Publisher numbers versus baptised witnesses.

amandm

I grew up as a Witness, and left about 10 years ago, I'm currently researching Witness numbers for a project I'm working on, and I can't seem to get an accurate number of baptised witnesses - hardly a surprise!

From their website it looks like they list the number of publishers instead of the number of baptised witnesses, so it totally works to obscure how many actual Witnesses there are, apart from the fact it's morally dubious to class a publisher as a minister of God as they refer to publishers on their UK section of the site.

I also am trying to work out how many leave every year, even approximate figures would be great, from their own website it just looks like they try to massage figures to make them look as favourable as possible.

RubaDub

Actually the JW numbers published are generally lower than most other religions.

The JW Publisher numbers do include a large number of non-baptized ones, mainly young ones whose parents are JWs. Once a young one "participates" in the preaching work, they are, by default, publishers and can count time. Just to throw a number at the wall, the age would be somewhere around 5 years old or so, depending on the child and the BOE.

On the other hand, many people claim to belong to a particular religion and have little if anything to do with it and the numbers are greatly inflated. Think about how many people claim to be Catholic but may never have set foot in their church since they were a child ... if at all. The same goes with many other religions.

Rub a Dub

Phizzy

When I first left I tried to make sense of the numbers. Very difficult, as the baptized number will be necessarily already be Publishers. As to numbers leaving, one would have to allow for the normal death rate, but this may be slightly higher than the average, as JW's are an ageing lot.

It was patently obvious that even taking those things in to account, there are thousands of "missing" JW's over the decades, some may of course be still attending, but inactive and therefore not counted.

I would hazard a guess, not based upon much, that about 15% leave in any one year, but before that have become inactive.

There even could be millions of ex JW's still alive ???

JW GoneBad

amandm: "I also am trying to work out how many leave every year, even approximate figures would be great,"

WT boasts having + or - 120,000 congregations worldwide. I would venture a guess that up to 5 on average per congregation fade & become seriously inactive annually! That's roughly 600,000 per year. This is the current trend. That number may seem high to some...don't forget that the number of congregation mergers & Kingdom Hall sell-off is also high and risen!

Add in the fact that there are next to zero new outside converts to replace those that are on the fade.

Bottom line...there is a sizable exodus currently taking place among the JW rank and file not to mention the large number of JWs dealing with cognitive dissonance...Yay!👍

peacefulpete

The JWs are growing, don't knock yourself out because of it. Scientologists are growing even faster despite a decade of horrible press. Its just humans being humans. Promises and smiles make the world go round. The best we can do is educate people about high control group techniques and assist those who need a welcoming place to make sense of the experience they are having.

JW GoneBad

peacefulpete: The JWs are growing, don't knock yourself out because of it.

Many a JW are backsliding when it comes to meeting attendance alone. The number of those opting to stay home and call in on their phones is on the rise. And why are more & more missing meetings...cause of the sheer boredom of these midweek and weekend gatherings. So if the rank & file are showing a cooling-off trend it stands to reason that outsiders will pickup the negative vibes and not bother with the stupidity of this cult as well.

The only growth you're seeing, peacefulpete, is from babies and toddlers of JW parents.

road to nowhere

Dont forget all the old ones who cant see to drive at night, are too crippled to sit In Luxury seating, and just plain dont have time to drive 40 minutes to the consolidated hall. The plodding meetings dont help either

How many of still going will not encourage a study or householder to really convert, we secretly envy them

peacefulpete

The only growth you're seeing, peacefulpete, is from babies and toddlers of JW parents

Not going to get into any debates about the quality of the membership, I'm just saying if there is growth, not to be bothered by it. You are not going to see the demise of the religion. It will be around in 50 years and likely much longer. It is constantly reinventing itself and adapting. You have your life to live. Waiting for the end of the WT is likely to lead to just as much disappointment as the WT has about the end of the world.

Crazyguy2

Look at older threads on this site. The year books state how many baptisms per year. They also show how many people are missing per year. Start at looking at these threads. You’ll find the jws are greatly exaggerating their numbers.

Im willing to bet there’s less then 4 million actual baptized jws in the world and the number of ones leaving are higher then back after the 1995 change in the generation teaching, where it looks as though for a few years after they lost about 250,000 per year.

BluesBrother

If they counted all the baptized, I and most others on here would be included. At least as it is, six months after stop reporting you are not counted and generally slip off the radar

Publisher numbers versus baptised witnesses.

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