Less meetings= ?

by JimmyPage 30 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  undercover

  They are not done yet with rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.
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  WTWizard

  First, that forces them to cram more into a single session. They cannot possibly properly discuss the book in 25 minutes unless they severely reduce the opportunity to comment (hence less chance for a stray). Plus the circus meeting will now have to focus on not missing the boasting sessions and on instructions to get out there in field circus. Family night is supposed to be practice field circus sessions.

  On top of that, the families are supposed to waste that extra evening (the whole thing, not just what used to be a boasting session) on practice field circus, practice dramas, enacting what will happen in the future (that will not come), and studying the Washtowel publications. They are not supposed to study the Bible itself, other religious material, or books that expose cults and religion in general as scams. And they are not supposed to be watching TV, going out to dinner, studying school material, or working that evening, either. Hopefully, they will do it anyways.
• 

  MissingLink

  I don't think so. I mean it was easy to miss ONE meeting, and still have a 67% attendance stat. Now if you miss one meeting, you're down to 50%. That's a lot more guilt. Hopefully people WILL manage to still miss some indoctrination sessions.
• 

  passwordprotected

  Locally the stats were that the BSG was the lowest attended meeting anyway (although this wasn't always the case. I was sure the Revelation book had something to do with it).

  The WTS will never loosen its grip. The closer we get to 2014 they'll start to tighten their grip. Cutting the BSG wasn't to do with cutting back on the number of meetings. It was surely to do with a legal issue, nothing more.

  Also, as we've talked about before, cutting the BSG means they aren't under pressure to produce books.
• 

  BluesBrother

  The ones in the family miss more meetings than they used to..It is funny, once the Tuesday, Thursday routine is broken, it is more of an effort to get up and go out..
• 

  drew sagan

  Everybody I knew inside the WT didn't keep up with all of their readings, but did something. Additinally, although they didn't keep up, they felt extremely guilty for doing so. It is that guilt that I feel is key. As missinglink pointed out, there is even the possibility for more guilt being passed around.

  I've known people who have stayed away from meetings for years and have never 'loosened the bonds'. The eaiser it is to be JW, the harder it is to discard it IMO.
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  slimboyfat

  Yes I can see levels of commitment and enthusiasm dropping off as a result of the fewer meetings.
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  drew sagan

  I would like to add that I actually feel it's the style and conent of the meetings and not the frequency which is the greatest obsticle to the Watchtower.

  The format is very dated and ineffective at getting people engaged and excited. It follows ideas about the world that go back as far as the 1950's (one example is their continued dependence on "teaching" people how to witness door to door, an ineffective and out of date activity in itself).

  The music is not engaging, and the only services offered are those that cater to adults. Young adults, youth, and children are not given much and neither are women for that matter. The meetings prop up the men who are late 20's and older, and basically sends everybody else to the back of the bus.

  It's this non inclusive nature of their services that I feel is the biggest challenge they face. Without changing this they will most likely suffer with membership growth no matter what.
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  daniel-p

  For the love of God... it's fewer meetings.
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  slimboyfat

  Frequency of meetings is important in keeping up levels of commitment. Of course it is. Dropping a meeting will obviously have an impact.