Ethnic and Social Campaigns of the WTBS.

by Dune 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  Dune

  So i was coming to the kingdom hall from field service yesterday during the Spanish Congregation's Meeting. I was amazed because our congregation averages about 85 people for meeting attendance weekly and about 8 (when its supposed to be 25) for the book study. But the Spanish congregation had over 170 and to add to that, they just split about 4 years ago! So this started to make me wonder about a few things that i've noticed happening within the pass 3 or 4 years.

  DISCLAIMER: I am NOT downing immigrants, people who live in rural areas, and those who are uneducated (I.e Not having a degree ) i'm just relating things on what i've observed. IF you have a suggestion, you are more than welcomed to give me constructive criticism, but please go easy on me
  

  • A focus On The Foreign Language Fields -- Since 2000 or so, I've noticed more and more articles encouraging witnesses to learn foreign languages and encouraging younger witnesses to go into the foreign congregation. I have several friends who are leaving their congregations to go to Brazil, Columbia, The Domincan Republic or just a local congregation with Spanish as the language.
  
  
  • But why are there so many interested ones? Are they naturally more receptive to "Bible truths"?
  
  
  • Despite the obvious fact that the foreign language field is a gold mine for bible studies. I think that the WTBS knows the situation of these potential witnesses. Most hispanics are Roman Catholic so they already have a sense of spirituality, all that is needing now is a channeling of that spirituality to the WTBS's Goals.
  
  
  • As a first generation American, i've noticed the detrimental effects of naivety on many of my immigrant Family members. Because of this, many Immigrants fear for their futures during the first few years in the US. I think that in some ways, the organization provides sort of a sense of belonging and security for those that have newly immigrated. I have no doubt that initial "Love-Bombing" by my fellow witnesses in the Spanish Congregations has played a huge part in this.
  • A Focus On Seldom-Worked Territory - If you've been going to meetings during the past few years you've noticed that the society is pushing evangelizing in seldom worked territory. I'm constantly hearing about how much "nicer those up in the country are" and how hospitable they are. I remember someone telling me how they were served a meal while going over the daily text with a family they've never met before.
  
  
  • Again, are those in Rural Areas Naturally more receptive to the "Kingdom message"?

  • I think the first thing to be noted is that those in rural areas tend to be close-knit and have more of an affinity towards conservative idealisms. (Stereotype alert) Anyone thats worked in SWT knows that you to cater to their "inherit" religious nature and use their kindness as leverage to get a bible study.
  • The general consensus is (at least in my congregation) that those who have a college education are less likely to listen to the message because all college grads "think they know everything". I often wonder if its because of this logic, that many from these rural areas are becoming baptized because of a lack of an ability to really question the doctrine of the WTBS.

  So what do you guys think? :-d
• 

  Dune

  Sorry for the bad formatting, keep trying to fix it.
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  wednesday

  I think that was excellent. I was just thinking about this before I signed on the board today,but in another vein.

  I recall in the 80's knowing a converted couple , he was an elder, she was a pioneer. She told me that jws had such a bad image with the world b/c of all the uneducated people who were mainly born into it. (that was a fair assessment of the membership as is it was then, b/c we were all told not to go to college) She said that the vwts was seeking out a better class of people, more educated, etc, to change their image.. This sis was as honest as they come , she just had trouble keeping secerts. IShe was repeating to me what her elder husband had been saying. I remember when she told me this I felt astonished b/c we were among that undeducated class of people born into the "truth". I was shocked that jws would systematically set out to get rid of the lower class of bro/sister. But I guess I should not have been, we were of no use to them and just embarrassed them.

  Now they are desperate and looking to swell their numbers so they go after the naive. I noticed you mentioned that for the first 5 years these persons were very useable for the org. After that they generally wise up and move on. I guess the wts is happy with that, b/c for 5 yrs they have their devotion, and slave labor. after that, they can just replace them with another person who is naive.

  I hope there is a lot of discussion on this, it is an very interesting subject.
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  drew sagan

  I totally agree with you in every way. I have noticed the same things being mentioned time after time at meetings, assemblies and conventions. I'm glad i'm not the only one who thinks that there is a reason. Here is what I can add up from it all:
  I took a look at some of the numbers the Society has published for this service year, and started to compare them to the reports from the last decade. This latest report given by the Society shows the lowest rate of growth in over 15 years. People simply do not want to become a part of this religion. Finding people to convert is getting harder and harder for them in many places all around the globe.
  The foreign launage field is one spot where they are actually having success. The reasons why they find more success there can be debated, but the general (sterotypical) factors that you mentioned are mostly the cause.
  Next years report will prove to be interesting,
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  Elsewhere

  It just comes down to market saturation and the Law of Diminishing Returns.

  This has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It is all 100% language. The English language market in the US has been saturated so now, logically, the WTS is targeting the other language markets.
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  greendawn

  The JWs among the more educated circles are diminishing so they are trying to make up by drawing in persons from the more naive less educated classes. Globally their numbers are going down in the developed world and up in the third world.
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  sass_my_frass

  Yes I think they've dug all the gold there is in the English-speaking world and they're moving to richer pastures. The good-hearted are easily fooled, sadly.