So is there any truth to more Northeast Ohio congregations being merged or dissolved? (page 2)

EverApostate

JW is Growing in India for sure, so as the Pentecostal and other young christian denominations.

Bad_Wolf

"Eventually things will decline to the point where they will have to do it all over again...and in the far future, Kingdom Halls will be a very rare thing"

In the near future everybody will be directed to download and print ALL of their literature. Eventually meetings will be done online and everybody who wants to survive armageddon will have to show their support and membership by having a monthly automatic withdrawal from their account for the GB and Friends and their televised religion.

sir82

In the US, it's only been Spanish congregations that kept the numbers afloat.

I remember an elders' school, 10+ years ago, back when the count of publishers in teh USA was right around 1 million even.

The instructor said there were about 250,000 JWs in Spanish-language congregations at that time.

That was (of course) about 25% back then - I strongly suspect the ratio is much higher now.

Many of those "refugee / immigrant-filed congregations" I referred to in my earlier post are Spanish-language congregations in the USA. There are many other foreign-language congregations filled with desperate (or lonely) (or want-a-free-education-in-learning-American-culture) immigrants in the USA as well.

I would bet my house that the number of "traditional", English-language congregation members in the USA is well below the number of 10 years ago, and continues to decline.

Part of that, of course, is from "superstar JWs" wanting to look like superstars and transferring to help where "the need is greater".

But I suspect at least as much, maybe more, is just plain old attrition - JWs dying, fading, and getting DFed and not getting replaced.

stuckinarut2

I personally know of two KHalls in Australia that are being sold off, and the congregations around those areas are being amalgamated into others...

Halls that were only recently renovated too! (With funds from the local witnesses! I bet they would like their money back!?)

jonahstourguide

Hey stuckinarut2, in Melbourne its starting also. Two bayside khalls are earmarked for sale and congregants will be told to go elsewhere. A foreign language group has already moved to another hall.

jtg

steve2

JW is Growing in India for sure

Relatively speaking they are growing.

Remember India is one of the earliest "foreign" lands to host JWs (who were then known as Bible Students).

The first Watchtower missionaries went to India before the end of the 18th Century (yes that long ago!) and, currently, in a land of over 1.3 billion, JWs have yet to reach 50,000. That equates to one JW for almost 30,000 Indians. How often would they be covering the territory?? Talk about barely scraping the surface.

I also hear many JW converts are from South India where the Christian presence is more common - yet another instance of JWs benefiting from the Christianizing softeningeffects of earlier non-JW missionaries. Oh, and lastly, the branch office in India has closed - there are stories about financial shenaningans in that branch office with many red-faced JWs caught and disfellowshipped.

Londo111

That was (of course) about 25% back then - I strongly suspect the ratio is much higher now.

According to the Pew Poll, it looks like it is now nearly a third.

nowwhat?

The Avon lake congregation was dissolved a little over a year ago. They only had about 40 congregants

So is there any truth to more Northeast Ohio congregations being merged or dissolved?

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