Reports of lower memorial attendance

by thedepressedsoul 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  thedepressedsoul

  I have heard a lot of reports from Kingdom Halls in the area that there was less than last year, for both time slots.

  We had the first time slot and we were down 50+/- compared to last year. Last year we had the lobby full of people standing and this year we had empty seats and no one standing. We ran out of parking last year and this year we made it.

  Like I said I am hearing quite a few reports of this from halls in our area.
  However, somehow the number seem to inch up every year. I am starting to question their numbers.

  Somehow assemblies, conventions, baptisms seem worse every year and yet the number inch up.

  I can't tell you how many witnesses I heard before hand saying this year we will have over 20 million!

  "Noah" illustration when numbers are low and "Work speeding up" when numbers are high. It honestly doesn't matter what the numbers are, they'll be spun.
• 

  flipper

  DEPRESSED SOUL- Interesting observations. Thanks for sharing with those of us who haven't attended for many years. I am interested in how many are still attending as much of my older JW family is still attending. Many of the younger members of my family ( below 50 years of age ) have stopped attending. I think this is becoming more common to see. Yeah- WT Society will spin their numbers anyway they want to just keep up appearances of the work allegedly " speeding up ". But truth be known- this cult is falling apart at the seams and going to the $hits
• 

  Londo111

  Friday night might not be the most popular night for non-JWs or lasped JWs to attend.
• 

  FayeDunaway

  I'm thinking anyone who would have ever possibly responded to the tract campaign would have already tried it and seen what a miserable experience the memorial is. Especially if you have to STAND while being told you can't partake, it's only for a few blah blah blah...compared to other churches this is ridiculous.
• 

  Londo111

  BTW...this year I noticed I did not get a Memorial tract in my door. I don't know if they didn't cover my street or if the people working my street knew me and figured I didn't need it.
• 

  freemindfade

  Its gonna be eye opening (probably only for a very few people) if the attendance starts going down and the partakers keep going up. Although I think here in the states yes attendance is plummeting, not just with memorial but also regular meetings, but in places like latin america its probably exploding.
• 

  Absalom

  Only growth is in third world countries. I meet in a double hall, our side was standing room only, the other side had empty seats.

  My hall is a very big hall of over 150 pubs, hardly anyone lives in our territory but come because the elders are friendlier. The other hall that had empty seats has extremely harsh elders and is a small congo.
• 

  John Aquila

  Somehow assemblies, conventions, baptisms seem worse every year and yet the number inch up.

  Reminds of the movie Jakob the Liar (1999)

  Synopsis:

  During World War II in Nazi occupied Poland, poor Jewish café owner Jakob ('Robin Williams') takes action to fight the incredible depression and suicide throughout the ghetto, Jakob tells fictitious news bulletins about Allied advances against the Nazis. These lies keep hope and humor alive among the ghetto inhabitants.
• 

  freemindfade

  Absalom

  my wife was talking about the new LDC arrangement and made it seem like halls are busting at the seams, I can only gather that is NOT here in the US as I see the opposite everywhere I go.
• 

  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  I would have thought that since it was on Good Friday the attendance would have been up everywhere.

  my wife was talking about the new LDC arrangement and made it seem like halls are busting at the seams

  It's the same with my parents. WT is enjoying "invisible growth". The GB says how successful their website is and how they're building everywhere. They talk about this "growth" that is out of the view of the majority of JWs. At the same time, JWs are conditioned to ignore how they visibly sell branch properties, congregations are dissolved, circuits are shuffled, funds are grabbed by "mother", etc.