This group of young zealous people meeting on Friday nights...it is mostly for social reasons. Also, this is an easy out for Saturday morning field service, so they don't get stuck working with the older publishers who are no fun and allows them to sleep in. I predict this won't last long. They will get into trouble and this arrangement will get busted up.
Are the Witnesses Really Losing Their Young People?
by What Now? 63 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
LostGeneration
Lots of generalizations are thrown around here, and they are usually the norm. Of course there are the exceptions, I would classify your hall as one.
Sometimes these things take a few years to play out. If the good JWs are also cute/handsome, of course there is the attraction factor other posters alluded to. Wait til they marry off and see how the group does after that. Also the dynamic usually changes a lot if one or two get DFd for sex, lots of gossip happens thereafter and it really takes the air out of the balloon.
The ones with the hardcore elder/pioneer parents usually have the toughest time leaving. A lifetime of shunning is a high price to pay.
-
dazed but not confused
Great idea - whathappened
-
NewYork44M
and the young people in their hall even organize 8 pm to midnight service on friday nights of their own accord
That is a recipe for trouble. I bet the last think on these kids mind is service.
-
steve2
What Now? wrote the following:
From where I'm sitting, it seems as if the new generation of Witnesses is going to be stronger than ever.
This could well be an exceptional congregation for several reasons:
1. Those of us who were raised in the organization in the 1960s have a larger time frame with which to compare the numbers of young people staying versus leaving;
2. The growth rates of the witnesses a couple of generations before the 1960s - such as the 1930s - saw huge numbers of young people not raised in the religion converting to it. Both sets of my grandparents were very young when they were converted to the organization in the mid 1920s to the early 1930s. They often spoke about the large numbers of young people coming into the orgnaization who were not raised in it. You do not see this phenomenon any more;
3. The organization's growth heyday in the west is well and truly in the past. A marker of growth is baptism numbers. In many western countries these have more than halved in the past two decades; it is common to see only a handful of baptismal candidates even at larger conventions of several thousand;
4. The prevailing reports in many congregations are of an aging body of elders with few qualified younger male JWs to step into their shoes;
I was a teenager in the years leading up to 1975 and was very active in the witness work, even regular pioneering for periods of time. In my local congregation, there were vast numbers of young people - both raised in the religion and converted from the door to door work - who went out regularly. I would guess that even in What Nows? congregation few if any of the young people are converted to the organization through the witnessing work, right? Of most of the JWs I went to school with, practically all have left or became inactive.
There was a birth boom among New Zealand JWs in the years after 1975. Very little of the huge increase in children born to JW parents translated into increases in active publishers.
It is not unusual to hear of elders having children who are "no longer in the truth". In fact, it is common to hear of some elders "losing" all their children to the world.
Young people are usually more sociable and like to do things in groups. I can imagine the Friday night witnessing sessions What Now? writes about are more about social get-togethers with some witnessing thrown in than it is about trying to bring people into the organization.
Be ware of generalizing from your specific instance to the general. Sure, there will probably be stunning examples of JW youth becoming zealous for the preaching work. Statistically, though, they are the exceptions, as borne out by lots of reports of regular and auxiliary pioneers being older JWs.
-
metatron
If I was an elder in this hall, I'd be suspicious. There's good ..... and too good to be believed.
There are even cases in which Witless teenagers got DF'd en masse because their pioneering involved sleeping together while counting time.
As for the basic question, yes - Witnesses are losing plenty of young people. Most young people, I'd say.
This religion is neither credible nor caring.
metatron
-
nugget
It depends on the congregation I think. However in the congregations I have known retention is poor. In my own family of 4 girls 3 of us are out only one is in. One of my sisters never got baptised and 2 of us woke up and left.
It is a religion that offers nothing for the young. It is telling that the congregation mentioned by the OP is active in the ministry since this is the only way to gain any approval in the organisation.
-
Finkelstein
I think most religions are losing their ground with young people, even high controlling cults like the JWS.
Better education, more public awareness of religious cults, the Inter-net , age of information etc .
I read somewhere that in Europe 40% of the population have no religious affiliation, compare that to 100 years ago or more !!!
Secular humanism may be the fastest growing ideology than any religion in existence right now.
-
hamsterbait
The youngsters are all over the internet. How can they NOT know TTATT?
They give fake names for Twitter and Facebook like "Raptor" then lock the account down so only approved (IE not parents) people can follow them.
What are they hiding?
I saw the son of an elduh not long ago going out on Sat night. Black 18 hole Doc martens with yellow laces, filthy ripped skin tight jeans, grubby T shirt with rip to show abit of nipple and some belly. He got his cellphone out and answered, "I'll be there in a few minutes."
He either ignored, or didnt recognise me. But I dont think he was going out to meet a lovely witless lady dressed as Gay Skuzz Tottie.
The young ones are just playing a part as long as they are at home. They know the deal. Once they move out and get place of their own and a job, the kINGDUMB hELL can take a running jump.
HB
-
hamsterbait
Oh forgot to say 8pm to MIDNIGHT?
Who goes door to bore misery at 11PM?
Like the piosneers who go on one call at 9 am then spend the rest of the morning drinking coffee.
They prolly go clubbing after handing out a leaflet or two.
HB