised later or not at all.
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jookbeard
on the contrary SBF , baptisms are continuing to be as young as possible -
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sloppyjoe2
Does anyone recall the year that they started to allow people to report just 15 minutes for field service and be counted?
EDIT - I found it was in 2002, when there was a 3.2 percent increase
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OneEyedJoe
If peak publishers really only increased by 20k, I expect there'll either be a decline next year or we'll see some sort of change in the way these numbers are gathered or reported (or both). Also, if I remember correctly this year there was some sort of push in certain places to get "late" reports filed at the end of the year. I don't know if this is typical since I've only been awake for 2 end of service year events, but assuming it's not this is a pretty sad result if the best they could get was only a 20k increase YoY. If that's the case and they made an unusual extra push to get the numbers up last minute, I think this most likely already represents a decline.
It almost seems too good to be true - maybe the number is average publishers? In any event I think it'll be more telling to compare average publishers once the full numbers are out, since presumably those will be less fudged.
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steve2
Several earlier posts provided eye-witness accounts of baptisms at the latest round of conventions in which very small numbers presented for baptism and, of those who did, most were very young in age - and likely to have still been minors (younger than 15). -
slimboyfat
It can of course be true both that very young people are still getting baptised, and that far fewer of them are being baptised at all. That's what appears to be happening. Uber loyal JWs are still getting their kids baptised young, but moderate JWs are delaying getting their kids baptised to avoid shunning. -
gda
I refuse to believe there is any increase
