by leo999 28 Replies latest jw experiences
Hi leo
5 pios have faded, guess most other pubs have just moved away, whether they are still JW's I don't know, & many have just grown old & died.
However just a quick tally & I can think of 15 definite faders, there's more but I cannot remember them all as it is sometime that the local cong' has been struggling with meeting attendance.
All I know is 80+ was a regular number at the meetings & it is now roughly 25-30
Thanks to everyone that has replied . I am amazed at how many are in fact leaving . It is easy to think we are on our own in our own little cong and not see the larger picture out there . But it seems like the little one has become a thousand !!
Please keep posting .
Leo 999
The 4% increase is merely a numbers game.
First, they round up. If my math is correct (and someone can check it for me) it was actually a 3.39% increase, not a 4% increase in average publishers in the USA.
Second, the 2009 service year was the first one (and again, correct me if I'm wrong) in which elderly and infirm publishers could count as little as 15 minutes in a month and still be considered (read: counted for the stats) as an active publisher.
Third, it may have also been the first service year in which (once again, someone correct me if I'm wrong) BOTH parents could count their time while studying with their children, instead of just one.
These things allow for faders to keep reporting, too, remember, if they have kids or if they happen to be old or in some way ill or injured.
Taking all this into account, and looking at the 2.5% DEcrease in USA baptisms (from 35597 down to 34739, is my math right?), the 4% increase has to come from the new methods of gathering the statistics. It isn't coming from new Jehovah's Witnesses.
I have a whole slew of friends on Facebook that I grew up with in my childhood congregation but who are no longer JWs. It's awesome!
It would require me attending in order to know. All I knew from that cong is that the elderbody was completely aloof of anything. Months after my cards were moved there I was still getting asked if I was visiting, not to mention several offers for a study of the bible. Hello! Only one elder spoke to us. The others just looked at us as if they smelled crap. Odd. No conversation. Just looks of obvious disapproval.
My last visit was 2 years ago.
wow... I hope this trend of fading/ cong. losing numbers continues
My congregation is down from 130 to just over 50. Many have died or moved away. However 4 elders have left, 2 D/Fed and 2 faded.
George
I don't have 5 year figures as you asked for. But here's what I do have.
In 1990 my former congregation had 100 publishers. Since then they have gained tons of new people. They still have about 100 new publishers. I got out a pen and paper and made a list, and in ten minutes I came up with over 60 people that have left. This includes DA, DF and inactive.
So for my former congregation, the turnover rate has been over 60 percent. And I'm sure there are a handful that I have forgotten about that left, so that number would probably be closer to 65%.
-mentallyfree31-
In the 34 years I was baptized, I can't even keep count of how many people I knew who were baptized who are now not associated in some way. Probably a hundred, at least.
