There is a typo. The figures in the brackets are all of the service year 2000 including the peak. I'm sorry.
some 2001 year figures reported on wol
by expatbrit 29 Replies latest jw friends
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expatbrit
A few more stats. from another post on WOL.
Worldwide Report from Annual Meeting.
Source: http://www.witnessesonline.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/witnessesonline/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000294Report from Service Committee - G. Losch
Opened with, 1Thess2:4; and Ps 96:2
(1 Thessalonians 2:4) but, just as we have been proved by God as fit to be entrusted with the good news, so we speak, as pleasing, not men, but God, who makes proof of our hearts.(Psalm 96:2) Sing to Jehovah, bless his name. From day to day tell the good news of salvation by him.
Worldwide Report (Colossians 1:5,6) because of the hope that is being reserved for YOU in the heavens. This [hope] YOU heard of before by the telling of the truth of that good news 6 which has presented itself to YOU, even as it is bearing fruit and increasing in all the world just as [it is doing] also among YOU, from the day YOU heard and accurately knew the undeserved kindness of God in truth.
235 Lands
111 Branches
5,881,776 Avg. Publ. (1.7% increase over previous year)
6,117,666 Peak Publ. (1.4% increase over previous year)
21,045,548 Books, 66,111,852 Booklets, Magazines, etc. (2.1% increase over previous year)87,157,400 Total Printed Materials (2.1% increase)
434,964,611 Return Visits (0.3% increase over previous year)
4,921,702 Bible Studies (3.3% increase over previous year)
1,169,082,225 Hours - average 3.2 million hours/day (Heb13:15,16)
15,374,986 Memorial (3.4% increase over previous year) - 1/2 million more than previous year18,383 Special Pioneers (2.5% increase over previous year)
787,439 Combined all Pioneers
263,431 Baptized, average 5000/wk; 714 everyday.93,154 Congregations (1.8% increase over previous year) - 32 congregations/week average
(1Cor3:6,7)Maldovia has grown to 38 congregations in 11 years. The former 15 Republics of the Soviet Union presently have 298,047 publishers and an increase at the Memorial from 75,849 in 1990 to 728,049 in 2000
Expatbrit
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Moxy
i updated the chart on the previous page now that we have the more meaningful 'avg pub' count. drops werent as bad as they looked, only slightly worse than last year, which is still very bad.
my 'psychohistory' prediction of 5,896,260 was too high by only about 0.2% - i blame the unpredictable rise of The Mule, a.k.a simon.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=11365&site=3
mox -
larc
Since the world population growth is 1.5%, they are growing at a rate that is only .2% higher than the population growth. That is not much for all the hours they put in. All of the growth is accounted for in underdeveloped nations.
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pettygrudger
I'll ask again, won't they take this as a good sign?
Won't they take the steep decline as an indication
that their work is almost done, that they have
gotten all the ones they can out of "Babylon the
Great", and another indication that the end is
really near? -
NameWithheld
Is the total number of hours preached going down? Where was that web site that listed the previous few years of JW stats?
I find it funny that the # of pioneers is dropping so fast, yet they have dropped the hour requirements. I guess not too many are 'developing the pioneer spirit'
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Moxy
Tot Hours Hrs/Pub/Mo.
1992 1024910434 19.9
1993 1057341972 19.7
1994 1096065354 19.5
1995 1150353444 19.4
1996 1140621714 18.4
1997 1179735841 18.4
1998 1186666708 17.8
1999 1144566849 16.9
2000 1171270425 16.9
2001 1169082225 16.6 * red shows declinestats page: http://www.jwic.com/stat.htm
my stats in excel: http://members.home.net/aghull/stats/stats.xlsmox
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NameWithheld
Thanks Moxy!
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Simon
LOL Moxy - the Foundation Series were some of my favourite books too
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Skimmer
The site http://www.jwic.com/stat.htm is very informative and I hope that it is updated soon after all of the official statistics are released.
The cautionary note is that the WTBTS has in the past suffered serious, multi-year losses, mostly after a failed Big A prediction, yet still managed to rebound.
But this time things are different. The WTBTS is struggling with a multi-year decline in baptisms in spite of not having any obvious prediction failures. The last big re-adjustment was the 1995 redefinition of the generation issue and any JW who would have left because of that is already gone.
Also, the rise of the Internet and the resulting increase in the free flow of information is deadly to any cult's recruitment efforts. This is a trend that cannot be stopped. And even without the Internet, there is much greater communication among most people (better postal service, much less expensive long distance telephone service, and more frequent personal travel) and so most people are not as isolated as they were only a decade ago.
The WTBTS did see significant gains in the former Soviet republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but these regions have since lost their big growth rates. There is still some net growth in Central America, South America, and Africa and this will continue for another decade. But that is no ending of the WTBTS troubles, as these regions do not contribute enough cash as did the developed countries.
What can the WTBTS do to stop the decline?
1. Try a new prediction for the Big A. I doubt it. They have been burned every time in the past on this, and I think that even they are embarrassed to mention predictive chronology lest it bring to mind all of their failures. Ever since Fred Franz went to his reward in 1992, the WTBTS references to chronology have grown fewer and less definitely stated. The entire 1914 date has played itself out and must be an annoyance to the more youthful members of the WTBTS elite. It may be many years until it is officially dropped, but the "silent dropping" of it has already started and I doubt if that date will see any official references years before the 2014 publications appear (if they do appear).
2. Try more liberalization. In the past ten years, we have seen the WTBTS drop its official condemnation of college education, alternative service, voting, and a few blood issues. While some of these changes were done to appease various government agencies for better tax and subsidy terms, the others just might have been attempts to stem membership losses. But I doubt if any of the liberalization efforts were intended to draw in new converts directly. And I don't see how this could change in the future.
3. Dropping shunning practices. This could result in a lot of exJWs returning to the fold, at least temporarily. But it's not going to get many new recruits coming in the door. And the WTBTS is unlikely to give up one of it's two best retention tools, the other being the fear of an immanent Big A Real Soon Now.
4. Starting some real humanitarian and charity efforts including locally organized work. Something like this just might be effective in stemming the loss in developed countries. But it has the drawbacks of draining net cash flow to Brooklyn and of allowing more autonomy at the local and circuit level. The WTBTS elite is not going to permit either of these until it is truly desperate.
5. Try a media blitz. This could be effective in the short ot medium term. But no doubt the WTBTS elite are going to stay clear of this as it costs real money and would also open them up to criticism that they are just money grabbing televangists. Also, as long as they are getting a billion hours each year in free labor, why spend a penny on broadcasts?
6. Try a more ecumenical approach. This is a last ditch option for the WTBTS. They will eventually go for this, but not until all other approaches have failed. When it finally comes, we wil have had years of forewarning od doctrinal changes as they back out of their old "Satan's worldwide empire of false religion" mantra.
7. Try more vigorous performance monitoring of the district and circuit overseers. It is possible that more threats of punishment for non-performance may, at least for a while, motivate some DOs/COs and get others to retire. A CO could be told "Get the numbers up this quarter or you'll be cleaning toliets at Bethel.