melbourne: central cong,hawthorn east ,heidelberg ,preston ,reservoir,.
nsw : gosford .
qld:redcliffe,.
UK
Birmingham Hockley ( a.k.a later Winson Green ) 1960--66
West Bromwich Churchfield ( yes--really ) 1966--71- Pioneer and mags /territory servant.
Shanklin Isle of Wight 1971-81. Resigned in 1973--but attended some meetings to keep wife off my back. Most of the congregation knew i was out--but most treated me pleasantly, a few elders were openly hostile.
i created a site called www.dadseekingtruth.com to tell my journey since walking away from being a slave of the watchtower for 35 years.
i left on the 21st february on my 56th birthday.. .
i was sentenced to 5 years for my neutral stand in south africa.
hi--welcome to the site.
you mention the west midlands--i take that to mean near Birmingham UK?
i haven't a clue if it's technically feasible but i think if you're going to hit the dislike button on a post you should be open to discussion with the poster.. just your own topics and posts of course.
what do you think simon?.
who disliked my reply ? grrrrrr
i haven't a clue if it's technically feasible but i think if you're going to hit the dislike button on a post you should be open to discussion with the poster.. just your own topics and posts of course.
what do you think simon?.
i agree with Nicolaou.
i want to know who dislikes my posts
" and a mighty cry went out over all the land: "sell !
sell !
sell !
Some K.H's that were sold have ended up being Mosques
jehovah has left the building...
.......so allah moved in.
" and a mighty cry went out over all the land: "sell !
sell !
sell !
Following the successful sale of the Ryde, Isle of Wight UK hall mentioned in the OP--it is now a busy animal hospital--much better use of the premesis. I see it whenever i go to the local Tesco superstore--or McDonalds next door. Its a very busy locale.
After the sell off--i had a couple knock my door--so i mentioned the sale--and asked the reason. The reply was dwindling numbers attending--and the money raised is being used to build more halls in Africa. I laughed till i cried--it still makes me chuckle.
Ironically--around the same time. a church even nearer to me had a superb renovation--with a glass frontage. Its doing a roaring trade.
i just found out from my jehovah's witness cousin that my old congregation is being shuttered due to lack of elders, less than 20 members attending, and that the congregation cannot meet their monthly expenses.. here is a congregation that was started in 1975 with less than 15 members.
it grew to 185 members in the 1990's.
the congregation grew so large that the elders decided to split the congregation in two.
i wonder if there are any KHs that are NOT now owned by the watchtower?
There must be a fair few that were built with cash donated , loaned by members--bequeathed in wills etc---that were NEVER mortgaged to the society ?
i just found out from my jehovah's witness cousin that my old congregation is being shuttered due to lack of elders, less than 20 members attending, and that the congregation cannot meet their monthly expenses.. here is a congregation that was started in 1975 with less than 15 members.
it grew to 185 members in the 1990's.
the congregation grew so large that the elders decided to split the congregation in two.
its positive decline--also known as negative growth.
inspired by the "whats the reason you think jw's are in decline" thread.
my belief is that almost all the growth, at least in the western world is due to jw's having kids.
i was a 4th generation jw from birth till about age 20, so the timeframe i can comment on would be my teen years.
i recall in the last cong i was in--in the early 70,--there was a huge growth spurt--all the new members will simply jw families having moved from other parts of the country.
Then there was quite a buzz when a new young couple, with a child started to attend. But it was no good--they were both grown up jw kids who had left in their teens to sow wild outs--got together--and came back on board to get their cards stamped before 1975.
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 ?.
