US publisher report for last year - "official" numbers from Society letter

by sir82 20 Replies latest jw friends

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  sir82

  Didn't see this posted anywhere, my apologies if this is a repeat....

  In a letter to all congregations dated 12/9/09, the Society wrote out some highlights of the previous service year. The letter is to be read to the congregation "at the first service meeting after its receipt".

  Here are the numbers they report (all numbers are for US only):

  -- Average publishers - 1,096,502. This is about a 4% increase (3.5% if you don't round) over the prior year's average of 1,059,253.

  -- That "4% increase" in average publishers is the largest since 1992

  -- Peak publishers (August 2009) = 1,154,275

  -- 230 million + hours in field service, 12 million more than prior year

  -- Bible studies up 9% over prior year, average = 657,544 per month

  -- New peak of pioneers: 119,108

  -- 34,379 baptized

  -- Memorial attendance: 2,469,036, which is 50,000 more than prior year

  Here are some things they didn't mention:

  -- The "peak publishers" number is inflated with numerous duplicate reports for publishers who forgot to turn in a report for some month(s) earlier

  -- The number of Memorial partakers

  -- The fact that number of baptisms actually decreased by 3.5% (35,597 last year, 34,379 this year). All those extra hours, and less results!

  -- The ratio of English-speaking to non-English speaking publishers. I believe fully 100% of the growth is from non-English-speaking congregations, and English speakers are a best holding on with 0% "growth", if not actually decreasing.

  I especially liked the opening sentence of the last paragraph: "The passage of the past year has brought us one year closer to Armageddon..."

  Right....and the passage of the past 130 years of failed predictions has brought us closer to the date when people finally recognize them for the charlatans they are.
• 

  Opus92

  Didn't they drop the number of hours required to be a publisher?
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  sir82

  Didn't they drop the number of hours required to be a publisher?

  Not sure how you can drop below a "1", which is all that is required.

  5 or 6 years ago, they added a provision for very old or very sick publishers that 15 minutes is enough to be counted as a publisher. But that doesn't apply to everyone, just those approved by the service committee. In my expereince, there are very very few who get approved that way, far less than 1 per congregation.

  In any event, the effect of that new rule wouldn't be noticed in the latest report - as noted, it's been in effect for a long time.
• 

  Justitia Themis

  I especially liked the opening sentence of the last paragraph: "The passage of the past year has brought us one year closer to Armageddon..."

  The passage of 2009 years since Jesus' death and promise to return has brought us one year closer to Armageddon.
• 

  Elsewhere

  I have personally spoken with several JWs recently, and I know for a fact that the numbers are inflated.

  The JWs I spoke with have told me that they have not been going out in field service for a very long time, yet their publisher's cards have hours reported on them for the entire time they have not been doing anything.

  Lies... lies and more lies. That entire report is a calculated fraud.
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  sir82

  Yeah it's interesting that stuff that is non-verifiable (like number of publishers, hours, Bible studies, etc.) increases, but stuff that is actually verifiable (number of baptisms - which are done in public before hundreds or thousands of witnesses) is decreasing.
• 

  peacedog

  "Lies... lies and more lies. That entire report is a calculated fraud."

  I second that Elsewhere. Given their established history of outright lying, it's naive to think the WT$ is "honor bound" to publish the legitimate figures....
• 

  thetrueone

  Fixing the books to make themselves appear viable is part of their self marketing strategy.

  Its important to put forth information that is self supporting at the same time hide information that

  would essentially reveal something to the opposite.
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  sir82

  Personally, I beleieve the Society accurately reports the numbers sent to them.

  Where the falsehood lies is in the publishers and secretaries in the congregations.

  "I don't want to lose my 'privileges of service', so even though I only had 3 hours of service last month, I'll put down 12. Jehovah will understand".

  "Brother Goober hasn't turned in a report for the past 3 months, but he must be doing something...I'll put him down for 2 hours."

  The Society is fully aware this goes on, but does nothing to stop it.

  Case in point: Our COBOE has a wife who is manic depressive and refuses to take her meds. She has not been out in field service for nearly a year, but the COBOE dutifully reports "1 hour" for her each month. It's completely fictitious, but he couldn't remain COBOE if his wife were inactive, so he reasons "Jehovah will understand - it's more important that I remain COBOE", and "She probably talks to the grandkids about Jehovah every once in a while, and they're not baptized yet."
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  thetrueone

  Sir82 whats a COBOE ? , I've been out for awhile.