Quote from "Could It Happen Again?" tract distributed in Russia, March 2010:
In Russia today, there are over 157,000 active Jehovah’s Witnesses in more than 2,000 congregations. Another 125,000 people in this land enjoy studying the Bible with the Witnesses.
According to the jw-media.org press release below, there was "outstanding growth" of…
are you with me…
1,925 active members!
12 MILLION tracts littered amongst a population of 141,950,000… I'm getting the number 0.00016 for a "success" rate, LOL. Someone please check my math? ;–)
~Sue
May 6, 2010?(Russian)
Peak membership for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia
In a sea of resistance there is growth
ST. PETERSBURG—The number of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are still regarded as a minority faith in Russia, increased in the month of March, even though in recent months they have encountered extraordinary resistance. They recorded a peak of 158,925 active members.
Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide are known for their peaceful but active involvement in their communities, their engagement in the Christian mandate to spread “good news of good things” and to “make disciples of people of all the nations.”—Romans 10:15; Matthew 28:19, 20.
However, since early 2007, some authorities in Russia have put forth concerted effort to severely limit the activities of the group. The Witnesses, who function through approximately 2,000 congregations, or communities, in Russia have been subjected to at least 600 investigations. These were in response to the written directives of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Russia. By the end of the year 2009, seven court cases stacked up in various regions, all attempting to label the Christian publications and the local congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses as “extremist” and ban them. Two of those cases—one in Taganrog and another in Gorno-Altaysk—have already met their objective, with a total of 52 Witness publications being put on a national registry of extremist literature.
Undeterred, Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses, as members of an internationally recognized religion that is operating legally in some 200 countries around the world, have responded to the threats in the most open way they know—they talk to their neighbors about what is happening. Some 12 million copies of the tract “Could It Happen Again? A Question for the Citizens of Russia” were shared, offering individuals in Russia the opportunity to decide for themselves if history is about to repeat itself with a return to the repression of freedom of worship that marked the Soviet era.
Despite the outstanding growth in membership and the significant attendance at the commemoration of the Lord’s Evening Meal, Jehovah’s Witnesses are aware of the resistance against them that has also grown proportionately. Over 230 incidents of raids, arrests, searches and other disruptions of worship have been catalogued since the December 8 Supreme Court ruling.
Contacts:
In Russia: Grigory Martynov, telephone +7 812 702 26 91
In USA: J.R. Brown, telephone: +1 718 560 5600
Last updated 06 May 2010 22:08:26 GMT
Copyright © 2010 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.
