Annual Report

by St George of England 88 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Diogenesister

  SBF Very interesting! It looks like their best growth for years.

  I think it makes sense given the world at the moment, wars in the middle east and the (sorry cant get rid of this silly face) Ukraine etc make people nervous, theres lots of talk in the media about "WW3" etc together with inflation and food prices etc. It figures that end times religions like JWs are going to take advantaage of anxiety around this kind of thing. Not to mention crime and the horrific terror attacks we read about in the news, too, these days.
• 

  JeffT

  It looks like they are no longer publishing the stat I like most: total hours in service. That number was undoubtedly had to explain, and maybe one of the reasons they stopped keeping track. The last number I remember worked out to something like 7,000 hours of field service to make one baptized publisher.
  
• 

  Beth Sarim

  And,,,, we can never let things like a pandemic,, wars or high inflation go to 'waste'. As some have related.

  End of the world,, fear-mongering groups like JWism reap these things,, events. To whip the fear,,uncertainty & doubt amongst the $heeples.
• 

  Jeffro

  sbf:

  It’s an odd thing on this forum. Since I first joined in 2000 posters have continually insisted, year in year out, that JWs are in decline, yet between 2000 and now JWs increased from less than 6 million to over 9 million.

  It is true that some have incorrectly said the denomination is in actual decline. But what you seem to be misrepresenting, here and on other occasions, is that others including myself have correctly stated that their growth rate has declined. And this remains the case in real terms despite their twiddling of the metrics.

  Additionally, we all know that direct comparisons with other churches are invalid where there is no (or trivial) social impediment to leaving the church. This includes denominations that nominally ‘excommunicate’/‘disfellowship’ supposedly errant members but use the terms in a manner that does not actually involve shunning but just excludes them from attending religious services.
• 

  Jeffro

  JeffT:

  It looks like they are no longer publishing the stat I like most: total hours in service.

  They can’t. It isn’t being reported by most members anymore.
• 

  joe134cd

  In the church that I attend no counts are taken. From my observation it's the Pentecostal churches that have the full churches. But as to the quality, with regarding biblical knowledge/ principles, it would be quite a different matter, of the people attending. I think part of the reason for the rise of the charismatic movement is not so much the quality of bible principles but more the entertainment value. Take away the flashing light and the thumping music and they would be having the the same attendance issues as JWs.
• 

  NotFormer

  Diogenesister: "I think it makes sense given the world at the moment, wars in the middle east and the (sorry cant get rid of this silly face) Ukraine etc make people nervous, theres lots of talk in the media about "WW3" etc together with inflation and food prices etc"

  Wars in the middle east, the Russian threat, inflation, talk about WW3. I'm old enough to remember similar fears in the 70s. Lots of idiots with their fingers on buttons back then, too. Let's hope that these "interesting times" will blow over in similar fashion.
• 

  Beth Sarim

  The Borganization "growth rate" has declined.

  Of course they Will massage their numbers,,,like all those who have ever been JWs and publish those numbers.
• 

  joe134cd

  t seems that the collation of the reports is accurate at a higher level, but the information reported by individual members is likely more prone to error. This was even more the case when members had to report preaching hours and were incentivised to inflate the figures.
  

  I'm not saying that people don't bullshit about their time in the ministry. But what I am saying is that all this apathy (PIMOs) isn't been reflected in the census. The last census taken, for my country, it is still a solid x2 to what wt says. Clearly the birth/ POMI / fence sitters rate is superseding the apathy that exists with in, as demonstrated by the census. What other conclusion can you come to.

  I would estimate the truer figure of JW membership to be sitting around the 10-20million mark. Interesting the lds claims, last time I looked, a membership of 20 million. However activity rates for active membership, is at about 33% or lower =6.6 million LDS world wide The JWs just blow the lds out the door, even with a 25% Pimo rate of the 8.6 million.
• 

  Jeffro

  Clearly the birth/ POMI / fence sitters rate is superseding the apathy that exists with in, as demonstrated by the census. What other conclusion can you come to.

  It’s more complex than that. POMIs (etc) could be offset by families with multiple children who are counted as JWs in the census. This could also include spouses and adult children in the household who are counted as JWs by the ‘head of the house’ completing the census form.