insidetheKH

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Posts by insidetheKH

• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  @village this thread is about growth and the question if the new ones are born ins or came through the witnessing work.

  Anyone who can do math can figure out that the majority of growth comes from the witnessing work, It's very simple. Local or regional situations do not matter.

  let me give you an example.

  lets assume that in the last 10 years JW's got 800,000 babies and that they all became publishers (the real nr of babies is far less cause this number is based on 8 million publishers).

  and lets assume that during the same decade 500,000 JW's died and that 400,000 were df'd or da'd

  compare that with the actual growth over 10 years. around 2004 there were about 6 million average publishers. in 2014 there were about 7.9 million average publishers.

  so that is +1.9 million.

  Its obvious this cant come from births. They are (assuming that 100% of those kids become publishers) barely enough to keep up with death rate and nr of df'd/da'd ones.

  conclusion the majority of new members comes from outside of the organisation
  
• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  @Outlaw it is not a lie. it is what JW's are supposed to believe. Look it up in the study watchtower of this coming weekend.
  
• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  @DD if you read what i wrote you would have known that i did not tell that local experience as a basis for proof.

  On the contrary i showed it only to make clear to @Village that local examples can't be extrapolated to the rest of the world.

  if we talk about growth lets stick to the facts. The facts are clear... growth rates,,.. birth rates.. death rates etc etc
  
• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  @outlaw this discussion is about growth not about pinocchio.

  and the growth continues as we speak,.. only 27 weeks to go to 8.4 million publishers.
  
• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  @village at this moment most growth is indeed in latin/south america, africa, asia. And indeed there is still growth in the US and some other western countries. But also the situation in western countries we should see in the right perspective. The last 5 decades Europe/U.S are becoming secular at high speed. Church attendance and membership is dropping ultrafast. Churches are closing down etc etc. In that kind of environment JW's hold ground or even manage to grow slightly. That on itself is significant.
  

  Informal witnessing is a great way too. But lets not forget that JW's do not believe that they'll have to convert people. They just give a witness and believe that it is Jehovah who makes sure the desireable things of the nations will find their way into the kingdom halls.
  
• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  @village we should never extrapolate our own experience in a local kingdom hall to the rest of the world. But just look at the bigger picture, results and statistics over the years.

  based on that we can make a fair conclusion that there is growth and that for the most part this growth comes from outsiders and not born ins.

  average annual death rate 0.8%

  average annual nr of df'd/da'd 0.4%
  

  average annual birth rate 1.5% (at most as explained above, but probably less. Besides that how many of them will eventually become a JW?)

  average annual growth rate (for lets say the last decade) more than 2%

  Talking about personal experiences. The congregation i am in (this is my fourth year in this congregation) baptised during that period 5 persons. All of them were not born ins and were recruited through the preaching work. None of them is 'mentally unstable'. Also added are 3 unbaptised publishers, also no born ins and brought in via the preaching work. One of them will be baptised this summer at the district convention.

  I live in a highly secular western society. People here have high incomes and high levels of education. I just tell this to show that personal experiences at a local kingdom hall won't show any of us the big picture.
• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  @village whatever the cause of growth was.. does not matter. Fact is people came in through the preaching work and still do
  
• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  Yes - past tense.

  Since the mid-90's, the preaching work is increasingly inefficient and ineffective.

  @sir82 not at all. Like i stated above the average annual growth of the world population these days is about 1% the Average growth of JW's is around 2-2.5%
  

  Keep in mind that the nr of births among JWs is even lower compared to the general population (because of kingdom interests or this present system of things, hence satans world). That means that a big part of their annual growth is coming from outside of the organisation.
• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  And why was there a 2% increase during the 1960s?

  
  

  
  

  @Village you mean the average growth of the world population? because of the baby boom. economic growth, a fast growing middle class, food for everyone. baby booms signify good times and periods of general economic growth and stability
• 
  72

  Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?

  by ToesUp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.

  is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?

  are not billions of lives still at stake?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  insidetheKH

  I'm sure by now the GB has realized that preaching doesn't generate new converts; it never really did.

  
  

  @redvip that is simply not true. Average anual population growth is now about 1%,.. during the sixties and during the last century it never was higher than about 2%

  
  

  However the annual growth of JW's was much higher than the average population growth almost every single year. Bisides that many JW couples decide(d) not to take children because they place kingdom interests first or think that this system of things is not the right environment to raise children in,

  
  In my congregations there are a lot of couples (pioneers en elders) that never got any children just because of that. So the birth rate among JW's is even less than the average birth rate in the world that surrounds them.

  
  

  Conclusion: a lot of people came in through the preaching work. Even several members of the governing body are examples of that. take for example Gerrit Losch or Tony Morris III