1/2 of the Jehovah’s witnesses have gone

hoser

There are 1/2 of the Jehovah’s witnesses that there were 30 years ago in my area

Some have left but I think that many have died and none of their kids stayed being Jehovah’s witnesses

How to I know?

7 congregations have been dissolved over the years

We used to have 2 circuit assemblies with each having about 900 in attendance total of 1800.

They brought it down to one assembly and we had 1200 to 1300 attending.

Recently we have about 900 in attendance of formerly 1800

Im not counting the zoom faders that watch at home

Acluetofindtheuser

Hey! I'm one of the zoom faders. There can be around 60 on zoom and there is an unknown amount on KHConf. A good number of zoomers don't go to the circuit assembly.

About half of the California hall JW attendees I knew are gone (dead, dfed, now pomo) and not replaced with converts or kids. Entire congregations in the Silicon Valley have been dissolved, with halls sold and circuit sections (a,b,c) combined.

When surfing old JW congregation members, friends, and JW family Facebook profiles, I am surprised at how many now have birthday, Christmas, and political subject family photos of themselves and their now non JW kids.

DesirousOfChange

That 1/2 of JWs are gone does not surprise me.

The fact that 1/2 are still there is what amazes me!

Phizzy

" The fact that 1/2 are still there is what amazes me! "

I have felt that way for years, but particularly since the unbelievably ridiculous Overlapping Generation thing came in, how can anyone not see what nonsense that is ??

And yet thinking back, a lot of J.W's over 50 years ago, when the Org. came out with something that deified logic, reason and fact etc. would simply say " Oh that's all too deep for me"., and carry on regardless.

They trusted that the Org. must have it right.

There "faith" is in a few old men who twist and misuse Scripture, a blind faith if ever there was one.

With the bleeding of numbers it is plain the Org. has lost even that grip they once had, and of that "half" that remain, I would wager only a miniscule percentage are really of the old 100% believing kind that used to be a majority in the Org.

Over 90% of those that remain I guess are there for other reasons than belief, the Org. is now more of a Social Club than a religion.

WingCommander

Only the truly old, and truly brain-dead and possibly ignorant, sheltered, homeschooled offspring remain. At least, that's what's left in my area. That, and those large construction-owning "Legacy" families. You know the ones; they all are Elders with businesses who's kids intermarry with other elite Elder business own families and basically run the entire Kingdom Hall with an iron fist.

So to summarize:

1. Old timers that are so invested, they can't leave or they'd mentally crack and then die from the shock.

2. Homeschooled morons with ZERO critical thinking skills.

3. Legacy Families. Multi-generational families who's Elduh fathers own businesses, employ pauper JW's, and their children marry other Legacy family children and run the KH as MS's, Elduh's, and snooty entitled Elderette bee-itches. They've seemingly got it made, so even if they "woke up" to the BS, they're so surrounded and intermarried into the cult that they're nearly forced to remain in agony, or else completely up and leave after waking up their immediate family. (it does happen on occasion though)

4. 3rd World immigrants who don't yet have access to the internet to Google "JW's." This segment is actually shrinking as more and more of the world is connected to the information superhighway via smartphones and tablets, etc.

This cult is circling the bowl, hence WT HQ's self-preservation tactics of Irish investment portfolios, real estate portfolios, and the push for multi-media. I fully expect a pay-for-play subscription service to kick-off once the Ram-A-Poo studios are completed. These investments and the selling off of property will ensure that the con-men at the top, remain at the compound to live a cushy life for decades to come, unless the US Government and the lawsuits bleed them dry of all their money. Death by a 1000 CSA lawsuits would be VERY fitting, IMHO.

Anyone between the ages of 18-50 who has 2 fully functioning brain cells, a smart phone, and even the most basic of "Huh, that doesn't seem to make sense" floating around in their heads, has Googled this cult and started down the rabbit hole and towards being POMO.

JW's: It's like Scientology 2.0 now. A complete laughing stock of fraud and despair. Who actually joins Scientology? Nobody. Only children of Scientologists, and that's rarer and rarer. Circling the bowl.

Will the last person out, shut off the Old Light? lol

greenhornet

Were am at ,there are 3 KHs in my city and all of these and the surrounding areas still have the KHs , so no change. I have no idea what the attendance is now. I left the Borg when Pagers were the big thing.

slimboyfat

My congregation has had similar numbers for 30 years now. It was slightly larger in the 1980 and dropped a bit in the mid 90s. But the composition has changed dramatically. Now around a third of congregation are African immigrants.

LongHairGal

WING COMMANDER:

You got it pretty much right with the categories of people who still remain in the Jehovah’s Witnesses after so many others have left…But, I think with the homeschooled bit you maybe might find more of that in more rural places in the USA. But, with the rest you are exactly right.

I’m one of the people who left after the 1995 Generation teaching. Even though I had a long list of grievances and was treated badly because I worked, this was the last straw.. I had no family in the religion holding me hostage so I just walked.. Great feeling..

Glad to not be anywhere near this now and sorry about those who didn’t plan for their senior years. But, I’d never tolerate people trying to corner me asking for $$. Nope.👎

joey jojo

Wing commander, your description of legacy families is right on the money.

The borg must really love those sprawling JW dynasties.