numbers going down?

bite me

okay so a couple of years ago I went to the three days of boring random mumble jumbo. the numbers I thought were high: almost 13thousand people. this year I heard of the count at the arena being justover 9 thousand with about 32 baptizmals. I feel bad for them! but im glad the numbers for the social gathering is down. so speaking of baptismals are people still baptized into the organizaion? I wonder if they'll ever go back to the father,son, and holy Spirit. and IF they do if people would wake up and noticed that it changed again and question why. oh wait they can't freely question anything, they are to take it as it is said to be. Did anyone else to notice a change for the greater or higher?

WTWizard

Where I am, the numbers have basically been stable at around 5,000. The Great and Big Boasting Sessions have had some drops in attendance (from about 800 to 600 per session), but that could be because they added a fourth subdivision to the circuit. Which drop would not be genuine. Hence, I think the numbers around my part of the woods have basically been stable. Too high.

Meeting Junkie No More

What I've noticed around these parts is that instead of 2 assemblies of say 13,000 - 15,000, they're now breaking them down into more and smaller assemblies at smaller venues - probably tightening up the control, because with fewer dubs to police, more policing can be accomplished!

It used to be they were DOWN on large social gatherings at the brothers' homes, now I think they're just plain scared of LARGE GATHERINGS of Witlesses that are starting to think for themselves and not letting themselves be herded like sheeple as they have in the past. They seem to be pushing brothers to travel to the assemblies via buses as well - herding the r & f just like the cattle they wish they were!

sir82

Probably just breaking the groups into smaller pieces. They like to rent university sports arenas in the summer because in general they are unused then and the rent is cheaper. Most universities (except the mega-sized ones) have basketball arenas that can hold maybe 12-15,000 people, and they probably try to keep the crowd under 10,000 to keep things more or less comfortable, not so many people crammed together.

logic&reason

I noticed quite a few empty seats at our last CA... (maybe 20-25% empty)

Quester55

I notice a lot of people, (myself included) taking nice long naps. At our "Special Assembly" day, the minute the speaker opened his mouth, my head fell forward and went to sleep, only to be awakened by the dear little sister next to me to ask me if I'd mind not snoring? (I was so embarrassed ) Seriously folks, I find that when I go to meetings, assemblies, ect, I come out of there feeling so depressed. I was taught as a child that serving God was a joyous thing, the Scriptures say that He is the happy God, and wants his people to be happy. But every session of WTBTS stuff is the same old thing: Meetings and field service. Shun a college education. Do more in the ministry! Turn away from independent thinking. Why would a loving God give us this marvelous brain if HE didn't expect us to use it?!? Why would He give us so many marvelous talents to sing, dance, paint, draw, ect, and then tell us to wait until the "New Order" to use them. I am a writer, many times I'll wake up in the wee small hours of the morning to write down some thought or thread of a story thats going through my head...am I wrong? No indeed! Our talents are our gift. God only asks that we use them for His glory' meaning that we acknowledge Him and his gift to us in our lives. Anyway. it does seem that people are starting to just stop going. The GB is sending out the message about "friends missing the Friday session of DC's" All it means is that somebody got a clue and decided to take their behind to work on Friday instead of wasting a vacation day!

Quester