By the end of the year, what will the org look like ?

mP

Im predicting a loss in both numbers in the US and western countries with significant drop in hours preached particularly in the USA.

Commetns ??

BluesBrother

Nah.....any fall out due to current concerns and their "own goals" will be gradual, if any..

But, I would be delighted if you were right,

sir82

Nope, they will continue to grow, although more and more slowly, over the next 5-10 years.

Native-speaking congregations in western countries will continue to decline; however, that is masked by significant growth in foreign-language congregations.

I'm just waiting for the next "big issue" to come through. First the Sparlock insanity, now the lost lawsuit, what's next? If another issue as big as Candace's case comes through this year, it may push many over the edge.

I've been hearing a lot of responses from the people I emailed the case link to that they are appalled and shocked about it and many have said similar things, "they get what they deserve if this is true." I think many are looking for an out of this cult.

criticalwitness

i am thinking optimistically here but i think this legally,scriptually opens pandoras box! this is first loss in our modern era for the org i think since the moyle case. it means that if they are legally wrong and proven to be such in a court of law on their dogmatic draconian doctrine of two ppl witnessing a molestation, what else may they be wrong on? blood issues? holidays?time of the end? jc committees? this isnt even including all the abused who will be encouraged to step forward and go the distance and not settle out of court. and this gives faders and ppl on the brink of leaving the guts to do such. whether you are in the org or not parents love and want to protect their children and this manifest itself loudly that the org doesnt care they will feed youre kids to the pedephiles then make you pay by voluntary donation of course to defend them!

cedars

There'll be overall growth in next year's figures, but a decrease in growth in comparison with the 2011 report. That's my prediction!

How much of it will be attributable to the events of 2012 is really anyone's guess. Considering the "service year" ends in August, I doubt Sparlock and the Candace Conti case will have the opportunity to make a huge impact on the next reported yearbook figures. It's more likely that the Candace Conti case will have a slow-burning, long term effect as people gradually find out about it through word of mouth.

Cedars

respectful_observer

There won’t be many deviations from the norm.

- Growth will continue at a lethargic 1-3% worldwide, driven mainly by less developed countries. (The Americas, Europe, and previously fast growing countries like Japan will continue in the -2% - +1% range.)

- Hours preached will reach an “exciting new peak” driven mainly by artificially inflated time slips.

- The number of 18 year olds enrolling in university will continue to decline.

- The vast majority of the “rank and file” will continue to be oblivious to:

o doctrinal adjustments

o forced increased control over local finances and real estate by the WTS

o changes made to insulate the WTS from legal/financial risks.

- The average publisher will amazed at how “advanced” the Organization is by finally using the internet in a way that every other large publishing company has been using it since the late 1990s.

Gayle

I do expect less baptisms. 2011 decreased 7.2% from 2010 baptisms in U.S. Worldwide baptisms in 2011 decreased 10.7% from 2010.

Morbidzbaby

I honestly don't know. With the Conti case, I feel like there might be some possible vindication for some of us who left partially due to the abuse that we found out about. I know I myself brought this up to my dad about how the org covered it over numerous times and he simply would not believe me. He insisted that "All brothers who get privileges are questioned as to whether they have a history of abusing children". Um. You think they'd tell the truth?? Come on! But with such a landmark case and such a HUGE loss for the Watchtower, I think anything is possible.

There will always be those who hang on, even while the ship is sinking. The responses online from JW's have been sickening for the most part. But, remember too that there are always those who are in but mentally out...like many of us here were at one time. And there are those with doubts sitting on the fence. We might see more traffic here due to that.

The Watchtower as a whole will take a long time to sink, though.

Ding

I don't anticipate much change at all.