by Seeker4 36 Replies latest watchtower bible
Figures from the UK:
In 1989 there were 4,599,300 at church in England on a Sunday. In 2005 the figure dropped to 3,018,800. That is a decrease of 34%.
In 1989 there were 108,599 publishers in Britain. In 2005 there were 120,514 publishers in Britain. That is an increase of 11%.
Sources: JW yearbooks and:
Figures from the UK:
In 1989 there were 4,599,300 at church in England on a Sunday. In 2005 the figure dropped to 3,018,800. That is a decrease of 34%.
In 1989 there were 108,599 publishers in Britain. In 2005 there were 120,514 publishers in Britain. That is an increase of 11%.
NYT article dealt with "Evangelical" churches - the "at church" figures probably are for the UK as a whole. I don't know how big the evangelicals are in the UK, but I'd be willing to wager a large sum that they've grown more than 11% over 16 years!
I think this is a pretty significant observation. Anybody remember the immediate aftermath of 9/11? People you hadn't seen for years, maybe decades, suddenly showed up back at the Kingdom Hall. Attendance was soaring...for maybe 6 months. Then, when it became apparent that this wasn't "the Big A" after all, things went right back to normal - 80% atrendance at meetings, growth consistent with birth rates and nothing more, etc.
The current global situation isn't as immediate and striking as 9/11. Not too many people think that it will ignite the great tribulation - not even current JWs. So, wiothout a big scare to drive people back into the arms of "mama", and with economic uncertainty forcing many people to work 2 or more jobs, and with the paucity of anything (other than guilt) that the JWs offer to anyone, it seems very likely that they are in for a prolonged period of decline.
We'll see if the WT leadership finally gets the idea that their methods, fairly effective in the 50's and 60's, are not so effective today. But I wouldn't stake my life on it.
NYT article dealt with "Evangelical" churches - the "at church" figures probably are for the UK as a whole.
In other words if you exclude the vast majority of churches that are declining, and only look at the churches that are increasing - hey presto you get a figure that shows some churches are increasing. Amazing! The Witnesses could do that as well you know. They could disqualify any congregation that is declining and only include increases and say "90% of congregations may be decreasing, but look at the increases in this 10% they are phenomenal!"
Practically the only churches still growing in the UK are foreign churches like African pentecostal groups and orthodox churches because of the support from immigrants.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5349132.stm
Obscure pentecostal groups may well show phenomenal growth of 100% from say 10,000 to 20,000, but even those increases are from people moving to the country not from local converts. And you have to see those figures within the context of thousands stopping attending churches as whole each week.
Why so little growth? Because there's no real reason or urgency to rush to a Kingdom Hall. With a 100% prophecy failure rate, the WTS is cashing in on the old-timers and the ignorant. We also live in the Information Age, the age that will bring the end of the WTS.
Practically the only churches still growing in the UK are foreign churches like African pentecostal groups and orthodox churches because of the support from immigrants.
And the JW growth is not from immigrants?
And the JW growth is not from immigrants?
The difference is JWs are still increasing overall, whereas other churches taken as a whole are decreasing rapidly.
I live in East London and Derbyshire I go to church in both places and both Churches have had an increase over the last 2 years
In London it went from 57 to 84 (we have a large muslim community in East London) and in Derbyshire it went from 200 to over 300 all adult members
Both Churches are C of E
The one in Derbyshire has 2 services every Sunday to fit everyone in, there are childrens groups for 3 Sundays a month (then the other Sunday in the month it is an all age service)these groups go from age 3 to 18 There are about 70 Children most Sundays.
Aranged in these groups
3 to 5 years
6 to 8 years
8 to 11 years
12 to 15 years
and 16 to 18 years
I am sure individual Anglican churches may have increases. Overall however the pattern is clear and substantial decline for the Church of England over the past three decades at least.
Attendace at CofE Sunday services:
1979 - 1,671,000
1989 - 1,266,300
1998 - 980,600
2005 - 870,600
In other words attendance at Anglican services fell by nearly a half in little over 25 years.
See also this article on the decline of Christianity in the UK:
"NYT article dealt with "Evangelical" churches - the "at church" figures probably are for the UK as a whole. I don't know how big the evangelicals are in the UK, but I'd be willing to wager a large sum that they've grown more than 11% over 16 years!"
Sir82, they are, one of SBF's says pentecostal churches grew 22% between 1989 and 2005, proving evangelical churches are growing at a faster rate than the JW ones.
Sir82, they are, one of SBF's says pentecostal churches grew 22% between 1989 and 2005, proving evangelical churches are growing at a faster rate than the JW ones.
Again: the Pentecostal churches that are increasing are those that are made up of African immigrants.
The difference is that JWs are increasing overall, whereas mainstream Christianity is decreasing rapidly overall.
Of course when looking at the figures for mainstream Christianity it is always possible to exclude the declining churches, focus only on a few small churches that are being boosted by immigrants, and then proclaim - look other churches are growing faster than JWs! But it's a delusion. You might as well only count JW congregations that are made up of immigrants, ignore other declining congregations, and claim JWs increased 100% or 200% over the past ten years or whatever.
To get a bit of perspective here Pentecostals increased from 228,000 in 1979 to 287,600 in 2005, (according to the Church Census by Christian Research) an increase of 60,000. Over that same period the Church of England lost 800,000 at their services. So what the churches have gained through immigration has hardly made up for their losses. JWs on the other hand have had a net increase.
So yes immigrant Witnesses might be up a bit, and indigenous Witnesses down a bit, but overall they are still increasing. Contrast that with the small increases that a few marginal Christian groups have as a result of immigration which are completely dwarfed by the massive losses to mainstream Christianity as whole in the UK.
