by konceptual99 42 Replies latest jw friends
I'm sorry, but I have to say something. I'm as anti-JW as the next apostate.
However, whoever thinks that Mormon.org and JW.org look similar, either cosmetically or in the code, doesn't know what they're talking about.
All HTML code looks similar from one website to another if the persons writing the code know what they're doing.
Millie said: "In spite of all the spin and the "get out there and preach!" The SDA still leads the JWs and with a much more laid back approach. Go figure!"
Not really. In Africa there are a lot of SDA's but if you look at the 2011 statistics per country you see that in most of the European countries JW's have a massive lead compared to SDA's and Mormons
few examples
GermanyMEMBERSHIP
Latter-day Saint: 38,668
Seventh Day Adventist: 35,119
Jehovah's Witness: 165,387
Italy MEMBERSHIP
Latter-day Saint: 24,443
Seventh Day Adventist: 9,315
Jehovah's Witness: 245,657
France MEMBERSHIP
Latter-day Saint: 36,403
Seventh Day Adventist: 12,849
Jehovah's Witness: 123,277
Russia MEMBERSHIP
Latter-day Saint: 21,418
Seventh Day Adventist: 50,027
Jehovah's Witness: 165,447
Greece MEMBERSHIP
Latter-day Saint: 740
Seventh Day Adventist: 559
Jehovah's Witness: 29,143
Poland MEMBERSHIP
Latter-day Saint: 1,716
Seventh Day Adventist: 5,781
Jehovah's Witness: 126,196
I was thinking of overall membership but you are right about Europe.
Why do you think that is? I was thinking because of WW II and all the Purple Triangles stuff maybe?
@millie i think because of a combination of secularisation and the preaching work. Churches are running empty in Europe the traditional denominations are dying. A lot of people are dissapointed in their churches, church leaders and teachings.
besides that SDA's do not preach so are not well known in Europe. Mormons do preach but only a very few (only young american missionaries for a two year period). The rest of the Mormons in a country do not go door to door. There are only about 80,000 mormon missionaries worldwide.
Contrary to that all JW's in a country preach and go door to door. So those dissapointed church people are not visited by SDA's or Mormons. Instead of that they are visited by JW's,.. not foreign JW's or missionaries but just local JW's that speak their european languages and are familar with the country and local customs.
That is why there is a difference in Europe between member figures of JW's , Mormons and SDA's
Yup, credit where credit's due...
...Mormon and Adventists missionaries ain't got nothin' of the WTS when it comes to Third-World conversions.
@millie why would you need that?
Now we need a breakdown of effort spent vs.membership gained
Not hard to do.
In the mid 90's, JWs spent about 1 billion hours (collectively) in field service, and the number of newly baptized was around 360,000.
20 years later, JWs spent nearly 2 billion hours in field service, and about 275,000 were newly baptized.
Double the effort, 25% fewer recruits.
@sir82 but that does not tell us what you think it does.
For example JW's were forbidden in the former Soviet Union and East European states. So after 1990 the bans were lifted and Jehovah's Witnesses became a legal religion. The result,.. phenomenal growth during the years that followed,.. the 90's,
So the higher number of baptisms and growth can be explained easily it was not because of a certain amount of hours and effort but because of other political circumstances and improved human rights. So after that initial high growth and peak in those countries the situation normalised and a a normal growth rate remained.
Also times change. For example, during the 80's and 90's in many countries there were more people at home during the day than there are nowadays because of more traditional values and customs during previous decades. But today in many countries both males and females have full time jobs.
The result,... when you are out in service during the mornings a lot of doors wont open. It does not mean that people are less receptive...or that it take more hours now to convince a person,... but they are simply not at home.
That is why for example this year they are poundering in the KM (see for example the KM of April 2015) on field service at night or the late afternoon and through mobile carts.
