Will Anemic April Wake Up the Governing Body?

metatron

As many of you know, the Society likes to dictate a maximum
'preaching' effort, once or twice a year to help even out their
sagging statistical averages.
For example, in August of 1998, they got 1,040,283 publishers,
after calling for such a single month's effort. Interestingly,
the number dropped the next month to 932,347. Amazing that over
a hundred thousand publishers vanished in one month, don't you think?

They called again, in March 2000, with the headline "Can We Make
April 2000 Our Best Month Ever?"

Evidently, the answer was no, because April 2000 showed 988,469
publishers.

This brings us up to the present, when, in February 2001, they again
called for a special effort in March and April 2001, hoping for
a new peak in everything (or anything?).
Well, in March they got 958,804 publishers and in April - 958,589.
They missed their aux goal by quite a bit. Not surprizingly,
both reports have no self glorifying footnotes to encourage
the rank and file("NEW PEAKS in....").

More than this, the loss of regular pioneers continues with 89,963
in March (compare 90,334 in Feb.) and 88,735 in April.

Doctor, the patient isn't responding!

They may still eake out a small increase in US publisher averages
this year, because of the Great Hispanic Migration into the Southwest.
("Viva la raza!")- compare Alaska and Canada. Yet, it should be
clear that something is wrong.

Should the sleepy, isolated Governing Body take action?
I hope they continue as they are, dreaming their dreams of being
Masters of the Universe, while the whole corrupt enterprize slips
out of their tired, bony fingers - letting the zombies run free.

metatron (you are getting sleepy...........sleepy...)

logical

dreaming their dreams of being Masters of the Universe,

I remember that... He-Man and Skeletor...

Francois

1,040,283 publishers, huh? Lessee, at a measley 10%....

ft

Where it is a duty to worship the Sun you can be sure that a study of the laws of heat is a crime.

larc

Yours numbers indicate an 8% loss in peak publishers in the last three years. That is sizable, and agrees with many comments made about smaller numbers at the Hall and at conventions.

Maximus

As in the Supreme Court, where a Gang of Five now rules on most issues, there is varying thought in the GB AND decision makers around them, emphasis on the latter. No true awakening.

The hardliners just say "See what happens when you ease up?" "God is not backing the new Committee arrangements." Time to flog the flock some more.

"Proof positive that the end really is near, love cooling off, Devil's attack."
Reminds me of what happened in the late 1960's after the correct application of Acts 20:20 was made, and the hardliners screamed: "You took away our scripture!"

Hell hath no fury like a true believer.

Now with the progressives, that's another issue ...

As you know, metatron, the battle has waged on for a long time. But good men are and have been standing up.

Drop me a note so I can connect with you with specifics. Unless it intrudes; I would understand.

Maximus

JanH

Currently, the JWs seem to be losing ground. While I don't doubt that opposition and exposure of unethical practices is an important factor, I think the decline of this religion is pretty inevtiable unless something drastic happens.

The BS/JW/WTS religion grew on one of the first media revolutions: the development of inexpensive printing and therefor affordable books and magazines for the growing middle class in the developed world (first, the U.S.A.). Russell and Rutherford were authors and publishers. They also used the second wave of this revolution, the radio, quite effectively.

While I think media has been important -- indeed crucial -- to the specific growth of the JW religion, it is still the case that secterian religions spread mostly the same way as it did 2000 years ago: through already existing interpersonal networks. Very often, religions spread through the women's personal network, and their men and family comes into the religion through secondary conversions. And JWdom, while having been able to spread through this avenue very well, also contains some elements that hinder its effective spreading through this channel, specifically its tendency to alienate former friends and family in the process. Persons just about to enter the religion are effective preachers, since they still retain their former social networks. JWs who mostly associate with other JWs, are not (and the anti-social way JWs are forced to act towards coworkers and fellow studens do not make them too effective there). Door-knocking must be the least effective way to spread a religion ever invented (but, of course, the sheer magnitude of the "preaching work" still means a few converts drop in through this channel).

JWs have cut themselves off from the three latest media revolutions: popular music (not surprisingly!), TV (perhaps harder to understand) and the Internet. The Net has provided an avenue for a host of new religious movements, some opportunity for old ones, and been almost exclusively negative for the JWs.

Given the way religions grow (mass communciation and especially personal contacts) it is obvious that JWs are in trouble and will remain so if they don't change drastically. When the growth rate slows down, this is a self-reinforcing process that can not easily be reversed. JWs have refused to use modern mass media to try to compensate for this problem. And they face growing criticism and exposure. When we add the fact that the corporate culture of JWdom is currently unable to adapt, it looks like a grim future for this religion indeed.

- Jan
--
Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel. [Ambrose Bierce, The Devil´s Dictionary, 1911]

Maximus

Jan, can you lay your hands on a copy of the American Journal of Sociology, in the early 1970's, by Dr. Joseph Zygmunt? Title was something like Failure of Chiliastic Prophecy, Failed Millennial Prophecy, in connection with JWs.

There was a very accurate sociological analysis that would be most interesting to compare. I had written in an earlier thread about this. This is not the book that AlanF and I had mentioned in connection with Dr. Edmond Gruss about Prophetic Failure.

I don't have the time at present, but your analytical post prompted thought about Zygmunt's article, whose essential thesis was that unless JWs became mainstream they would simply isolate and dwindle.

Isolation doesn't work. I see the Internet as the great equalizer.

A pre-theater crowd (to see A.I.) of younger men talking about their wired, cyber world intrigued me the other day. A 25-year-old Londoner: "I say, is there an Internet cafe about?" I asked if he wanted to check e-mail or the like. He said, "No, just need the input; where I get truth." I perked up. Truth? How do you recognize it? He waved his hand matter-of-factly indicating peers albeit unknown to him: "Lying is not so successful any more to my generation." Observing my own Gen X offspring convinces me he was spot on.

Maximus

bwoga

Basically their growth has come to a halt in the United States with exception to the Spanish congregations....The last year before I disassociated myself I was in a Spanish congregation......with tremendous growth....however, most of the people in the congregation didn't know how to even read or write beyond a 3rd grade level.....I guess this explains the growth!

mustang

Jan,

I think you are onto something, with the media forms. With the latest one (the web) the WTS has really blown it. A double-whammy is in force: the WTS has denounced and vilified the web, but the web has bitten back. It has teeth!!!

I always wondered about the sense of them getting rid of WBBR. Radio stations are still used by many foreign missionary groups. They didn't get into TV, either. I suppose that saved us the spectacle of the TV evangelists (a prophecy that they got RIGHT???).

I remember going Sunday door-door w/ my father and getting invited in just in time to catch part of Garner Ted Armstrong's sermon. That made it real interesting!!!

Oh, and 958,000 odd publishers with a claimed 6 million? The motivational engineering seems lacking.

Mustang

larc

Mustang,

I don't understand your last sentence.. There are about 1 mil. in the US and about 6 mil. world wide.

Will Anemic April Wake Up the Governing Body?

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