How many have stopped attending at YOUR Kingdumb Hell?

by hamsterbait 47 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  sir82

  It's a strange thing, twice shy, that the official stats speak of growth but the personal observations speak otherwise. Something is amiss here.

  Different areas have different circumstances. It's hard to extrapolate worldwide or even nationwide trends based on a single local data point.

  For example, in the US, JWs move out of crumbling, high-unemployment Midwest cities to the South, where there are some jobs (albeit low-paying). Thus the Midwestern JWs observe that the organization is shrinking, while JWs in urban Southern cities remark on the "growth" of the organization.

  Overall, the trend is not changing in the US. The number of English-language publishers & congregations continues to shrink, offset by growth in Spanish-language congregations.
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  Londo111

  Yes, these stats would be most intereresting if the general area was revealed.

  In one circuit in central VA, I know of two Kingdom Hall reorgs, resulting in less congergations overall.
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  twice shy

  sir82- The number of English-language publishers & congregations continues to shrink, offset by growth in Spanish-language congregations.

  I thought that might be the case, but the spanish district assemblies are cut down by nearly half as well.
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  Bob_NC

  sir82, point taken on the data points worldwide do not equate to the small unofficial sampling response here. But don't you see an incongruence between the stats reported and the observable shrinking organization?

  By the way, Londo111 is from central VA. I am from central/eastern NC. The very places that you suggest where growth is moving to. I don't see it.
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  sir82

  But don't you see an incongruence between the stats reported and the observable shrinking organization?

  As noted, my (US-based) observations are shrinkage in English-language congregations, and growth in Spanish-language (and other language) congregations.

  I have no observations at all on the growth in Brazil, Mexico, African countries, etc.

  the spanish district assemblies are cut down by nearly half as well.

  I think that overall in the US, the count of regional conventions is down this year, but the number assigned to each venue is up, for all languages. It almost certainly is due to the big whoop-de-doo video tie-ins to the international convnetions in the US, where all can see the glorious ones (the gb) droning on about god-knows-what folderol.

  Fewer venues means fewer potential technical glitches, and an increased sentiment of "oh isn't this special" among the faithful.

  Plus more crowded venues will elicit the response of "oh look how much the organization is growing - last year there weren't half this number of people at our DC!"
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  Bob_NC

  Yep, all about appearance and having an encouraging convention experience.

  Reminds me of the old shell game, 3 shells but only one pea under one shell. Just keep moving the shells and the pea.
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  Beth Sarim

  It looks as if the attendance is really down since they have rammed this new arrangement down the sheeples throats. I mean you can just almost sense this feeling of frustration or irritation or something within the last few weeks.
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  steve2

  Stuckinarut2, interesting observations. Years ago even in high unemployment, low socio'economic areas, kingdom hall attendances kept increasing as new ones started attending. Now, the "size" of attendances is more likely due to Witnesses leaving one area for another - yet overall the same theme comes through: Fewer attending and of those attending, fewer newly interested ones. The composition has changed from lots of new ones to lots of born-ins - and the rate of born-ins fading? Hmmmm.
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  Oubliette

  I wouldn't know. I stopped going after the Drink the Kool-Aid edition of the WT was studied in January of this year.
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  westiebilly11

  So what are the real numbers....and how can they be proved? Perhaps growth figures and attendance numbers are being rigged by the organisation....