I'm doing some research on the 1920s period of the WT Society. Has anyone ever published the stats for the Memorial attendance for this period? My understanding is that it dipped quiet a bit after 1926 but I'd like to see if that is substantiated by the stats.
1920-1929 Memorial Attendance Statistics
by cabasilas 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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blondie
1925 Effect (at a time when all WTS members were anointed)
32,661 in 1922
42,000 in 1923
62,694 in 1924
90,434 in 1925 (I bet that number surprises you)
89,278 in 1926
88,544 in 1927
23, 988 (44,080) in 1928
52,465 (63,416) in 1935
39,225 in 1938***
w605/1p.282par.22Part37—"YourWillBeDoneonEarth"***During this period Jehovah God helped his people to wait or endure, carrying on his Kingdom preaching on a widening scale. This resulted in bringing into the sanctuary many more to be members of this remnant consecrated by Jehovah. This was evident from the increasing attendance at the annual celebrations of the Lord’s evening meal, 32,661 participating in 1922; 42,000 in 1923; 62,696 in 1924; and 90,434 in 1925. Evidently, however, there were some who did not ‘wait’ till the end of the announced time, for in 1926 there was a reported decrease in the attendance on March 27 at the Lord’s evening meal to 89,278.
***w556/15p.366Part12—AnEraofProphesiedHappinessBegins***
For this year of 1927 the number in attendance at the spring Memorial internationally was 88,544, yet of these only some 18,602 were active as house-to-house Kingdom announcers.
***kjchap.17p.319par.17A"GardenofEden"fortheSakeofHisName***
In the year 1928 there were 44,080 of the remnant who were reporting an active part in the proclamation of the good news of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom.
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w681/1p.14par.26HowGreataWitness?***By the year 1928 as a result of the use of numerous methods to advertise the kingdom of God many people had listened and were fleeing from Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. Throughout the world there were now, on an average, 23,988 Christian witnesses of Jehovah engaging in the preaching work from house to house every month in 32 countries.
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w992/1p.17par.16OurTreasureinEarthenVessels***But in 1935 there was a worldwide total of 52,465 publishers, out of a peak of 56,153, who indicated their heavenly hope by partaking of the Memorial emblems.
***w992/1p.18OurTreasureinEarthenVessels***
In 1938 the worldwide Memorial attendance was 73,420, with 39,225 persons—53 percent of those present—partaking of the emblems.
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cabasilas
Thank you, Blondie, for those stats! I was going through the later WT volumes for the 20s and I noticed that they weren't so free with publishing the numbers of Memorial Attenders.
It's interesting to note that pre-1925 the WT was still fairly Russellite in theology but changes came swiftly from 25-28 rejecting many of Russell's teachings. My impression of the schisms from that era is that many of those who left to join the various Bible Student groups not affiliated with JFR did so after the theological changes began in 1925. Not to deny the schimatic groups were in existence before then but it seems they took on many disaffected members from JFR's group post 1925. Does that seem like a correct interpretation of the historical evidence?
Another question: was it the realization that the entire message of the 1920-1924 period ("Millions Now Living Will Never Die" with its emphasis on 1925) was about to fail that caused JFR to begin these changes? His "Birth of a Nation" article in 1925 was published against the objections of the WT's own editorial board. The rejection of "character development," CTR as the faithful servant, 1878 as the time of the resurrection of the saints, and other changes soon followed. Was this an attempted diversion to get the rank and file focused on new things?
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headmath
The WTS did not publish the memorial partakers or attenders for the years 1931,32,33,34 . The WTS is trying to cover up something here because they confirm in the Babylon the great had fallen book, that they in fact knew what the memorial numbers were for those years.
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As this Kingdom preaching and Bible instruction continued, more and more of the "sons of the kingdom" were separated and freed from Babylon the Great and from the rest of the Devil’s visible organization. The number of these increased, as was disclosed by reports on the annual celebration of the Lord’s evening meal on Nisan 14, until between 1931 and 1935. Then the annual celebration of the Lord’s evening meal showed a steadily decreasing number of "sons of the kingdom" who partook of the unleavened bread and red wine at the Lord’s supper. This indicated that the harvest of them had practically ceased and that numbers of them were faithfully finishing their earthly Christian career as Jehovah’s witnesses
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so why did they not publish the numbers for those years, when they knew what they were?