Yesterday was the last day of the WTBTS 2006 (dis)Service Year. Are there any posters here with inside information as to what we can expect?
Some five years ago I predicted that 2006 would be the peak year for the WTBTS and I'm not changing my forecast. If it turns out that I am wrong, I will admit my mistake and apologize -- unlike the WTBTS who is always wrong and never apologizes.
The end of the 2006 (dis)Service Year / Statistics
by Skimmer 14 Replies latest jw friends
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Skimmer
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Joker10
As I posted on another thread...
The May Service Report shows there was an increase of 20,038 Publishers during the same month last year. That is 2.02% more. The 1,011,524 Publisher figure is the highest yet so far this year. And 2,411 were baptized. (March showed 18,136 more publishers)
Averaging the first 9 months of this service year, there are 1,819 (or 1.9%) more Reg. Pioneers, and 8,442 (or 27.6%) more Aux. Pioneers.
From what I am told, the new Teach book help start another 45,000 Studies in the U.S. so far. If it keeps up, that would mean an increase of about 9%. Not too far from the peak set in the mid-'90s.
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AuldSoul
Joker10: From what I am told, the new Teach book help start another 45,000 Studies in the U.S. so far.
Ah, yes. The book that lyingly claims that people have to qualify and regularly share in preaching before they qualify for Christian baptism. Have you taught that lie to anyone, Joker 10? It is found in chapter 18 of the publication.
What a laudable thing, to brag about so many sharing in the promotion of lies about what the Bible teaches. Of course, you may believe it isn't a lie. In which case, I wonder:
How do you account for 3,000 baptized in one day without first preaching to a soul, attending a single meeting, or verifying their Bible knowledge to anyone? (Acts 2)
How do you reconcile Cornelius and his family receiving the Holy Ghost while Peter spoke less than 200 Greek words to them, although Cornelius was an officer in the military, hadn't attended any meetings, didn't swear fealty to anyone, didn't answer ANY Bible questions, and certainly didn't preach to a soul? (Acts 10)
How can it be that the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized after learning about Jesus without first attending a meeting or preaching? (Acts 8)
Can you explain why Lydia, the Thyatirian seller of purple, and her household were baptized after listening to the disciples one morning? (Acts 16)
How do you justify requiring that others gain extensive knowledge AND PROVE their knowledge of the Bible when the Philippian jailer did not formerly believe in God, yet he and his whole household were baptized after one late night/early morning discussion with Paul and Silas? (Acts 16)
Lastly, can you call these requirements from chapter 18 "Scriptural" in good conscience despite the overwhelming evidence that none of them but repentance and conversion is actually required by the Bible? If so, please explain how you justify that?
You may think it is a praiseworthy thing to teach lies published and distributed by an organization run by liars, but I do not.
AuldSoul
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Skimmer
One month does not a year make, Joker10. Last year the US saw a zero percenct increase and I doubt it will be any better (for the WTBTS) this time around. Also, I tend to discard most of the reported numbers as fakery with the exception of the baptism count. The publisher count is suspect in part because of the changing requirements for activity. A similar comment could be made about pioneers of various types.
Oh, and how about the "land" of Alaska. It's been a state since 1959. And last year it had a three percent decrease. Maybe the WTBTS will finally fold it into the US national count to help avoid embarassment. -
garybuss
Next year they can increase the number of people reporting spiritual activity by turning in a time slip on behalf of the inactive Witnesses they send the women out to talk to. Here's how it could work: The recruiters would talk to an inactive Witness and by that act, that would generate spiritual activity, and the recruiters could turn in the field service report on behalf of the inactive Witness.
Qualified contact would include a recruiter chasing an inactive Witness down a city street. -
Blueblades
It is and always will be a numbers game. The numbers are meaningless, ie. Same numbers get disfellowedship each year @ 40,000. How is that? Increase does not mean that the end is near. Prove that the numbers are real numbers, they can't.
Blueblades.
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yaddayadda
They will keep getting modest increases right up to 2014; after that year statistics will slowly but increasingly go into decline.
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sir82
Service years run September 1 thru August 31. We are one month into the 2007 service year.
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TheListener
I posted this near the end of March 2006. Can't someone simply update it with info from the KMs? I will look around my home to see if anyone has left a KM lying around and fill in what I can.
KM PUBS # Baptz.
Sept ‘05 1,001,583 1,612Oct ‘05 997,714 2,152
Nov ‘05 989,543 2,683
Dec ’05In April KM – Someone please post
These were the service year 2004-2005 figures: KM PUBS # Baptz.Sept ’04 990,551 1,791 Oct ’04 993,476 2,680 Nov ’04 990,086 2,331
Dec ’04 997,250 1,923 -
dedpoet
The May Service Report shows there was an increase of 20,038 Publishers during the same month last year. That is 2.02% more. The 1,011,524 Publisher figure is the highest yet so far this year. And 2,411 were baptized. (March showed 18,136 more publishers)
Averaging the first 9 months of this service year, there are 1,819 (or 1.9%) more Reg. Pioneers, and 8,442 (or 27.6%) more Aux. Pioneers.
From what I am told, the new Teach book help start another 45,000 Studies in the U.S. so far. If it keeps up, that would mean an increase of about 9%. Not too far from the peak set in the mid-'90s
If these figures are genuine, which they may not be, the wts has been known to lie before, then I guess the blackmail is still working well.
What blackmail, you might ask? Kid gets to school - leaving age, has already submitted to the blackmail to get baptised at around 12 or 13, and the parents pressure him to pioneer. Even though he most likely wants to go to college, get a decent career etc, the blackmail still works on him, especially when the elders join in.
I've seen that happen far too many times to kids in the org, and many of them finish up walking away from it once they get to 19 or 20, but the org doesn't learn from this, so the blackmail goes on, just so the wts can boast of an increase for this month or that month. Why do they do this? Because they see numbers on paper, and the opportunity to boast about an increase, as having greater importance than their members future careers. They don't care if these kids end up washing windows or working at some menial job for minimum wage. All they care about is being able to publish figures that "prove" their bs doctrines are being preached by more people than ever before.