4 into 3

by PoppyR 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  PoppyR

  So in a town close to where I live there was once 1 congregation and over time this enlarged to 4 large congs. I remember about 23 years ago when the one I was attending split. Over the last 10 years there has been a steady decline, I for one do NOT believe there is any increase going on in the UK! Rows of empty seats, and many young couples and families movin away and falling away. We were beginning to look like church with gray heads and hats and the same old hands going up in the WT study. So for the last 4 years or so there has been many suggestions to recombine some of the congs with much opposition by the society as it was viewed as a 'backward step'. Obviously the numbers!! Eventually the decline got so bad this has been sorted out and come January 1st the town has 3 congs again. I distinctly remember a summer convention.. probably early to mid 80s which talked about the little one becoming a thousand... seems like the thousand is becoming a hundred!! How long before it's a little one again! Interestingly I have now not been out in the service for about a year, stopped fake reporting about 4 months ago, now have not been to a meeting in over a month, yet not one phone call or visit from an elder. Not saying I want one.. but makes me think they are just tired out with trying to encourage people to come back!

  poppy x
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  Goldminer

  I would say that here in northern Ontario the numbers are down in the 30% range.The attendance at the CA and DA is down drastically from 10 years ago and I know of 2 congregations that have amalgamated into one.I firmly believe this religion is slowly imploding and the main reason is because they definitely don't have the truth.

  "It's pretty hard to give away to others what you don't have yourself"

  Goldminer
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  Confession

  Interestingly I have now not been out in the service for about a year, stopped fake reporting about 4 months ago, now have not been to a meeting in over a month, yet not one phone call or visit from an elder.

  This is something I too find curious. I was very active in my association with JWs. I was disfellowshipped in May 2004. Discovered the truth about The Truth in September 2004. Played the game and was reinstated in March of 2005. At the meeting announcing my reinstatement, everyone came to me with an embrace. I went to one gathering and things seemed pretty much normal. But I noticed that no one would call me. No one. I went to meetings through May, then stopped and moved to California at the end of June. No phone calls. Not from an elder; not from a single JW friend.
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  dedpoet

  Although I haven't been for some years, I know that numbers are falling in my area. They used to have dcs at football stadiums, this year it was at Nottingham Arena, which has a much snaller capacity than either of the city's football grounds, and I am told it wasn't particularly full.

  The wt is, numerically speaking, in decline in the UK. Let's hope the trend continues
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  serendipity

  I was inactive for 4 years before I got an unannounced, unscheduled call from an elder and his wife. They were in the neighborhood calling on a family and just stopped by. That's the only visit I've received in over 10 years. The same held true in my previous congregation. I thought it was just because I was a sister....
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  serendipity

  Our congregation is actually growing slowly. I don't think it's because of new ones coming in - we have at 0-2 baptized at an assembly/DC. I think it's growth from JW families moving into the area.
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  Poztate

  The congregation in our town is like an old age home. I can see in the next ten years 20% of the congregation dropping dead.There has been no real increse in numbers in 30 years even thought the population had doubled in size. They keep trying to convince themselves it is because people are moving to other places...Don't think so...
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  PoppyR

  Dedpoet.. the convention has been at the Ice Arena for about the past 4 years now, they tried to say it was better for the older ones, which was rubbish as my mum really struggles to get around in there, but I think you're right, the attendance is less than 10.000, and when it was at Nottingham Forest we used to be getting nearer 20,000. I HATE the ice arena, as it's really claustraphobic with the long rows. Of course all the Bethelites get to sit in the boxes around the top!! And every year we have a talk about how wonderful it is, and how it costs 4 times as much as being at the football ground and our contributions need to reflect that. It always made me mad as I didn't know a single person who thought it was a better place to go and yet we were being asked to pay for it! There is no parking and the cong buses which we were encouraged or commanded to go on left home at 2 hours before you needed to if you took the car!!! Not ideal when you have small children, it meant 12 hour days. The only advantage was it was very close to the City centre and ideal for afternoon shopping trips when the 31/2 hour afternoon sessions got just too much!

  Poppy x
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  dedpoet

  I didn't know that Poppy, I have been away 6 years now, and have taken no real interest in what has been happening in the wt, but I work in Nottingham now, and noticed that there seemed to be a huge influx of people in suits around the city centre in June this year, so I checked to see where the dc was, not with a view to attending of course. The last dc I went to was in 1998 at Wolverhampton.