From the outside, my Congregation appears to be flourishing. Over 120 publishers, 9 elders, 7 Ministerial Servants, and several young ones 'progressing well' and many reaching out. However, from the inside, you start to see cracks within this seemingly strong Congregation. I see it really, as a slight reflection on the Organisation as a whole. For example, looking at the elders. Our PO is a friendly chap, very merciful, and famous for being a regular visitor of the sick and lonely. However, he's facing a problem now, he's old, he's in his late 70s, and he's also very sick. Quite often, he can't get out of the house, and he can never manage to report more than a few hours a month. A real shame for the other sick and lonely members who never get a visit now. SO/Secretary - Both real company men, and close friends. The Secretary is waiting in the wings for the PO to die so he can get his position, with the SO's backing. The Secretary has been a real problem recently, as he has recently retired. Probably out of boredom, he seems to search for faults so he can get people into that back room. I myself have been victim to this 2 weeks ago, not for my apostasy, no, for my music. (And I curse whoever gave him the details on this) On my position on the magazine counter next to the back room, I had noticed it rare for a meeting NOT to be held between a Rank and File member, and some elders in the back room after a meeting. (I've now given up this position however, due to 'stress') Other elders - Another friend of the Sec, who also recently retired, and also seems to enjoy hunting people down and getting them into trouble. Some people really need to get a life. My Dad - Used to be a real problem for some of the other elders, now practically irrelevant. He tried to fight the corruption, and in that fight, he learnt the hard way, that you can't fight power. When it comes to spiritual activities/Elder duties, he's now a broken man. Only stays on, so he can vote against the Secretary's efforts to gain the PO position. And another one, all of his kids have left, and one of them has been in prison, and he hardly goes to meetings now, but he's still an elder, because he has a lot of money, and he has the other elders round for fancy dinners very often. The other 3 elders are in there early 30s with young families. Each one of them almost seemed to disappear as soon as they got made elders. Like, now they have the power, they've got no reason to go to meetings anymore? As for the Ministerial Servants. 2 other 30ish brothers who will probably disappear once they get made elders as well. 2 who will never be made elders. And the other 3 are younger ones. My older brother, 22, who will go the same way as my Dad, and the other 2, 19/20, both double lifers, can be seen regularly at the local night clubs having a few drinks. Apparently I was all set to become an MS in the recent Circuit Visit, but in the last few months my progress has gone backwards, finished pioneering, stopped answering, given up all of my 'privileges' except mike carrying. I was meant to get a Shepherding Visit, been waiting over a month. Looking even younger, between the ages of 12-18, there is one boy. Loads of girls, but what can they do when they're not allowed to be elders or Ministerial Servants? The only real growth in my Congregation is among the foreign contingent. The Portuguese and Polish make up over 40 of those publishers. I worked out with my Dad that it's been 3 years since a local person, who wasn't raised a JW, got baptised. When I was discussing these things with my Dad, he got a very blank look on his face, and said 'If Armageddon doesn't come, this Congregation is not going to last the next 20 years.' If all English Congregations are like this, it's only a matter of time before this Organisation dies.
My Congregation
by Zico 8 Replies latest jw friends
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vitty
I hope the org dies soon as well, but I wont be holding my breath
Unfortunately, there is a huge flood of eastern europeans comming into the UK and they are being targeted now. I heard of a local Polish group doing extremely well. These poor people dont know what there getting into. They go to Britain for a better life and end up becomming JWs !
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Clam
Interesting Zico. My family's Congo is also heavily bolstered with recent immigrants, but this has come at a cost from what I've heard. In some cases resentment leading to absence and even some marriage bust ups.
Hope your Dad is right though.
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reneeisorym
wow. Yeah it seems with the internet these days, the only way they can recruit is the uneducated or those ill informed people in other countries where communication is limited. I sure hope it dies down soon.
I know you have a hard life ahead of you. I hope you keep your sanity through it all.
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dedpoet
The only thing I know about my old kh, as it's 7 years since I attendes, is that there has been a sharp decline in attendance. I was told this by a fader who I've stayed in touch with whose wife still goes. When I left, the average attendance was around 115 -125, and now it's down to 85 at best.
Several of the young teens who got baptised in the last 2 or 3 years I was there have now left, as have some of the older dubs, and not enough replacements have come in. The last person to be baptised who had no previous jw connections was about 4 years ago, and she isn't regular now. The future looks bleak for my old kh, and I can't say I'm sorry, just the opposite in fact.
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OnTheWayOut
I hear ya, Zico.
With the majority of younger ones unable to stay faithful JW's, and even if they did- they would not be high performers, it looks dim for many congregations in the U.S. and many other countries. I expect to start seeing more and more congregations combining, just so there's enough "spritual brothers" to go around. When you heard of congregations splitting (usually when you average more than 120 publishers) in the past, it was evidence of Jehovah's spirit. What does that say for the opposite? They will say it means the end is fast approaching and Jehovah is shaking out the borderline faithful.
Expect most elders to just be good at giving talks (not necessarily "GOOD" talks, just good at "GIVING" talks). That's the barest essentials for the meetings to get by. They will have to continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel for new people. (Keep in mind, that is from their standards- I actually think that people who have a life outside the congregation are very fortunate and balanced, they just should not be thrust into a position of spiritual oversight without proper training nor desire.)
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aniron
From the outside, my Congregation appears to be flourishing. Over 120 publishers, 9 elders, 7 Ministerial Servants, and several young ones 'progressing well' and many reaching out.
Zico
That sounds just like my old congregation was when I left 7 years ago, plus all the brothers trying to get one up on each other.
Now the congregation is about half the size. Three Elders resigned, one caught smoking.
Some brothers and sisters because of the situation have being going to other local congregations.
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Zico
Yeah, The Portuguese have been around for years, but the Polish have just come in, a few years ago. There group gets about 25 people, but most aren't baptised. One thing I've noticed though, is that NO Polish or Portuguese brother has ever been made an MS or elder. I guess they're not seen as leaders? With all the foreign brothers and sisters, and lots of younger sisters, there's going to be plenty of publishers in the future, the problem is finding the elders to keep things going.
We share the Kingdom Hall with another Congregation. I don't know their Congregation as well, but about 6 years ago, a former Bethel Elder and CO joined. He became PO within about 2 years, and the Cong dropped from having about 120 publishers to about 85 now. He is a nightmare. They only have about 5 elders now because he's forced off half the elders. He has a lot of connections high up in the Org, and can basically do what he wants. Nobody can challenge him. A lot of there members have joined our Congregation, or been disfellowshipped.
Our Congregation won't completely die, but I expect a big decrease (in about 15-20 years though) and then it will join up with the other one. I'll be well gone by that time though! -
jaguarbass
With this being the information age, I cant see how all the congregations dont whither up and die.