According to a news article dated today the rate of growth of the numbers of JWs in the USA shot up dramatically in the year 2021! Surprise! See http://rockrivertimes.com/2022/03/03/jehovahs-witnesses-increase-as-virtual-meetings-ministry-conventions-keep-individuals-active-and-safe/ which says the following.
' ... in the spring of 2020 .... Jehovah’s Witnesses suspended their in-person public ministry, large meetings and assemblies.
... With this historic change, the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses grew 3% in the United States in 2021 alone, matching the most significant increase for the organization over the past decade and the second-largest percentage increase since 1990.
“Staying active in our ministry while remaining safe has had a powerful preserving effect on our congregants and communities,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S. spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “The wise decision not to prematurely resume in-person activities has united us and protected lives while comforting many people in great need. The results speak for themselves.”
... Last year, the international organization reported all-time peaks in the number of people participating in their volunteer preaching work, increased attendance in Zoom meetings and more than 171,000 new believers baptized. In the past two years, more than 400,000 have been baptized worldwide.
Some whose ministry or attendance at religious services had slowed because of age and poor health said they feel reenergized with the convenience of virtual meetings and a home-based ministry.
... By sharing the Bible’s hope remotely, the fewer than 3,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Alaska can rapidly preach across the 586,000 square miles of their sparsely populated state. “We’re talking to more people in a day than we did in a month,” said Marlene Sadowski of Ketchikan.
... After starting a free self-paced Bible course on jw.org in December 2019, Lisa Owen requested a free, interactive Bible study over Zoom. She was one of nearly 20,000 baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses last year in the United States in private settings, including backyard swimming pools, tubs and even rivers.'
WOW! The new form of witnessing is working wonders for the WT's religion (if the growth rate numbers released by the WT are accurate). It is growing the religion rapidly instead of slowing it down. Amazing.
