by StarryNight9 90 Replies latest jw friends
Doubter says personal observations can be biased. Fair comment. JWs are as prone to this as anyone else, including exJWs.
But when posters include current hard numbers compared to the past, Doubter says not a word. But should someone offer an observation, Doubter jumps.
I take it that Doubter is just as reactive in their home congregation when sundry JWs offer their views on the growth.
My experience is of value, I think. If you have been gone from a congregation (one congo town) for 10 plus years, your perceptions of congregation size has to be pretty accurate. What was once a dynamic congregation of all age groups with lots of studies has shriveled to the last die-hard families (mostly elderly), and the usual in-and-out types that are odd and have a hard time coping in the regular world. I was shocked when I first visited again. A full hall is now 1/4 full, if that. The town has grown in population around 20% and is building new homes, schools, and new commercial sites, so it's not because of lack of work around town.
The CO said our congregations(@22) were suffering from horrible meeting attendance because we had the ocean in front of us and the mountains behind us.
I took it to heart and made sure I was at the beach or hiking every weekend after that.
Is Attendance Down In Your Location Too?
Does a bear poop in the woods?🤣
Seriously...for the longest time we've had publisher membership around 150 with only 80 to 90 attending. Recently two elders were removed for family related infractions. These elders and their families moved out cause they couldn't deal with the embarrassment. The C O moved a few families into the congregation cause mood & morale went down even further. Meeting attendance still suffering.
Just another day in Paradise!
Yes, attendance is down. The local congregation had 184 publishers 20 years ago. It is now down to 125. Meeting attendance is about 90 on Sunday, including phone-ins. The neighboring congregation has always had more publishers, now down to 180. They have about 90 on Sundays, plus about 30 who phone in, totaling about 120. Last Thursday they had 105, including phone-ins. But on Saturday they had 111 at their meeting for field service, doubtless many of which were ghost publishers. I don’t know how many actually went out to preach, but I heard the field service meeting was at 10am and it took until 11am to leave the parking lot. They had advertised heavily for a month that EVERYONE should be there - the entire congregation. There are three large clans over there, so you can imagine there was a lot of arm twisting the past couple of weeks.
In Ohio some congregations merged and some got dissolved recently. I was at a hall for years and saw the meeting attendance go from around 95 to 45 in the last 10 years. Now I'm at another hall and I heard an elder say, "we just had another congregation join with ours. We were busting at the seams for 3 weeks right after the merge. And now (a month after that) we are barley over what we used to have before the merge!" Seems the merging JW's came to get a quick look-see and went back to their fishing business.
If you've read this thread through to this point, then you know it's painting a picture of reduced meeting attendance across the board.
This is particularly true of the midweek meeting[s] 50% now. Remember there were 2 well attended midweek meetings during the wt hay days?
It used to be a school, building personalities, now a sales meeting cum indoctrination session. No more cosy small groups going into details in home settings.
Midweek meetings are a bore except for bullies, so the rank and file senses that and voting with their slippers at home.
hey, The hay days are over. get over it. (until there is an end of the world scare) again.
Wife's congregation is much smaller than it used to be. She even told me that the hall feels empty now. It's not empty but definitely less in attendance. I should drive by to check the parking lot during a meeting.
I've got relatives from the Midwest that told my wife, not me of course, that their meeting attendance has gone down a lot in the past few years. They're older and concerned their hall will be sold and they'll have to travel a lot farther.
I've heard a lot more witnesses are using the call in option and listening to the meeting. Probably depends on congregation.
Wonder if the dial a cult (call option) JW has to make consistent contributions for such privileges.
Love these comments ...
LTPF - "Seems the merging JW's came to get a quick look-see and went back to their fishing business."
Waton - "Midweek meetings are a bore except for bullies, so the rank and file senses that and voting with their slippers at home."
