The first thing I read when I get the new Kingdom Ministry are the Service Report figures. I was surprised to see that for the month of April, the auxiliary pioneers were far less than what they had been in previous years, even though the number of dubs preaching were over 1 million. Compare April 2004 with April 2000, and you can see a massive drop off in zeal, during the famous "Memorial Season"
United States
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auxiliary pioneers
April 2004 - 80,041
March 2004 - 71,054
April 2003 - 92,736
March 2003 - 103,332
April 2002 - 51,217
March 2002 - 126,378 - Note: 126,378 were able to share as auxilary pioneers
April 2001 - 123,562
March 2001 - 45,808
April 2000 - 153, 774 - Note: The insert in the March issue of Our Kingdom Ministry posed the
question "Can we Make April 2000 Our Best Month Ever" We are happy to
report that in April we had a new peak of 153,774 auxiliary pioneers!
Anyone has a guess at why the auxiliary pioneers this year are so low, considering "the urgency of the times we live in?" The figures for regular pioneers, although not quoted here, have remain fairly static over the last 5 years. Even though the US report tops the million mark for total publishers every other month, the number getting baptized is still way over 2,000 - yet the number of publishers does not seem to have kept pace.
It looks like the days of having over 150,000 auxiliary pioneers are over.