by tresdecu 15 Replies latest jw friends
I live in a semi large city. 200,000 + residents. Just found out the other day from a friend that 3 congregations are merging down to 1! Why!? They were dwindeling. These are long time congregations that have been here for 20-30 years. Ah, what remarkable growth! Looks like 'waste of paper' campains are not working.
And, Thanks to those that posted responses on my 'depressed' thread. Posting here is the only therapy I've got :-)
see treddy....every cloud has a silver lining....great news.....woo hoo
How is the economic situation there? Maybe lots of people, JWs included, are moving someplace where there is a better chance for work?
Overall, as a whole, JWs in the US are holding steady. However, one area might experience dramatic shrinkage while another area might see dramatic growth - entirely from transience.
Here in Raleigh, NC, (high growth area) the "remarkable growth" is from transplants probably from areas like yours with declines. They rave about the growth but there are very few true new ones found at the door. Just moved from other areas.
I wonder if there is a new, bigger and more centralized RBC building project in the near future for your community.
Such mergings would fail terribly in my area as KHs tend to look at other nearby KHs like high school football rivalries.
I heard that this was happening in the New York area, congregations being closed down and the pubs sent to surrounding congregations, KHs being sold off etc.
The same has been happening throughout the USA to ENGLISH congregations. The Service Department at Brooklyn Bethel has been consolidating congregations when possible. Some congregations are so small that it make sense to just combine them. They also analyze where most of the publishers in a particular congregation live. If they notice that the majority who attend a certain congregation do not live in the congregation's territory - they will then close that congregation and ask the publishers to attend the congregation in which territory they live in.
The real growth among Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States is coming from foreign language congregations. In particular the Spanish and Russian languages. In Brooklyn, the English speaking congregations keep dissappearing. English speaking people are not easily drawn into the message that Jehovah's Witnesses bring. The 2% growth in the USA has truly mostly come from foreigners and not English speaking Americans.
Sir82 - eco situation is not great here, especially if you're in construction, janatorial, or window washing. :-) It's not as bad here as in some areas, but you're right, could be a lot of move outs.
Just weird that these congo names have been around forever and now they will no longer exist.
they need another 1975...and soon
I heard that this was happening in the New York area, congregations being closed down and the pubs sent to surrounding congregations, KHs being sold off etc.
You gotta wonder what the psychological impact will be on the remaining JWs in those areas. I imagine it would have to be pretty difficult to maintain your "sense of urgency" if congregations are literally disappearing all around you. Consolidate enough congregations and you have to begin consolidating circuits, a few years of that and you consolidate districts - eventually maybe only 1 or 2 district conventions per year in a location where there used to be 3 or 4.
I'm a little surprised that the Society has not addressed this in any study editions of the WT. Then again why should I be surprised - their typical MO is to react (mostly ineffectually) to situations several years after the problem arises, rather than be proactive.
