In my earlier post, I mentioned that we hadn't "split" or formed any new congos in this area for a long time. So I was surprised when my wife came home and said she ran into a dub at the store (someone from a different congo than the one we were last in) who asked if we were being affected by what she called "the split."
However, as she provided more information, it turns out that one of the congos that shares a hall with our old group has had several families move in over the past several months (the area's population is exploding) and so the CO has decided to change the congregation boundaries/territory and move some folks around so that our old congo, which has lost 50 pubs in the last three years, will be "equalized."
So it's not a "split" at all, but this sister seemed to think it was a major sign of growth and an indication of God's approval. The truth is the number of JWs in the circuit has gone down 20% in the past decade, despite the fact that the population in the region has more than doubled and people are moving here in droves. Given that "move-ins" provide the majority of growth in most JW congos now, it's remarkable that all this growth hasn't resulted in a net gain. The dubs are going out the back door faster than they are coming in the front!