Depends on the size of the country. In the UK I think it is doable to keep track of congregation numbers. For smaller European countries even more so. They could fudge the congregation numbers slightly. (Is it a peak or an average number anyway?) But in the long run, keeping track of congregation numbers will be the best way to measure JW decline because 1) we can count it independently 2) you can't fake the existence of a publicly listed congregation 3) it's directly comparable to other religious groups as few other measures are 4) it gives a measure, not just of number of adherents, but of commitment since it requires effort, volunteers and funds to maintain a congregation.
slimboyfat
JoinedPosts by slimboyfat
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28
Baptism statistics from CO
by neat blue dog injust went to the assembly yesterday and during the final talk the circuit overseer said:.
'sure, there are some adults baptised here and there, but do you want to know something wonderful?
the vast majority of those getting baptized are teens and preteens!
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86
JW Rumor: End of the Traveling Overseer
by Edison Trent ina friend of mine has contacts to a family with several circuit overseers and special pioneers.
they have good connections to bethel.. he told me that the latest rumor from bethel states that the cos should be abolished in their present form.
they have also recently begun to take cos back to bethel.. over the same channel i have already heard of the car fleet program and that the dos should be abolished.. has anyone else already heard of it?
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slimboyfat
...and the invisible circuit overseer meeting will be moved to a new time slot, around quarter last 7, or 1914 to be exact.
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86
JW Rumor: End of the Traveling Overseer
by Edison Trent ina friend of mine has contacts to a family with several circuit overseers and special pioneers.
they have good connections to bethel.. he told me that the latest rumor from bethel states that the cos should be abolished in their present form.
they have also recently begun to take cos back to bethel.. over the same channel i have already heard of the car fleet program and that the dos should be abolished.. has anyone else already heard of it?
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slimboyfat
How confident are you in the information? This would be a huge development. Arguably the biggest of the cutbacks to date.
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JW Rumor: End of the Traveling Overseer
by Edison Trent ina friend of mine has contacts to a family with several circuit overseers and special pioneers.
they have good connections to bethel.. he told me that the latest rumor from bethel states that the cos should be abolished in their present form.
they have also recently begun to take cos back to bethel.. over the same channel i have already heard of the car fleet program and that the dos should be abolished.. has anyone else already heard of it?
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slimboyfat
I think the OP meant to say that he heard about DOs being abolished from the same source ahead of time, so therefore it's credible. Just wishing to clarify.
I don't know anything about the car scheme. I can't have been paying attention.
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86
JW Rumor: End of the Traveling Overseer
by Edison Trent ina friend of mine has contacts to a family with several circuit overseers and special pioneers.
they have good connections to bethel.. he told me that the latest rumor from bethel states that the cos should be abolished in their present form.
they have also recently begun to take cos back to bethel.. over the same channel i have already heard of the car fleet program and that the dos should be abolished.. has anyone else already heard of it?
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slimboyfat
Will Samuel Herd again be selected to announce this suggestment? And will he again explain that the cutback is necessary because of rapidly expanding growth?
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JW teaching about the final war of “Gog and Magog” and identity of “North King” may be wrong. Here is an interesting development
by venus ina modern day jewish prophet who correctly predicted the six day war in 1967 and the yom kippur war in 1973 has also predicted north korea would bomb seoul which would culminate in the final war of gog and magog.. .
for details.
http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/mystic-rabbi-predicted-todays-top-threat-22-years-ago/.
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slimboyfat
I always got confused whether it was "Gog of Magog" or "God and Magog".
Apparently the Bible itself is confused on this point.
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86
JW Rumor: End of the Traveling Overseer
by Edison Trent ina friend of mine has contacts to a family with several circuit overseers and special pioneers.
they have good connections to bethel.. he told me that the latest rumor from bethel states that the cos should be abolished in their present form.
they have also recently begun to take cos back to bethel.. over the same channel i have already heard of the car fleet program and that the dos should be abolished.. has anyone else already heard of it?
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slimboyfat
I would not be surprised. They simply can't afford to pay them. They may attempt to replace COs with local part-time travelling overseers. (Basically using stand ins permanently) That's if they can find enough people willing to do the job for free.
They may try to get local congregations to pay them, but I doubt that would work either. What happens when circuits don't contribute enough to support them? Which is a sobering thought really. Most churches afford a paid clergyman per congregation. JWs struggle to support one (very poorly) paid minister between 20 congregations.
It would mean thousands of JWs who unexpectedly need to support themselves after giving their lives to Watchtower. A recipe for a lot of discontentment if true. How many COs worldwide? If there's one for every 20 congregations that's around 6000 worldwide, plus wives, allowing for some singe, around 10,000 people.
DOs were already abolished a few years ago. Can you clarify what you mean about DOs?
If Watchtower suddenly abolished COs won't this be proof (as if we need more proof) they are in real financial trouble. Or will skeptics still claim Watchtower is in robust shape with billions of dollars to spare?
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28
Baptism statistics from CO
by neat blue dog injust went to the assembly yesterday and during the final talk the circuit overseer said:.
'sure, there are some adults baptised here and there, but do you want to know something wonderful?
the vast majority of those getting baptized are teens and preteens!
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slimboyfat
Fudging the numbers looks like the least painful option, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they do. (Or have been doing) Except I'm not quite sure how they would pull it off because it would require collusion from branch staff who would presumably need to cooperate with overstating the numbers. Tricky.
In any case, no matter what they decide to do about publishing or inflating the numbers, they can't hide the number of congregations figure. Congregations are publicly listed and they can't close congregations without it being public knowledge. So congregation numbers are the key figure to watch. Congregation numbers have already started to decrease in the United States and much of Europe. Watch that space!
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28
Baptism statistics from CO
by neat blue dog injust went to the assembly yesterday and during the final talk the circuit overseer said:.
'sure, there are some adults baptised here and there, but do you want to know something wonderful?
the vast majority of those getting baptized are teens and preteens!
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slimboyfat
Not only would dropping the field service reports mean that Watchtower can't keep tabs on elders and others. But I seriously doubt if many JWs would keep going on the ministry in the long term if it was no longer a measure of activity.
Dropping the reports would be painful. But publishing declines would be painful too. What to do?
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28
Baptism statistics from CO
by neat blue dog injust went to the assembly yesterday and during the final talk the circuit overseer said:.
'sure, there are some adults baptised here and there, but do you want to know something wonderful?
the vast majority of those getting baptized are teens and preteens!
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slimboyfat
JWs are in decline, and it looks like it's gaining pace.
Will they publish the numbers this year? Will they fudge the numbers?
They might want to stop publishing the numbers, but if they stop publishing the numbers then they have no good reason for collecting field service reports. And collecting field service reports is useful for keeping tabs on ordinary JWs and for assessing elders and aspiring elders. So it presents a dilemma whether to stop publishing the numbers or not.