2006 SERVICE REPORT - Feb 1, 2007 WT

by Mary 100 Replies latest jw friends

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  bebu

  Mary, very interesting table. Fun thread, too, seeing how little progress the WTS is making these days.

  Hey... Anyone notice that there is a ratio of 1 publisher to 171,800 in Pakistan??? Those publishers had better get a move on if the end is so near as all that.

  Nos, I'm still laughing over this remark:

  I built myself a giant bird feeder to die in.

  Can I see a picture?

  Gumby... I'm still confused by the thread you gave to answer Nos's question. Are you the one going back for family? I can't imagine it!

  And Foster201: Welcome to the board!!

  bebu
• 

  steve2

  New Zealand's JW statistics over an 11-year period look very grim for the Watchtower:

  Year Peak Average Baptisms AvPios Cong Total Hours AvBibStudies Memorial

  1995 13,340 12,573 615 1364 162 2,533,844 7,300 25,626

  2006 13,626 12,740 281 1200* 171 2,062,739 6,232 26,466

  Denmark's look even worse: Look at this comparison between 1984 and 2006:

  1984 14,337 13903 391 790 234 1,861,000 4602 23,539

  2006 14,568 14178 202 1301* 204 2,168,818 4382 22,253

  In New Zealand, in more than ten years, the average number of active witnesses increased by 167 and baptisms decreased by over 50%. In that time, total hours preaching have shrunk by almost half a million. New Zealand JWs are an apathetic bunch, I'm afraid!

  But the record for stagnation is still held by Denmark: In more than twenty years, the average number of JWs increased by 275!

  *Combined auxiliary and pioneers
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  steve2

  I just noticed in my last post that the memorial figures have moved away from the memorial column to under the year column (sorry for any confusion that has resulted).
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  fri

  Is is just me or is the number of the anointed keep growing instead of decreasing?? by this growth rate very soon we will have over 144000 still living on earth.
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  garybuss

  I don't see where they publish the count of anointed.
  
  I believe topically they long ago differentiated between partakers and anointed.
  
  
  
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  vitty

  Well we have had a increase where we live...........................from -1% to 0%...............in fact there are about a hundred less pubs than last year, so its questionable how the work out the statistics ????????????

  And´i dont live in a remote country-.................
• 

  David2002

  Mary, If you ever looked at the JW annual statistics, the United Kindgom is always listed under the Britain. Also, keep in mind that baptized publishers are counted as publishers even before they are baptized. Non-baptized publishers that preach and hand in a record of their activity are counted as publishers. There are cases where individuals have been preaching from 2-3 years, and counted as un-baptized publisher, before ever taking the plunge. So that explains why there is an actual increase of just over 100,000 instead of 247,00, because many of them were already counted as non-bapitzed publishers. I do not think the numbers are so dismal compared to other religious groups (just see recent press on how the Mormons are losing members, how it turns out many Evangelical conversions were really "false conversions, etc..). The 1.3 billion hours means time was given in preaching the good news as a witness to the world, and that is not time wasted(Matt. 24:14, Mark 13:8 ) Also, keep in mind that Witnesses membership figures count only those that actively preach and report their ministry activity. Attendance at Kingdom Halls bible meetings have grown steadily, and average attendance is usually double, even triple, the number of publishers. If Witnesses were to count members just on meeting attendance, then their membership figure would be 14.5 to 15 million. Also, keep in mind that there has been a rise in "inactive" members, particulary, the very elderly. According to one Witness, the "inactive" elderly average about 3 per congregation in the United States alone, and the average figure has grown higher in European countries, where they have a greater elderly population of Witnesses. Congregations consider them as beloved brothers and sisters, although since they may not actively preach, they are not included in the official publishers statistics. When you take into account that other religous groups do usually only count those who will attend church this Dec. 25, that count members that were baptized but left the church years ago, that count members that have continually practice sins,and are still considered members in spite of their confessions, Witnesses are doing pretty good.
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  steve2

  Witnesses are doing pretty good.

  Given the high percentage of young JWs who marry very young and have children, we would expect higher percentage growth figures for the witnesses for those reasons alone, quite apart from those who convert to the JWs as a result of the doo-to-door ministry.

  It is no secret that, at upper echelons of the JW religion, there is increasing concern over the very large number of young ones who are either openly leaving the religion or merely attending meetings without doing any door knocking.

  Remember, too, that traditionally, the Watchtower has trumpeted previous large increases as "Jehovah's blessings" and they've been extremely quick to jump on official figures of other churches that are decreasing. There's a strange silence from the Watchtower over the decline in lots of countries and extremely slow growth rates in other countries such as New Zealand, where the actual increase in peak publishers over a ten-year period has been a couple of hundred and almost half a million fewer hours spent door-knocking. Doing pretty good, are they? I don't think so...
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  penny2

  steve2, that's an interesting table. I'll try something like that with Australia when I get access to the stats.

  penny2
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  daniel-p

  New Zealand JWs are an apathetic bunch, I'm afraid!

  Steve2,

  What do you attribute this to in New Zealand? I mean besides relative affluence, is there anything about NZ culture or location, etc, that you think has to do with the decline in numbers?