Major congregational quake in Southern California

by Hecce 182 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  sir82

  I feel sorry for the JWs in remote rural areas.

  There might be just one congregation in a KH, and it might be the only KH within a radius of 20 or 30 miles.
  

  The congregation might be mostly old-timers who grew up in the org. The congregation is pretty much the only "thing" they've got. The building is the hub of their entire social connection. Maybe there's only 50 or 60 publishers in the congregation. But they are close-knit and loving toward each other.
  

  Now the slick-dressed, preciously-coifed corporate trained 30-something LDC goons will come waltzing in, with their laptops & spreadsheets, and determine "this congregation must be merged, and the building sold".

  No consideration at all for the well-being of the congregation members, just "these checkboxes are all checked, thus the congregation will be closed and the building will be sold, keep warm and well-fed, brothers, well we'll be on our way now."

  And the 60- 70- and 80-somethings will be expected to make a 50 or 60 mile roundtrip, in the winter, through unplowed snow-covered roads, to attend their "new" congregation.

  Within a year or 2, attendance at the "new" congregation, which should have been double the old number, will revert back to where it was (or even lower) before the merger.

  The CO will come thru and rant and rave about "lack of appreciation for spiritual provisions" and demand the elders browbeat the flock to get them to attend again.

  It's all so thoroughly depressing. Just to save a few dollars.
  
• 

  darkspilver

  As a side note it's fascinating to see the comparision with how the Church of England deals with the issue of falling attendance....

  Church law stipulates that every parish church should have weekly Sunday services, but a new proposal recommends dropping this rule.
  

  https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2016/oct/18/should-small-churches-scrap-their-sunday-service

  Martin Flowerdew serves three parishes in Derbyshire; his smallest church has a congregation of about eight. “If I were on my own leading worship, I couldn’t get round and do all the legal things you’d expect of me on a Sunday. It’s tidying up the law to sit with the practice and I’m quite relaxed about that.”

  In the parish of Great Snaith, where Eleanor Robertshaw is rector, there are Sunday services in four out of their five churches every week.“If we’re wanting to grow churches, then we’ve got to think about [how we] deploy our clergy. It’s not necessarily sensible to have them rushing about, jumping from one service to the next, where they don’t get to speak to people,” she says.

  Her biggest congregation in one church is about 40; at her smallest, it is five. She says that, even with small numbers, the service – which doesn’t really differ from one delivered to a larger congregation – is equally important. “A lot of people don’t drive and can’t get to the church in the next village, but there’s also the personal relationships, the family connections. People hold that very dear to their hearts, certainly in a rural context.”

  The church’s old approach to its smallest congregations, says Hampson, was all-or-nothing: run a Sunday service or close. “What we’ve learned since then is that, actually, there are very good reasons for having two or three services a month or 12 services a year [to celebrate] festivals. That’s now an alternative to closing a church.”
• 

  Newly Enlightened

  Louisiana just had 5 congregations dissolved with no warning and 2 in Iowa
• 

  sparrowdown

  Newly Enlightened - 5 congs in Louisiana and 2 in Iowa!

  To quote Mr Kool and the Gang

  "Celibrate good times. Come on."
• 

  Vidiot

  sir82 - "I feel sorry for the JWs in remote rural areas."

  Why?

  As far as I'm concerned, anything that makes it easier for faders, fakers, and fence-sitters to leave (and harder for hardcore loyalists to stay) is fine by me.

  Sell 'em all, I say.
• 

  sir82

  Why?

  As far as I'm concerned, anything that makes it easier for faders, fakers, and fence-sitters to leave (and harder for hardcore loyalists to stay) is fine by me.

  Sell 'em all, I say.

  I see your point, but in general, 70 year old JW "lifers" have zero interest in fading, faking, or fence-sitting.

  I think as poorly of the WTS as anyone else on this board, but I have sympathy for non-prominent JWs who don't know any better. Some people, frankly, at the stage of life they are in, and in the mental & emotional state they are in, are better off within the JW system / structure than without it.

  Older, rural JW lifers whose (virtually) entire social structure is built around the congregation & the Kingdom Hall generally fit that description, in my opinion.
  

  The WTS is planning to harm their most dependent, vulnerable members, in order to serve Mammon. For a "loving organization", it is immoral (admittedly, they do much worse things to even more people....but it seems counterproductive to do it to people who buy into the system 100% as well).

  It is number 40 or 50 on the list of 100's of unconscionable things they do...but it strikes a nerve with me.
  
• 

  berrygerry

  I think as poorly of the WTS as anyone else on this board, but I have sympathy for non-prominent JWs who don't know any better. Some people, frankly, at the stage of life they are in, and in the mental & emotional state they are in, are better off within the JW system / structure than without it.
  Older, rural JW lifers whose (virtually) entire social structure is built around the congregation & the Kingdom Hall generally fit that description, in my opinion.
  The WTS is planning to harm their most dependent, vulnerable members, in order to serve Mammon. For a "loving organization", it is immoral (admittedly, they do much worse things to even more people....but it seems counterproductive to do it to people who buy into the system 100% as well).

  In congo's with large rural territory, do the following: have the midweek meeting at the KH, and have satellite meetings in basement bunkers. Video tie-ins, and Skype for remote commenters.

  Make the Sunday meeting a "cannot miss" meeting.
• 

  darkspilver

  At least 30,000 to see their congregation dissolved this year in the USA
  

  Using the facts and figures as revealed right here on this forum - the TRUE HUMAN COST of the Governing Body's 'Masterplan' - as currently being implemented by the Local Design/Construction Department based in the newly built Warwick compound - can now be revealed.

  And that human cost is AT LEAST THIRTY THOUSAND publishers are on course to be made spiritually homeless this year alone in the US when their congregation is officially dissolved.
  

  That explosive figure of 30,000 – which represents 346 congregations - is the equivalent to the TOTAL number of publishers in the whole of the Netherlands or Costa Rica.

  Recent information revealed here showed that AT LEAST 5 - yes FIVE! - congregations had been dissolved WITHOUT WARNING in the Pelican State of Louisiana.

  IT’S A FACT! Looking at those 5 congregations in a state of 4.65 million within a JW territory of 321.7 million and an average number of 1,195,081 publishers attending a total of 14,063 congregations - and you arrive at 30,000 publishers in 346 congregations being dissolved - the human cost EXPOSED with some simple maths.
  
• 

  berrygerry

  spiritually homeless

  Yeah, right!

  Like a pedo victim is no longer having sex when the assaulter is caught.
  
  
• 

  steve2

  That explosive figure of 30,000 – which represents 346 congregations - is the equivalent to the TOTAL number of publishers in the whole of the Netherlands or Costa Rica.
  

  Some explosions are absolutely necessary - their purpose is to help get rid of all the sh*t.

  It will be interesting to check the 2017 Yearbook to see how many congregations there are in the USA compared with the 2016 Yearbook.