Was /is your former congregation expanding or shrinking? (page 2)

metaspy

Current cong: Shrinking - there is a strange mixture of disorganization, bad personalities, and uncaringness that is causing it

previous cong: Growing - there were many brothers and sisters coming in from other halls. that cong was considered like the golden cong.

JH

My 1st congregation doesn't exist anymore. We were about 120 and then we split up to create a new congregation. Doing that, what went down to 60 and about 40 out of the 60 showed up regularly. A year after, our congregation didn't exist anymore, so those remaining joined another congregation.

Then that congregation of 100 is down to about 65 today.

The last time I went to a meeting almost 2 years ago, the only new faces were the kids that grew up, that I didn't recognize at first.

Alligator Wisdom

Current congregation : DOWN to upper 40's in attendance from the mid 60's five years ago. (25% decrease)

Former congregation : DOWN to low 50's in attendance from the upper 70's during the 1990's. (29% decrease)

The reasons vary, as some previous posters mentioned. However, the effects felt are obvious.

Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)

nvrgnbk

No insult intended to any segment of the population, but their only growth is coming from poorly educated immigrants that really need to believe in something better than what they've got now.

candidlynuts

shrinking.. from around 90 in the mid 90s down to about 60 now.

Highlander

Pine City, MN

From what I hear, the publisher count is roughly the same, however attendance numbers are down drastically. They've had many move away(myself included), yet they've had

many new families move in due to the proximity to the Minneapolis economy comibined with the lower cost of housing in the pine city area.

Many of my family members are still there, including my mother, who was born and raised in that same congo. 50 plus years of her life spent at that pedophile protecting congregation.

BTW, my records are still there, despite leaving 10 years ago. I wonder if I bring the attendance numbers down?

seek2find

English shrinking. Spanish growing. seek2find

undercover

Haven't been in three years except for memorials so I'm not sure, but from what people are telling me, it has grown some.

The area I live in is going through an economic revival and has become somewhat of a hot spot for people to move to. So the growth that the local halls are experiencing is coming mainly from people moving to the area.

I ran into a group of JWs out in service last week. I was in a fast food joint when two car groups pulled up. Glanced at my watch...yep, a little after 10:00 am, right on time. I recognized most of them and even had conversations with a couple of them. But the elder obviously in charge was a new face. Never seen him before. He didn't speak or acknowledge me. He looked at me, his eyes narrowed a bit and he went on his way. I got the impression he knew who I was somehow.

That makes two new elders in my old hall in the last couple of years...both of them having moved into the area. While the hall is growing and they've added two elders, I've heard that the MS numbers have dropped. I've heard of two divorces, one seperation and a disfellowshipping, all in the MS ranks. On top of that, they can't seem to get the teenage boys to "reach out".

done4good

My last cong: Definately shrinking.

My previous cong: Was in a largely Spanish speaking area. The english cong .that I belonged to there did better than most in the circuit, but I believe it is even shrinking now. The Spanish congs. there are probably still growing.

j

badboy

thanks for all your replies.

Was /is your former congregation expanding or shrinking?

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