by moomanchu 13 Replies latest jw friends
What is happening to the kingdom halls? Where you live, are they declining or prospering?
You may hear claims of revival, and reports of swelling congregations occasionally come from such places as Africa, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Yet, news reports from other parts of the world, especially Western Europe, tell of dwindling congregations, and widespread apathy .
So what's up ?
Moo
When I visited my inlaws last year I was shocked, but quite pleased to find out that up north in NY state that the Watertown/Carthage/Adams
congregations all closed and condensed themselves into one hall...and the hall that I attended growing up Rome North and Rome South both closed and condensed into one congo! woohoo now that's what I call progress in the right direction ^^
Betweenworlds
unfortunately there is much growth here in georgia. In the past 7 years our congration has split 2 times and they are curently looking for land so as to build another hall. The growth is not so much people becoming JW's, it is all the people moving into the area. There are countless familys from new york and new jersey that have relocated here. The main reason they all give is the cost of living is so good here. In addition, they like the climate. I have not attended now in 6 months but the last time I was there I hardly recongized anyone. There are so many new ones.
The local congo here is doing okay. That's because we have quite a few that are attending here, but live outside of the territory. Serious problems in neighboring Halls.
In this circuit in past two years, two congregations disbanded, two were combined into one. Many are shrinking. Of the new ones that do come in, they tend to be troubled, unstable individuals.
They will be turned in to public washrooms , a fitting arrangement being what was produced there. Fluuuuush
Several halls in the Los Angeles area have merged, not enough publishers. The spanish congs. in the city are growing rapidly. In the surburbs, there have been several splits. My wife's hall has just split 2 years ago.
Has the growth rate for the JWs in the United States turned negative?
When it does, it will be a significant event!
Unfortunately, where I live, the congregations are stable in size. The same congregations that were there when I was in are still all in place, and they seem to have bounced back from their slump.
I guess it's the fact that most of the publishers are poor, and are totally dedicated to the cult. They will do whatever it takes to scam people into it, and even push interested ones off the Internet, make them get rid of their music, and hound them to study and then go to the boasting sessions within a month of starting the study under threat that Jehovah is about to kill them if they don't. Then, once they are in, they are locked in because one of the things that is required is that they give all their money to the Worldwide Pedophile Defense Fund and not get a decent job that will let them live without the tower.
I guess t is good news. I just know in the south, I worked on damn near 200 halls from Texas to Florida and up to Maryland. I even turned down invitations and this was 12-13 years ago. That is a H-U-G-E waste of time and money. However it makes me wonder how many halls/congos there actually are and how the closing numbers relate to the other ones that are springing up elsewhere.
At our Kingdom Hall their now serving beer and chips to help get the numbers up with 40% inactive. They renamed our hall "Cheers." People think the new "Jehovah bar" is sooo lame....too many drunk Witnesses...but Sunday's are looking most promising.
