How Much of an Impact is Being Made by Young JW' s Leaving the Cult ? (page 3)

MissingLink

My peers wouldn't qualify as "young", but of the 8 who were in my wedding party, only 2 are still "active".

Alligator Wisdom

Out of us 4 kids, only one got baptized (me). And I'm fading now. Haven't gone to a meeting in over three months.

Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)

My parents gave me the ultimatum - get baptized or leave their house! They made it clear that no 'unbaptized grownup would be living in this house'...so at 14 I took the plunge. I did have a pretty strong group of friends in the org, and almost all of them are still 'in'. BUT, 90% of them are in UNHAPPY marriages or divorced, not even 3 of them are MS's or elders, and the rest are still part of the org but inactive.

I think with MY generation (25-35)...technology and college have taken over. The economy is SO bad that it's near impossible to get a job without an education - so they are foregoing pioneering and service for SCHOOL! College has taught us to 'think' and to 'question'...and so this generation is NOT easily snowed (like our parents generation may have been). Even thought things have seemed to lighten up (2 mtg days instead of 3...less hours for pioneers...shorter mtg lengths) - it still hasn't drawn in the numbers of younger people as expected.

wantarevolution

From personal experience.

The ones in my hall that i grew up with - out of 8 of them, 6 are gone now - some are successful, some have made a hash of their lives, but that would be the same if they were worldly or not

The ones I went to college with, are for the most part no longer active and have successfully faded 3/5.

Here - the congregations are FULL of elderly ones, my local hall has to import brothers from 20 KM's away as there are not enough young ones up and coming. Going to a DA is like going to Jurrasic park.

The overwhelming number of witnesses here in spain are elderly - there are perhaps 3 or 4 young kids in our hall, about 20% are in their 40's 50's and the rest are above 75 and with an average of 1 funeral a month.

The english congs have a younger demographic, but they are full of 30something single pioneer sisters wanting to "expand" their ministry.

sir82

And the ones that stay, for the most part, have little or no interest in "reaching out" for more responsibility.

In 20-30 years (if not sooner), there will be an "elder shortage" that will rival the "priest shortage" in the Catholic church that the WT gleefully crows about every chance it gets.

oldseeker

From the 2008 Pew Research Study on religion:

"Two of the religious groups with the lowest retention rates are Jehovah’s Witnesses and Buddhists.

Only slightly more than a third (37%) of adults who were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses still

identify themselves as Jehovah’s Witnesses. Half of all of those who were raised as Buddhists

(50%) are still Buddhists."

truthseeker

I am in that 21-35 age range and our household has faded for about a year.

A few youths in my old hall have quietly faded, moved away and gone inactive.

Seems a few move to another hall then do their fade.

Their does seem to be a critical mass of faders and inactive JW youth - websites like MySpace and Facebook only make it easier to leave when you see everyone else is leaving.

blondie

In this area it means that there are few candidates for MS and thus less for elder. They are trying to reactive elders who want nothing to do with "reaching out" again. They have had to have people move from other states and cities move in and have starting scraping the barrel, using men who would never been considered 10 years ago. The MS do all the book work, etc., so more and more elders have to give talks, conduct meetings, do JCs, as well as do MS tasks.

WTWizard

I have noticed between 1998 and the time I quit, that the attendance has been more or less stagnant. You get inactives back and forth, you get a few inactives reactivated, you get a few children getting baptized. But, rarely do you get anyone from the field (in around 2002, one family did study but, fortunately, the mother would not quit smoking and would therefore not continue studying).

However, I have not seen any massive numbers of children leaving on their own volition (as of 2005). Most of those going into the cancer stayed in the cancer. There were a group of about 2 or 3 teenagers getting into "trouble" (fornication) around 1997; other than that, it has been more or less sporadic.

Quirky1

I dunno but they sure made an impact on me... I was drinking with a few of them the other nite and they offered me some pot and cigarettes!!! I coulda fell over!! I didn't take any but sure wanted to. LOL

How Much of an Impact is Being Made by Young JW' s Leaving the Cult ?