Of course there are individual congregations of JWs that are composed mostly of immigrants. My point is that the majority of JWs in the UK overall are indigenous British people. That can't be said for the African Pentecostal groups or the Muslims that are growing in number. Those churches are composed mostly if not entirely of immigrants.
British zone visit from David Splane - a report from the special meeting in Glasgow
by slimboyfat 82 Replies latest jw friends
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sir82
What are zone visits really about?
The cynical side of me says, "The GB wives want a vacation, and need a justification to get free first class airfare to the destination of their choice."
Apparently Sister Splane had a strong desire to visit Harrod's & take advantage of a wealthy supporter's credit cards.
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jookbeard
not entirely SBF, there have been huge converts to Islam form the white indigenous UK population, recent news footage in the UK has shown a white British male sent to prison for terrorists offences ,the West Indian population of UK born is converting to Islam also at vast rates, and Mosques are starting to spring up in what could be described as prominent "white" neighbourhoods, weather we accept it or not world wide Islam is picking up converts of all race's
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tijkmo
i was there...i was working backstage...didnt hear a thing...
but everyone was super nice to me even those who recognized me..freaked one guy out by asking who the annointed speaker was for the event.
it was traumatic for me...i think it must be like japanese pows returning to japan. on an individual scale japanese people will be kind and caring and hospitable but it must be hard for someone who suffered at their hands to fall in love with their country again esp if the torturers keep showing up.
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traveb
Thanks for the report slimboyfat, was very interesting. I don't know if the "Peanuts" comic strip was ever popular in Britain but your description of the girl you knew from a long time ago reminded me of Charlie Brown and his "red-haired girl".
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slimboyfat
not entirely SBF, there have been huge converts to Islam form the white indigenous UK population
How many? I would be surprised if it's more than a few hundred. Where's the evidence?
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truthseeker
Splane has some 'splaning to do. What a complete nutter.
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scotinsw
I reckon most of the growth in the uk has come from eu immigration. My old cong in the east of Scotland was taken over by the Poles. They now have their own congregation, but at one point the congregation grew by about a third all from them moving to the uk.
I hate the anti uni/education thing! It wasn't going to uni that led to me leaving...it was the lack of love!
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steve2
Steve there are more publishers in the UK than ever before. No matter how you spin that it is not decline.
SBF, in regards to the publishers in the UK, I did not say they were in decline. The term I used was "sluggish growth" - in your response you said that did not represent decline. Huh? I never said it did. I'm a little puzzled as to why you appear to disagree with me over something I did not claim - at least not with reference to UK witnesses.
(True in other posts on other countries, I did talk about declining numbers but not in reference to the UK).
My focus in this thread has been on the comparative longer time periods needed for the "peak" numbers to translate into "average" publishers.
For example, the peak number of publishers in 1996 was virtually the same in 2006. That is a huge slowing down compared to earlier decades of growth. That it has since grown is literally not decline. But I would add that, since Ireland has "enjoyed" more obvious JW growth, combining their figures with the "more sluggish" British growth is perhaps a good tactical move to make the increase appear more. Of note, at the meeting they announced a new peak of over 141,000. Excuse me for pin-pricking even this claim: That number was reported in the annual worldwide figures for 2012. So, how much over 141,000 was it? (BTW, I'm not asking you to front up with the answer - I am commenting on how that stat was mentioned at the meeting, perhaps creating the impression it was a new peak - it isn't.
Perhaps premature to talk of decline per se, yet baptisms continue to decline markedly - something you do not comment on.
Also, the reports I hear are that immigrant congregations of JWs in London are burgeoning - see an earlier post on this thread. Others have said that these congregations are where most growth is evident. Posters frequently talk about the poor meeting attendances of the English congregations in Britain - something I have commented on regarding the sharp contrast between imigrant congregations and "home" congregations in New Zealand. That said, I acknowledge that anedcotal reports do not constitute representative samplings of congregational attendances throughout the UK.
It is interesting that when there are obvious increases in other religions, you nicely "explain" away that growth. Growth is growth. Your reference to Moslems being immigrants is neither here nor there. For that matter, there is nowadays greater likelihood for newly baptized JWs to be born-ins and not converts as occurred in the past when "newly interested" persons were coming into the organization in growing numbers.
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happy@last
Sbf, my wife and one of my children were there, but my wife and I don't really talk so I couldn't tell you how it was for them. I took my other child out to Lanarkshire for the day, we had a great time.