Faders are indeed a large army...

undercover

...and I think it's starting to show.

I started a thread the other day about being hounded after several years of having successfully(?) faded. I've been taken aback a bit the recent developments but I'm making a new strategy...one that depends more on sticking to my guns and laying the cards on the table.

But anyway, for the longest time, I thought I was the only one in my area that had come to learn of the things about the WTS that I had learned. I was all alone in a world surrounded by zealous JWs. But over time, I found out about others in the area. While I've still been careful to protect my privacy and identity I have made contact with a select few. I have since talked to a couple of them after my ranting the other day and I learned that other faders are starting to pop back up on radars.

It got me to thinking... it could all be coincidence...or...it could be that more and more people are losing their zeal and slowly leaving. Some, as I know for a fact, are fading because of the falseness of the organization. They've seen the man behind the curtain and have decided it's time to leave Oz. Others are downtrodden and beat up as the world keeps going and the promises of a New World never become fulfilled. They aren't cognizant of their thoughts or feelings, but they're reacting just the same.

As people either become less zealous and start to slip in their service and others purposefully start slipping away, it has to show up on attendance records and service slips. Even it congregation averages aren't being severly impacted, the fact that there may be over 100 cards in the box but only 70 to 80 some are actually regularly active, it causes traveling overseers to sit up and take notice. And when they take notice, they take notes and local elders are put in the hot seat. When those elders are put in the hot seat, they actually get off their lazy asses and start to try to bolster those numbers back up. Hence, they start calling on those people who are inactive....which if we're fading, our cards are still there and we're not forgotten as much as we'd like to think we were.

In my case, I'm in a new congregation and I didn't even know it. I've got a new PO, or COBOE, or as I like to call him, coordinator of dumbasses. You'd think that after several years, new congregation lines and new elders, I'd be forgotten, but nope...I've become someone's project.

I think that as more time goes by and more and more people start to wake up to the idiocy of all things JW, those fader numbers are going to increase. And as a result, it may actually make it harder to fade. If one or two or three go missing and don't respond to sheparding, it's not a big deal, but if 20% or more start going missing, it's noticeable and the reaction will be swift and quite possibly harsh.

rockmehardplace

i very well agree with your hypothesis here. contrary to jw belief, attendance at most meetings is down although numbers remain the same. i know the congregation i am associated with- or was- at this point, has seen very little attendance drop. but when you look at the fact that there has been about 15 to 20 move into the congregation but very few "truely" move away or deaths, then you are left to realize that the numbers really are dwindling and many are becoming faders. this is also seen with several of the congregations within the circuit.

lepermessiah

Great thoughts Undercover!

I totally agree with your assessment. I know of a few faders in my area that I want to make contact with.

As a very recent fader, I truly believe that the organization has taken several steps back in the last few years. (if thats possible, now that I recognize it was just a huge MYTH) To me, the lack of love is quite evident more and more, and there are fewer and fewer elders who are truly shepherds - most are just company men and enforcers who LOVE to play judge, jury, and executioner. If you think its a travesty and totally unjust, it doesnt matter - you can get the CO involved, write the Society, etc - you just get the party line to "obey the spirit appointed men" blah blah blah. Even JW's who keep their nose clean get burned out by the constant demands and guilt trips. So, they cancelled one meeting a week - now they STRONGLY recommend you use that for personal and family study sessions.

To me, I finally see it for what it is - a large bureaucratic and authoritarian organization......driven by stats and "sales" figures. It was never about the people - that was the hardest for me to finally accept. Once I did, a huge burden was lifted.

And I think more and more people are seeing it. Almost every week, my family is afraid to discuss with me "another incident" that happened to a friend or family member. Its a smothering, emotionally draining environment for the most part. A lot of people want to avoid the stigma of disassociating themselves or the family issues of disfellowshipping so they choose the fade route and hope to be left alone.

Then, the WTBS will be hammering "management" about where are the people are going!

snowbird

I talked with my hard-core JW sister last weekend.

I could hear the discouragement in her voice.

Not too much longer to tote the weary load!

Sylvia

undercover

I talked with my hard-core JW sister last weekend.

I could hear the discouragement in her voice.

Not too much longer to tote the weary load!

Yea, this 'system of things' continuing and continuing is wearing em out. I'd say anyone over 45 or so has had to have doubts. Oh, some of em are die-hard dubs and will continue to believe in it but I'd say a great deal of everday dubs are plain worn out. They expected something to happen by now and it hasn't. They're starting to stare old age and retirement in the face and there's no reprieve.

And to make matters worse, the younger generation isn't sticking around either. I think our generation was easier to keep in, but kids today aren't falling for it. It's not that they're smarter, they have more resources to information and knowledge that a lot of us didn't have at our fingertips.

So you take our parents generation who is dying off, our generation who is either fading or weakening and the younger generation who have snubbed the whole thing and you have the recipe for a major downsizing.

I think the WTS is at, or coming to, a crossroads. They're gonna have to become more mainstream in order to recruit - and keep - regular ole folks. Or - they're gonna have to circule the wagons, withdraw into itself and plan on having a small core group of believers. All indications are that it will have to be the latter because they show no signs of easing up on their wackier beliefs or policies.

snowbird

Uh huh.

Her next door neighbor with whom she has been friends for the longest time died.

My next door neighbor with whom my deceased mother was friendly also died.

My sister is trying to hang on, but I don't see it lasting too long.

My hope is to be around when the walls come tumbling down.

Sylvia

cantleave

You are dead right. The last CO visit whilst I was an elder we were told there is no excuse for irregular publishers and inactive ones should be reactivated. Nugget and I still report to stay off the Radar. It is obvious we don't go out, but hey! the figures are on paper so there's no hassle from the CO.

lepermessiah

Yea, this 'system of things' continuing and continuing is wearing em out.

Its funny Undercover - the only thing that really "wore me out" was being a JW.

This terrible "system of things" isnt so bad after all - yeah, life can be tough and it certainly isnt fair at times, but i love not having that anxious knot in my stomach anymore!

Once I started fading, I realized how unfulfilling and EXHAUSTING that lifestyle is!

Its like working for a tyrant who you can never please, with co-workers who are always jumping in your business.

dissed

Good points undercover.

Being out for awhile, I don't have any contact with anyone locally. But one of my nephews from Calif. who left more recently, say it seems most of their generation have left.

His wife said when they left,(DA) her mom was very upset and followed the WT line shunning them. But now, acts like nothing bad ever happened. She even baby sits the kids, at their home, on her meeting nights, while she goes to night school.

Her mother won't talk about it, but she feels she is very discouraged with the WTS. She's missing meetings, rarely goes in service now, and has very few JW friends. (she's 60)

I agree, there is a large Army carrying the burden of many doubts. And the GB knows it.

Open mind