Just wondering to those that have gone to one of the International or RC assemblies what's the attendance been like. Wondering if people are still willing to spend so much money and travel to go to a convention or if more people are just saying no???
RC & International attendance???
by Crazyguy 14 Replies latest jw friends
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blondie
Well, having the money is the secondary or tertiary issue. They have to pass the close examination of the elders in their congregation first. At least that is the official word. I have known jws to work a second job, sell their car, take out their retirement, empty their savings, etc.
I went on one of the earlier international WTS organized trips. Airfare and hotel rooms in the convention cities. You were on your own otherwise. The rooms we did get were in the red light districts of large cities...dangerous at night for single pioneer sisters. But now it is organized from minute to minute and there is little free time.
I'm sure that there are screwups in the planning and that jws found that there was no special holiness found. It is easy to be friends with people in another country if you only associate with them for a few minutes, shake hands and are on their way.
It is one of those "privileges" that plucks jws out of obscurity into the light.
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Wild_Thing
In Kansas City, they were expecting 17,000 and their attendance was only 15,000, so I would say having to travel farther and stay in hotels is definitely taking its toll.
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LostGeneration
Some of the IG pics show around 50k at the New Jersey international, of course there are a ton of JWs in the Northeast so not sure how far many of them have to travel.
I think there is a big one in Texas in the next week or two, would like to know how far some of the JWs are driving to get to that one.
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DesirousOfChange
Wondering if people are still willing to spend so much money and travel to go to a convention or if more people are just saying no???
For most JWs it's their gala event of the year. They get to buy new dresses & new suits and it's the one time a year that many of them get to "vacation" in a hotel. Normally they couldn't afford it, but this is for THE CONVENTION so Jehovah will provide for it, even if he doesn't provide for their house payment this month.
No serious JW would NOT attend unless they have serious health of financial reasons (or unless those are convenient excuses to not go).
Doc
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Phizzy
You are right of course DOC, but the year I stopped doing FS for good,but was still attending Meetings, we blew out the D.C and the two day C.A , nobody noticed !
Which at the time I was pleased about it, as I didn't really have a good excuse lined up if I had been quizzed about it.
I suppose as Mrs Phizzy and I were both officially "Inactive" by then, it was not so noticable. What we had done, without knowing it, or even the term, was started a "fade".
I really cannot remember if we went to the next C.A, a one day job, but certainly by three months after that C.A we had stopped attending anything JW for good.
I suppose if your Elders are as lazy as my lot were you could easily get away with not going. What I feared was that my extended JW family would notice our absence, we had relatives fly in from oversees for that D.C, but it was never noticed.
All of this shows just how unreal and hollow are the " we miss you" 's we still get sometimes.
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dazed but not confused
Phizzy - wow. I am both happy and a little sad for you.
The wife and I also received a couple token "We miss you and want you back." A "close" friend of hers came by the house a couple times. She ignored the door.
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InquiryMan
I went to two international assemblies, one in Europe and one in Africa. These experiences were great :-) . I got friends with several people at both assemblies that I kept in touch with for years and even visited later.
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MaybeSo
Houston had an attendance of 28k Friday, 31k Saturday and 33k on Sunday
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DesirousOfChange
Houston had an attendance of 28k Friday, 31k Saturday and 33k on Sunday
It's been many, many years since I recall a convention of that size. Here locally they haven't hit over 10,000 in attendance in at least a decade or more. More conventions, smaller venues has been the trend. Even at these, the JWs seem to be so much more impatient. Standing outside the doors, waiting for the attendants to unlock/open the entry. All the love of a Black Friday Christmas Sale to get the best seats, which BTW are already taken as the attendants have saved them for their family, their friends, they friend's family, their family's friends, etc etc
Are they hoping for more hype and publicity at these large sites? They must have gotten a bargain-basement price on the facility rental.
Doc