This years World Wide Report was unremarkable, except for a few things. Britain had a net lost of 2,900 publishers, although the average was down by 500.
Canada had minimal increase and lost 5 congregations. France actually had a 1% increase. The number of baptisms were down to almost 259,000.
But the country that most interested me was Japan. Consider how for decades, Japan was held up as a model Witness country to the United States.
Let's have a look at the sevice report since 1997
Peak pubs Avg Inc/Dec Baptisms Net loss
1997 220,663 217,970 4 10,962
1998 222,912 222,347 2 7,779
1999 222,857 222,078 0 5,343 5,612
2000 221,364 220,538 -1 4,388 5,928
2001 220,113 218,866 -1 4,139 5,811
2002 218,731 217,791 0 3,925 5,000
2003 217,508 217,020 0 2,639 3,410
Japan's baptism rate has dropped by 76% since 1997!
Now, consider what the January 1st 2004 WT says on page 15 paragraph 12 under the sub heading 'In Foreign Fields'
Consider Japan. Before the second world war, there were about one hundred Kingdom preachers in that land. During the war, brutal persecution decimated their ranks, and by the end of the war, only a few witnesses were still spiritually and physically alive. Those few outstanding integrity keepers were surely delighted in 1949 to welcome the first 13 Gilead-trained missionaries, and the missionaries quickly warmed to their enthusiastic, hospitable Japanese brothers. Over 50 years later, in the year 2003, Japan reported a peak of 217,508 publishers! Jehovah has indeed richly blessed his people in that land. (Consider that the 1998 peak was 222,912!)
Reminds me of Orwell's 1984, where the price of chocolate had gone up while the government told the poeple it had come dwon.