I think it's closer to 5 million with all the selling of kingdom hells and branch bethel's all over the world
It's even hard to get a hard copy of the lastest craptower or Afake mag now in new York City.
How many here believe the WTS really has has 8.5 million followers / 8.5. million members
by Hotpepper 28 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Fadeaway1962
I agree in a congregation I was in had 110 pubs but average meeting attendance of 70-80 so pubs must report so counted in that high number , they should publish meeting attendance average which would show the big difference in numbers
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LongHairGal
HOTPEPPER:
I also don’t believe the JW religion has the number of members they would like everybody to think they have.
Faithful elderly are passing away, people are leaving in droves and hardly anybody is coming in. It all spells DECLINE.. It gets worse: the number they DO have includes a considerable number who would like to leave!
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hoser
The numbers don’t add up where I live. I would say that 25 percent of the congregations have closed in Canada in the last 20 years and the Kingdom Halls have been sold off.
The borg hasn’t reported numbers decreasing but where are all the people? Our circuit used to have 2 assemblies with 800 attending each side. We now have one assembly with 1100 to 1200 attending. That indicates a 25% decrease at least where I live.
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punkofnice
One thing's for sure, the 'growth(tm)' is nothing special.
The days of the corporation are over. They'll just limp along for years counting on the brainwashed born-ins to fill the contribution boxes(tm) so that the GovBod (piss be upon them) can continue to protect their like minded and beloved child abusers.
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Under No Illusion
I think they have always exaggerated numbers.
Any organization that proclaims their view to be the superior and only true one usually does.
It's basically - "Hey look at us. Our numbers are growing. Folks have figured out we MUST be right!"
At it's heart, it's a huge sign of insecurity.
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hoser
Under No Illusion43 minutes ago
I think they have always exaggerated numbers
That statement reminds me of how Soviet Russia fudged the numbers to show that they produced “many, many potatoes” but when the residents went to the store there were no potatoes.
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StephaneLaliberte
They do report a decrease in many contries. As for meeting attendance, the majority of those who miss still believe and contribute to their religion. The ones that stop altogether are called innactives and taken off the reports. So, yeah, the numbers are accurate and frankly, 8.5 millions is not something to brag about.
Imagine a sales rep braging about making one or two sales in over 30 years!! That's what the JWs are doing! After billions upon billions of hours in the field ministry, and just about the same in monney for producing all their teaching matterial, all they have to show for is an increase by 2.
Worst: When you ask anybody on the street what JWs preach about, the majority won't really know much about them. Yeah, they knock on people's door and they don't take blood and celebrate christmas. But the "good news"? No idea. There message is not getting through. Considering the gigantic amount of investment they placed into this, the results are very disapointing.
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slimboyfat
Every census result I have seen gives higher figures for JW menbership than their own publisher numbers: Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, or any country that has a census which asks citizens to specify which religious denomination people belong to, sometimes by a significant margin. So in terms of self-identified affiliation, I wouldn’t be surprised if the worldwide figure would be over 10 million.
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truth_b_known
I really do think it is all about the terminology or semantics, which Watchtower is notorious for. Are there 8.5 million people truly believe we are in "the last days," who make 50% of the meetings every week, and spend at least 4 hours in the ministry every month? I'm not so sure. Are there 8.5 million people who have one foot in and one foot out? I would believe that.