What`s the reason some of you think JW`s are in decline ?

smiddy3

From what I can see no such thing is happening.I became a JW in 1960 and remained for about 30 years and the numbers of active JW`s today in the world are far greater than they were back then.

And here in Australia the numbers are much higher than they were back then .

So I don`t see that their in decline or have any worries about losing support .

Don`t the numbers speak for themselves ?

Is it just wishful thinking on your part ?

In the UK JW numbers have fluctuated around 120,000 to 140,000 for the past 30 years. They are neither growing nor declining to any great extent. But this is in contrast with the vast majority of other churches that are in steep decline. The Church of England, Church of Scotland, and the Methodist church have all declined by well over 50% in that same period.

I thought JWs would decline after the generation teaching was dropped in 1995, and after the Internet became mainstream and ubiquitous around 2000, but it never happened. But I don’t think JWs can defy gravity forever: the same trend of secularisation that affects all other churches will eventually come to them also. That’s barring major word events such as world war, deadly plague, technological upheaval, or the like, which could disrupt long term secularisation trends unpredictably.

nicolaou

I think you could argue that the Watchtower Society HAS died, jw.org is the tombstone on its grave. The religion I grew up in through the late sixties to the new millennium barely exists anymore.

90 hours for regular pioneers, 48 full issues of Watchtower & Awake! per year, PO's, CO's and DO's, midweek book study, in-person meetings only with Bibles in hand instead of iPads.

Door-to-door work instead of stationary passive carts. Magazine routes, S8's and RV's. Detailed (but admittedly insane) study material instead of the stultifying and infantilised cartoon propaganda spewed out now.

Honestly, if the shunning policy could be overturned so that young folks could leave without penalty or stigma I wouldn't care if their membership reached 20 million or more.

dropoffyourkeylee

In this area (midwest US, rural) I get the feeling it is stagnating. Robust enthusiasm and growth from the '70's to the '90s just isn't there. Maybe the number of reported publishers hasn't changed much (roughly flat in the US for the past several years), but the religion has changed and is changing. Consolidation of congregations and circuits, and abysmally low number of baptisms tell the tale. Across the world, I think, it is another matter. I have a family member living in a third world country and they tell of lots of growth and continuing interest there.

nowwhat?

In 20 years it will be gone. I've noticed young couples are not having children

stan livedeath

they had a lot of children in the 70s. those children have had children--thats the growth.

TonusOH

I agree with nicolaou, they appear to be relaxing a lot of policies in order to keep the numbers from slipping. It's not the same religion I grew up and spent 40+ years in. But that's also not new- the WTS has changed many times over the past 100+ years, and while some of those changes were disastrous (the 1920s are a good example), they have read the winds pretty well overall and kept it together. The big threat now is that 1914 continues to fade into the past and at some point they will need to drop it or refute it, if they can find something to replace it with.

slimboyfat

In 20 years it will be gone. I've noticed young couples are not having children

It takes a long, long time for churches to die out completely. The Methodist church in the UK began declining in the 1930s and has been declining steeply ever since. Even so they will likely not die out completely until the 2040s. That’s over a hundred years of steady decline before they will close their doors entirely. JWs on the other hand have not even begun to decline yet.

This is a graph of Methodist growth and decline over a 300 year period.

https://churchmodel.org.uk/2016/11/16/the-rise-and-decline-of-british-methodism/

JW GoneBad

I was at a Circuit Assembly recently where Bro. GB Jeffrey Jackson was in-person guest speaker...he gave a talk just prior to the Baptism talk to an audience of 1,300 JWs. He walk boasting and making exaggerated comments of JW growth locally and worldwide. Then came the Baptism Talk...you'd think the speaker was talking to dozens of baptismal candidates seated before him. Then came the moment at the end of Baptism Talk where the Speaker asks the candidates to stand to answer in the affirmative the 2 Baptism questions. I kid you not...one...I repeat one young girl stood-up to be dunked!

This was not a one-off event where 1 or 2 get baptized & most other assemblies have larger percentages getting dunked. No...I've visited other forums & online discussions boards where new JW membership numbers are seriously low in the U.S.A. & other Countries.