When I was growing up as a witness I remember hearing news about the ever expanding preaching work. The only number that went down was the number of annointed but over time the organisation seems to say they are growing whilst in fact they are shrinking.
District conventions were 4 days (fewer than the 7 days early on but still a challenge.) These have been reduced to 3 days
District conventions were elaborate affairs with food service and field service, hard back publications were released to thunderous applause.We got 2 dramas as well. All the frills have been removed including rubbish bins visitors must bring their own food and take their rubbish home and hardbacks have been replaced with paperbacks and soggy half arsed brochures. Sometimes they don't release a second publication just announce it.
Circuit assemblies used to be 2 a year and food service was offered at some of the facilities. Now 1 CA a year and a special assembly day. Again no food service.
Magazines have gone from 4 a month 32 pages to 3 magazines 1 study version, 1 watchtower and 1 awake. Public magazines have been reduced to 16 pages.
Branch closures and consolidations are happening all over the world and bethel staff reduced and sent out into the field.
Meetings have been reduced from 5 meetings a week to 4 and families are expected to have a family worship night. The public talk has been reduced from 1 hour to 45 mins and then down again to 30 minutes. But the watchtower just seems to ever expand to fill in the gap.
Hour requirements for pioneers have been reduced from 90 to 70 and auxilliary pioneersfrom 60 to 50 and 30 on special occasions. Publishers too can now report in 15 minute blocks rather than the minimum 1 hour requirement.
The witness world is also smaller with the people they can freely associate with being reduced to only the faithful and DA'd and Df'd people becoming vilified and hated like never before.
All this seems to go against my early upbringing where Jehovah was going to speed up the work in his own time and expansion was a sign of his guiding hand. God wasn't efficient but a happy spendthrift expanding acrosss the world and being visible in the most far flung places on the planet. Nowadays god seems obsessed with the bottom line and each new penny pinching move is a new loving arrangement. The religion is a pale shadow of the glory days and although it still holds people to it's doctrine it is a shabby small thing they worship. The only major increase is the annointed. Perhaps Jehovah is waiting for every one of them to realise they are annointed and then he will whisk them all off to heaven.
It strikes me that if the reductions are a new expression of Gods love then the most loving thing he could do is reduce the meetings and publications to zero and let people live their own lives.
