by BoogerMan 28 Replies latest social current
It’s true that there are fewer JWs as a percentage of the population in Ireland than in most other European countries. On the other hand, while growth has slowed or stopped in other countries, JWs have continued to grow in absolute terms and as a percentage of the population in Ireland.
Quite expected. They have all been bewitched by leprechauns
I think a large part of the growth is refugees and immigration. Of the 40 years my parents preached here, only one person they brought to baptism was Irish, the rest usually from the UK.
No doubt part of it, though other countries have refugees and yet JWs are not growing in those countries as in Ireland. Plus JWs are growing faster than the population in general in Ireland. Plus it’s worth noting that other churches are declining in Ireland despite the boost from refugees. JWs seem to be growing more in Ireland than elsewhere for whatever reason. They grew 6% in Ireland in the latest report - very unusual in Europe in recent years.
I wasn't aware of the figures, I do know that my parents KH is half empty. Reckon the figures are true?
I think they are probably fairly accurate. There’s always room for individuals or congregation secretaries to falsify reports to some extent, but I doubt it’s happening to any significant degree.
Memorial attendance is a good indicator, although memorial attendance figures during the pandemic were all over the place, probably due to a combination of people reacting during a crisis, and the fact that Zoom complicated what counts as attendance.
One figure that is near impossible to falsify is the number of congregations, so I pay particlar attention to those numbers. The increase in congregations is much slower than publishers in Ireland. Yet, compared with other churches in Europe, any increase in number of congregations is an achievement against a backdrop of churches in steep decline and secularisation.
There are probably more UFO's than JW's in Ireland. 😄
Is UFO another one of those acronym thingies, like PIMO, etc? Unidentified Furtive/Fuming Objectors?
