Kingdom Halls for sale!

by morning glory 27 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  morning glory

  Hello,

  This is my first post. A week back,Gary Buss started a post on the GB's claim to Assembly Halls and KH's in the new Org. book.I find this interesting because the KH in the city I reside in has been up for sale for the past year. Having attended the meetings up to last year here,I am familiar with the circumstances surrounding the sale of the Hall.The suggestion to sale came from the CO with the reason being "to simplify things".Frankly,once the KH is sold it will "complicate things" for the JWs here as they will have to travel farther,spend more money on gas,etc. The congregation had always taken care of its financial obligations to the KH's upkeep,there was no shortage of elders or ms's. The congregation has not dwindled to a trickle.In other words,there was no reason to sell the KH in the first place.I suspect an ulterior motive behind all of this,as none of it makes any practical sense.

  Is anyone else out there aware of KHs up for sale when there appears to be no valid reason for the action? How widespread is this practice?

  BTW,I am a disassociated ex-witness,my wife is disfellowshipped, all last year over our discovery of the NGO thingy. One is not allowed to take exception to anything the GB does.At least,not in this congregation!
• 

  Banshee

  morning glory,

  Yes, I know of two Kingdom Hallls for sale in my area. Since this is a rather rural part of the state, the JWs are most likely going to have to travel a lot further to get to meetings. Since it's been over eleven yrs. since I left the JW religion and therefore do not know the reason for the sales of these KHs, I can only speculate on the reasons why.

  However, when I attended a KH in a rural area while an active JW, I recall that KH was sold because of how few publishers and because they weren't "seeing any substantial growth". There was a lot of upset from the locals who had paid for and built that KH themselves and did not see one red cent from the sale....it all, of course, went to the WBTS. Some of the JWs from that congregation left the religion over that.

  By the way...Welcome to the Board!
• 

  Black Sheep

  Welcome to the board morning glory. I hope you enjoy your time spent here.

  Maybe you had mentioned the NGO thingy to too many of the right people on your exit

  Chris
• 

  ithinkisee

  It is true. The Society is simplifying all of their structures/buildings. Many of the more elaborate ones are becoming maintenance headaches. They have recently released new simplified KH plans.

  Additionally, they are even selling off many of their assembly halls. The word is that the Assembly Hall in plant city, florida will be sold, and a new simpler Assembly Hall will be built.

  While the new Kingdom Hall plans are still fairly nice - the assembly hall plans actually look like big produce warehouses - you know, made out of that corrugated aluminum with a nice lobby is all - so that maintenance will be much easier and add-ons and mods will be modular in nature.

  I expect you will see this slowly trickle across the country if it hasn't started already.

  -ithinkisee
• 

  morning glory

  Its good to be here,Banshee and Blacksheep.

  As I mentioned in my post,the numbers here are not dwindling so this is not a reason to sell the KH. Also,the KH that the Witnesses will have to attend after the sale,is smaller than this one,barely able to hold them all. So nothing makes sense about the suggestion to sell( other than the make "mother" a little richer).Interestingly,the Witnesses here are under the impression that the monies from the sale will stay with the local congregation. I am not so sure of that anymore.

  As for the NGO thingy,I was able to share ALL the information found on the UN website,the WTS's letter acknowledging it,etc. with 5 elders in total before I left. Not that it did any good! At least,not at this time. But it was a good witness! Hopefully somewhere down the road, one of them might start reasoning on a few things and smarten up. One can only hope.
• 

  hubert

  Welcome to the board, Morning glory.

  I don't know if you are talking about this particular Hall, but the one in Northern Rhode Island is being sold, and although it does have some mold problems, is in a prime real estate area, and the land alone is worth a lot of bucks. The Watchtower will make out like a bandit, when it is sold.

  And, I don't think the money will be staying with the congregation. I doubt it.

  Hubert
• 

  morning glory

  Hi Hubert,

  Does the "mold problem" seem like a valid reason to sell the Hall? Could the Hall be cleaned up or whatever?What I am getting at,is how many of these reasons that are given by the reps of the WTS as justification to sell,really boil down to be an "excuse" to sell the KH for the benefit of the Society and an inconvenience to everybody else.
• 

  fairchild

  Welcome to the board, morning glory.
• 

  sweet tee

  While the new Kingdom Hall plans are still fairly nice - the assembly hall plans actually look like big produce warehouses - you know, made out of that corrugated aluminum with a nice lobby is all - so that maintenance will be much easier and add-ons and mods will be modular in nature.

  I expect you will see this slowly trickle across the country if it hasn't started already.

  -ithinkisee

  when I read this, "Babylon the Great has fallen came to mind".

  Welcome to the board morning glory. Good thread. Maybe they need the money to cover lawsuits or something.
• 

  Ténébreux

  There was a lot of upset from the locals who had paid for and built that KH themselves and did not see one red cent from the sale....it all, of course, went to the WBTS.

  Is this for real? The WTBTS can legally take possession of property that someone else paid for?