compound gets to be finished...-besty
LOL!, you make it sound like the elder's in Warwick will become polygamists and father as many JW worker bees as they can. What a vision. Kate xx
A radical direction for the WTS - speculation thread.
by besty 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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konceptual99
I don't think they will move to mega churches as control is easier in smaller groups
It was widely speculated the reason for abandoning the CBS was small groups being more difficult to control. If you look at how the talks have become much more manuscript and outline driven with less and less room for personality, it would make sense to continue that trend. This is also borne out by the AGM arrangements to hook up lots of venues to a live event.
I think consolidating to larger venues hides the decline effectively - megachurches maybe a step to far to soon now, I'm thinking 5-10 years out. I bet they have lots of plans for when that compound gets to be finished...
Agree that the CBS did allow too much scope for cosy arrangements to develop. I also agree on the nature of the talks. I still think that it is easier to control and influence people into keeping busy at a congregational level rather than a large event level. I also don't think they have the capacity currently to cope with bringing circuits together much more than what they do now. Never say never of course!
I mentioned the AGM becoming a more important annual event to the wife of a Bethel speaker we recently had and she said that the word from down on high was that it was a one off due to the Bible. I am not 100% convinced by this, I guess we just have to wait until next year.
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cofty
Its an interesting idea.
It would allow much more central control and be fnancially sound.
There would have to be a system of monitoring individuals. I think the mega-churches have a group arrangement of some sort. I believe they call it pastoral care.
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besty
That is their ultimate goal.
The ultimate goal of an organization is firstly self-preservation. Usually growth/profitability feature close behind.
They have closed a lot of regional branches recently - whats your take on that in light of your KH in every town theory?
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konceptual99
the WTS wants every congregation have its own, dedicated Kingdom Hall with no multiple congregation KH's. That is their ultimate goal.
make travel to the Hall easy and close by, central in the territory and now they own 3 properties instead of only 1
I think it's the opposite. They are still doing plenty of multi-congregation builds in urban areas. I am still cautious about the mega church thing but it would be fair to say the buzz I hear on the RBC is that they are trying to get buildings used as efficiently as possible.
Do you have anything to support your assertion?
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Vidiot
At this point, the WTS can never truly mainstream; they've painted themselves far too tightly into their ideological corner.
If they did, they'd arguably no longer be Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Sell off all the KHs and turn JW.org into a completely online church.
Ditch most all their teachings in favor of a new core doctrine... "salvation through donation."
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BizzyBee
This type of speculation is like playing whack-a-mole with unintended consequences. Each solution also carries the seeds of destruction. The WTS must analyze why people join the WTS and why they stay - then find the happy medium that insures the maximum retention, a numbers game, if you will.
The WTS has to maintain the right balance in terms of the size of venue in which to crack the whip. Too large (mega-church) and individual anonymity can lead to missing meetings and a general loosening of personal, peer controls that are so important to the WTS retention model - a slacker's paradise. Too small (CBS) where people feel safe about speaking up, has historically been a potential launching pad for descension and a "break-away" mentality. Thus local KHs of about 70-130 members has been the winning formula for decades.
The implementation of possible changes - blood, FS, shunning, etc., run the risk of making JWs a mainstream religion and then where is the sense of urgency and specialness? They might as well be Protestants and enjoy holidays.
This is from "The Truth vs THE TRUTH," about the long-term effects of the internet on the WTS and what they might do about it:
"Can the Society, or anything like it, have a future in an Internetted world? Perhaps.
"There are several options available to it. The most obvious is to do what Raymond Franz tried to get it to do, a quarter-century ago: admit it was wrong. But this, of course, is the least likely option to be taken. Only one modern American institution has ever admitted that it was fundamentally in error -the Worldwide Church of God, an Adventist church that, influenced by the Witnesses, once referred to its members as "in the Truth," and to everyone else as out of it. During the 1990s, the WCG leadership surveyed its distinctive teachings and announced that they could not be squared with the Bible. The reward for its courage was the loss of 50-60% of its membership. This is an example that the Watchtower Society will be very reluctant to follow.
"It is much more likely to choose one of two other options, roughly the same two that confront all other truth-challenged institutions in the modern world.
"The first option is for the Society to keep trying to isolate its own version of truth from the checkable truth of the Internet. If it does that, the Watchtower movement will become a living fossil, a fellowship confined to people who, like the Amish, are content to remain in a world that pre-dates the net.
"The second option is for the Society to adapt its version of truth, bit by bit, to the fact-gathering capability of the Internet and the free society that the Internet exemplifies.
"This second option is almost certainly the one that will be taken. Like other earthly authorities, the Society has a will to live at almost any cost. It will try to live even if the cost is a quiet coming to terms with its own mistakes. The real question is whether the speed of the Internet will give it time for an orderly evolution. We have seen, in Eastern Europe, how quickly glasnost can be followed by oblivion. The crucial factor may be the morale of the leadership, its ability to live with the same truth that normal people live with, while simultaneously acting as if it were still in possession of its higher truth."
http://www.libertyunbound.com/sites/files/printarchive/Liberty_Magazine_September-October_2003.pdf
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Vidiot
BizzyBee, thanks for posting that link. I've never read that piece before; it was really well written.
The writer Stephen Cox, however, seems to think that the WTS will successfully adapt and mainstream itself, and I take exception to that view.
Most regimes that are as authoritarian as the WTS would rather crash and burn than implement the kind of progressive reforms Cox believes will take place.
The Information Age is advancing too rapidly for the WTS to keep pace with it without looking like they're being influenced by it; their pride simply won't allow them to.
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Splash
Billy the Ex: Sell off all the KHs and turn JW.org into a completely online church.
Well they are rolling out a standard internet package to all of the congregations now.
If your hall doesn't have internet already then they are telling you which ISP to get, and if you do have it they are 'suggesting' that you change to their recommended supplier. They are also saying not to buy projectors or screens just yet - they'll let you know what you can buy later.
Wonder why? The letter just says that this arrangement is being made to facilitate the broadcasting of theocratic events.
Let the speculation continue...
Splash