Shouldn't the WTBTS have more than 7 million followers after 140 years of preaching? (page 3)

Crazyguy

Pentecostal religion started in 1906 , no door to door work and now theres over 100 million of them. JW's are truly the most blessed by god.

redvip2000

Only goes to show what a colossal waste of time preaching really is. Now, how many of these 7 million came to the brotherhood because of actual preaching? I'm gonna guess less than 20 percent.

Now you start seeing how idiotic this "Most important work ever done" really is.

They would have lots more than that if not for their bizarre predictions that sow doubt in the mind of anyone who can think AND if they didn't disfellowship anybody who looks at them cross-eyed. They might want to keep the numbers small because it's easier to control a limited number than a vast number.

CaptainSchmideo

Remember when the Pew survey of religion in the US came out?

I shared it with a friend at the Hall.

This statement was in the summary:

Jehovah's Witnesses have the lowest retention rate of any religious tradition. Only 37% of all those who say they were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses still identify themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses.

To which he replied "that only shows that it is the truth." You just can't fight cult-mind when it's so embedded. Sigh.

Juan Viejo2

Part of the problem is that for every new convert they might get from the door to door work or from family preaching, they lose one to the DA or DF policies.

It has been true that at least 75% of new JWs are JW children being baptized. Some Kingdom Halls have over 25% of their membership consisting of teenagers between 12 and 19. The problem for the WT is that those are the very ones who will drift away or be DF'd as soon as they leave home. The good news is that they are typically replaced by more kids attaining the age of 12 or more. You still see a lot of 7, 8, and 9 year olds being baptized and they go on the publisher roles as soon as they do.

An adult convert, other than a non-JW spouse who finally converts or a close relative like siblings who move in with JWs due to financial or family issues, is still quite rare. I asked a DFd fellow who had been a CBE until his leaving how many converts he had actually met. He served in two KHs and he told me that both had no adult converts in recent memory and definitely none while he was serving there. He mentioned that the last major conversion he heard about was when the male member of a family raised as Mennonites and then shunned by their community converted to JW (cult ----> cult) and brought his whole family of eight into the the KH. They all got baptized within a year, so the congregation showed a +10 growth one year when they were combined with the +12 year olds who were already attending.

Think about it. An annual growth of 1 or 2% should be expected just from children and close relative conversions. Conversions due to Memorial invitations or local convention walk-ins are now miniscule compared to the 1950s and 60s when these were relatively common. I remember that quite a few, escpecially in the New York, San Francisco, and St. Louis areas became converts because of the temporary housing work (asking the public to allow the brothers to rent spare rooms during a convention). They would see the JWs come visit for 5 to 8 days and notice that they were well-behaved and otherwise good citizens - and would become interested from that experience. I don't know if that work is still a part of convention prep - or if that has been replaced by using current JWs and hotel discount programs. Some one will have to up date me on that. But if you fit 50,000 families and individuals into a large city renting rooms from the public, there has to be some conversions related to that.

What I find amazing is that more DFing seems to happen in smaller congregations ( < 100 baptized members) than larger ones (> 125). A nearby congregation DF'd a MS a couple years back and his whole family (wife, sister-in-law, and 5 minor children) were all out within months. Eight people in a small congregation suddenly disappear forever and the KH looks pretty empty on a Thursday night.

JV

gingerbread

At different times during the 1960's, 70's and 80's the WT sent a clear message to stop having children because Armageddon was going to happen at any moment.

When the 'no children' rhetoric would stop many JW couples started breeding like rabbits....and BOOM here we are today.

ginger

Vidiot

The WTS doesn't want tthe membership to be overly large; if it was, they wouldn't be able to portray themselves as a persecuted minority.

Recently, i've come to suspect they want to prune it down even further.

Shouldn't the WTBTS have more than 7 million followers after 140 years of preaching?