WTS Money

jeffk378

Does anyone else think the WTS is going to have seious money problems soon? Growth in the US has been little and with the old timers dying off there may be less and less people soon. But growth in poor countries is pretty heavy. So if the people that donate the money here in the US are gone soon and growth continues in poor countries where people have no money to donate what will happen? Will the WTS fizzle out? I just dont know whats gonna happen if it does i figure all the jws will break off into splinter groups and it will be a bigger mess. Sort of a neverending cycle. Any thoughts?

Elsewhere

I just dont know whats gonna happen if it does i figure all the jws will break off into splinter groups and it will be a bigger mess. Sort of a neverending cycle. Any thoughts?

This is the basic pattern of the Protestant Christian movement...

Members realize that [Christian Sect Name] has become a great burden to them.
Members become unhappy with [Christian Sect Name].
Members break away from [Christian Sect Name] seeking to make a "pure" and "righteous" new church.
Members realize that [New Christian Sect Name] needs to be organized better, so they start making an organizational hierarchy.
Return to Step #1.

Basically, these people are Religious Anarchists who keep making the mistake of forming organizations to govern their anarchy.

IP_SEC

Hey jeff,

Welcome to the board. I hope you are right, but I dont think its crunch time just yet. I think unless they start telling some huge lies about the numbers that it will become obvious that the growth is in the negative side of the number line.

I personally believe it is negative, and has been for a couple of years. They've just been playing a number game by reactivating some, with old timers now counting their 15 minutes and children being baptised.

They will start with cutting back production, perhaps by taking Awake! magazine back to once a month instead of bimonthly. When that doesnt help enough, they will release an updated version of the om book to scare people in to doing more. A terrorist attack may cause numbmers to pick up slightly as they did in 2002 following 9/11. Add to that a big release at the conventions to get donations flowing, as well as a brochure campaign with a propaganda-like title. Something like... I forsee "stay watchfull" or somthing like that. They will stave of the inevitable for a few years...

Uhohh? Thats what they are doing now?

The end is nigh

greendawn

Jeff, that we can't know for sure, since we don't exactly know the state of their finances, so it depends on how well they invested the profits they made in previous years or decades and what they get out of them now. I don't think they rely exclusively on donations at this point in time, and much depends on the ability of their financial planners/advisors.

jeffk378

yeah i dont think this is something that will happen in a year probably like 10 or 20 but i think its gonna happen. Sometimes i go to the kingdom hall with my wife. To be perfectly honest it doesnt look like they are pulling in new members from outside sources. It seems majority of the members are all family members like so and so's daughter just came back into the truth and brought her new hubby and thier 2 kids. Then you have the occasional minority like a puerto rican or a black family from ghana or something there and ive even seen a few members who were slightly retarded believe it or not. i dont mean that in a mean way but the wts gives these people a purpose in life that maybe they couldnt find somewhere else and i dont know if thats good or bad but my wife was raised in the truth for the past 25 yrs and shes just starting to go back even though im giving her the other side which she is taking in gradually. Her family consists of about 7 and only one is active right now her mom. I see that the other 6 including her teeter in and out but im sure some will get back in and bring thier families and that will add to the growth numbers but u see its all family related.

jeffk378

I know that they are starting to sell some brooklyn property is that a sign of anything?

jeffk378

I know that they are starting to sell some brooklyn property is that a sign of anything?

Qcmbr

At the end of the day any business organisation will cut its cloth according to its income - if the WTS really suffered money problems it would just cut down on the number of magazines published...hey hang on!

At the end of the day how much does it cost the wts to run its organisation?

Lay clergy - no cost
Buildings - big income
Publications - 20 million a month - cost 5p each £1million a month - £12 million a year (I'm just making up figures)
Wills - big income from west esp. with lots dying?
Donations - probably enough to cover light and heating?
Property sales - enough to cover new purchases?
Charity - low.
Lawsuit payments - low.
Taxation - zip.
Advertising - zip.
Design and Research - zip.
Building costs - labour free.
labour materials - non wt cost.

..of course I know nowt about wt finances but it seems it shouldnt be too expensive - enlighten me please.

Gerard

Does anyone else think the WTS is going to have seious money problems soon?

No. The WT has stock piles of printing machinery, real estate, stocks and investments, all well documented. If membership decreases in North America, the money from their third world congs will likely make its way into WT's bank accounts.

I have the feeling the WTBTS donates money to itself, but haven't found the smoking gun...yet.

jeffk378

Thats the point how much money could they possibly have in third world congs? and if they dont have money in them how can they afford to keep printing stuff? is all the printing done here in the US?

WTS Money

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