Jehovah's Witnesses May Have Peaked in Membership at 8 Million (+/-)

by OnTheWayOut 74 Replies latest jw friends

  • dropoffyourkeylee
    dropoffyourkeylee

    Baptisms at a SAD this weekend ( Midwest US) :

    5 baptized out is about 1050 attendance. I wasn't there, so I don't know who they were.

  • JWdaughter
    JWdaughter

    The woman who was denied as being a JW for her religion or the girl who was supposedly removed from being head girl at an anglican school because of her religion (while her mom says she is not really a JW) were likely unbaptised publishers.

    I think it is interesting how the WT plays that, denying those who serve them based on their baptismal status in the newspaper, yet counting them for reporters regarding attendance and participation. Unbaptised publishers (like the african student) play it too, yet they can be removed from the congregation if they get a blood transfusion.

    Unbaptised publishers are counted for bragging purposes, and denied if they die for the borg or commit a crime. Hmmm. Perhaps JWs and unbaptised publishers need to get a clue. They WT wants their baptism numbers for their own purposes, but will never do anything for you because of your baptism, yet they will accept your service for their own purposes and still deny you when push comes to shove. THey will also shun you even if you haven't committed to them.

    Unless you are rich and famous. I would never get away with what the Williams have. I don't blame them, they are smart enough to not get totally trapped. They are sitting on a fence. Its probably getting kind of sore though.

  • JW GoneBad
    JW GoneBad

    As some have already commented...another indicator that WT's numbers have plunged and have taken a deep dunk is in meeting attendance. While the congregation I frequent should have something like180 attending, the actual number attending is a very low 115. Where are those other 65? Worse yet....it's not the same 65 that play hookie from meeting. Whether the elders realize it or not and whether the congregation realizes it or not....it seems that the vast majority of the congregation alternate on being absent from meetings!

    Then there are the 15 regular pioneers and 10 auxiliary pioneers (on average) in the congregation! You'd think that with that many full time 'ministers'--meeting attendance would be on the rise, with a new face here and there on a regular basis....nada, zip, zilch! No newbies, no interested ones and definitely very, very low baptism numbers! Pretty much the same picture throughout the circuit and surrounding circuits!

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    More Page 6 replies:

    TheOldHippie, so I could speculate that Watchtower is God's organization like the Jews were God's organization. God insisted the Jews convert to Christianity and will insist that today's faithful convert to GBv3. Is that close enough?

    slimboyfat, I will let Dozy answer any specifics on the decline starting in the 70's. I know that printing companies were still doing fine back then.

    AllTimeJeff, all the former Bethelites and missionaries that will flood the congregations- that is part of what makes me think they have peaked. I think they normally would not do all this stuff at once unless they were desperate and have really blundered with money. So many disgruntled people at once- that's a big problem.

    Calebs Airplane, you may be right. I won't go so far as that for sure. But I do think that even 8 million was inflated and never a full reality.

    ATJ, if there is a scandal to be had, I hope it gets exposed.

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    Start page 7 replies:

    dropoffyourkeylee, 5 newbies added is statistically going to be way less than the number of deaths in that group. And that doesn't take into account how many were DF'ed or quit going.

  • berrygerry
    berrygerry

    5 newbies added

    .5 % seems to be the new average baptisms based on a reddit tracker of 2015 assemblies/conventions.

  • berrygerry
    berrygerry
    Then there are the 15 regular pioneers and 10 auxiliary pioneers (on average) in the congregation! You'd think that with that many full time 'ministers'--meeting attendance would be on the rise, with a new face here and there on a regular basis....nada, zip, zilch! No newbies, no interested ones and definitely very, very low baptism numbers!

    I am also aware of uber-congos with 20 RP's and the huge AP's during the "special" campaigns.

    Results? ZERO new faces.

  • berrygerry
    berrygerry

    Flipper, I don't think that they'll admit old doctrines were wrong any time in the immediate future

    ARC

    27 Q. Is that something that you foresee might happen ‐ in
    28 other words, that an apology at least be considered?
    29 A. The Governing Body has apologised on other matters, so
    30 for me to say ‐ I can't speak collectively for everybody,
    31 but we have apologised on things in the past, in other
    32 areas, so it is perceivable.

    BULL-F***ING-SHIT.

    These pompous pieces of excrement have NEVER apologized for a single thing, and never will.

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    Page 7 replies:

    JWdaughter, thanks for excellent thoughts on their contrasts for claiming people in one sense and denying them in another.

    JW GoneBad, attendance is another sign that they are not God's "one true religion" but just another religion.

    berrygerry, your second comment on page 7- I have noticed that. Huge campaigns don't bring anyone new in. On the third one, Jackson represents the average thoughts from the GB- they think any slight statement on a matter is as good as apologizing.

  • Simon
    Simon

    The JWs just seem to have lost a lot of their "zeal" ... like the fanatical devotion may have worn of a bit and people are just going through the motions. Everyone knows the right thing to say and the minimum they need to do to stay out of trouble but few want to lead the charge.

    The settling in for the long haul is going to have an affect on membership and their recruitment has always been woefully inefficient and ineffectual. All it takes is for things to be dialed back a little bit and the new recruits drop to the point that they and the born-ins (also down) don't make up for the people leaving.

    They always had a high churn rate but now they don't have anything to mask and offset it.

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