local memorial attendance

by outsmartthesystem 20 Replies latest jw friends

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  outsmartthesystem

  So I have a friend that is still "in" because of his elderly parents. He attended the memorial and reported back to me what I thought was encouraging. We have two congregations in the city I live in. So there are two memorials. The first one is always the one that is packed because people (especially those with children) don't want to be sitting at the kingdom hall at 10pm. His congregation had the early memorial. According to him........it was no more "packed" than a sunday talk being given by the CO.

  I thought that was great because I remember scarcely 10-15 years ago......working as a parking attendant.....we literally had no where to park all the cars. I had to double park several and make use of the kingdom hall lawn. When I would get inside the KH......the "b" room and the library would be nearly overflowing with people. Not the case this year! No one in the library and 3 people in the "b" room. And I drove by on my way to Target. SEVERAL open parking spaces were left!
• 

  maninthemiddle

  I like to think this is true.

  My wife drove by the community center where our old cong was meeting. She says the parking lot was sparse.

  Just like you friend this was the early and only one for the area.
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  Gayle

  interesting,,for 'U.S.' last year (2012) there was 2.4% less than the previous year (2011). If there is that decrease again for this year, there would have to be aprx. 4 or 5 less per avg. congregation attending. Could happen again at that rate shown by your friend's cong.
• 

  notjustyet

  And i this trend holds true, what do you think the GB spin will be?

  " The time is close at hand and all the gathering is coming to an end,.. blah blah blah,.."

  NJY
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  haboob48

  when does the official attendance for memorial come out? I have been out so long I don't remember.
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  respectful_observer

  interesting,,for 'U.S.' last year (2012) there was 2.4% less than the previous year (2011). If there is that decrease again for this year, there would have to be aprx. 4 or 5 less per avg. congregation attending. Could happen again at that rate shown by your friend's cong.

  Sorry, does this mean that the global memorial attendance had a net decrease of 2.4% from 2011 to 2012, or the rate of increase from 2011 to 2012 was 2.4% lower than it was from 2010 to 2011?

  Can someone post the actual figures from 2010, 2011, and 2012?
• 

  Gayle

  U.S. (2010) 2,485,231 (2011) 2,563,518 (2012) 2,502,055

  Worldwide 18,706,895 19,374,737 19,013,343

  ****************************************************************

  Both U.S. and WW showed 'increase' in Memorial attendance from 2010 to 2011. Both showed decrease from 2011 to 2012. Little decreases or increases don't necessarily indicate much in itself. Generally, we will have to watch over more years, like maybe 5 yrs. at least. But hearing reports like noted above is an interesting observance.
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  wisdomfrombelow

  Does anyone know which day of the week the memorial was held those years? I have a feeling that might make a difference in attendance.
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  Chaserious

  I think last year might have been the beginning of a decline. I suspect the decline may have started a few years earlier in the U.S. if just counting English congregations. My suspicion is that declines in English have been masked by increases in foreign language groups for a while.
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  respectful_observer

  Holy crap. I had no idea that both worldwide and U.S. Memorial attendance had actually decreased from 2011 to 2012.

  Does anyone know if either/both the world/U.S. figure has ever declined before this?

  Glad to see the printing of all those invites is money well spent.