the Netherlands received 22.1 Million dollars for a new Assembly Hall,... verified (6 more european countries will follow)
I highly doubt the branch is planning on taking the money and running. And, frankly, I'm not about to impute a bad motive here regarding this being a money grab, other than to say: it's guaranteed income for the Society. Before, with the KH Construction fund, it was more loosy-goosy with whatever people wanted to donate. I'd have to check what the average is for our cong, but I can't recall it ever being more than $400 in any given month. If they decided to have a 'suggested amount' per publisher, say, $8.50, and the number of publishers was 80 in a congregation, that's a guaranteed revenue stream of $680 per month, or $8,160 per year. Multiply that by just 13,714 congregations (the number of congs in the U.S. according to the 2014 yearbook), and that's a guaranteed revenue stream of $9,325,520 PER MONTH, or $111,906,240 PER YEAR on the U.S. congregations alone. (That ought to take care of at least 5 of those Assembly Halls in Europe, right emeth?)
Of course, I don't know that there is any suggested amount per publisher, but $8.50 seems to be a number they like to use for other donation arrangements, so I've used that here as an example.
The more I think about this, the more brilliant a move I think it is on their part. I don't like it, but it is brilliant.
So, no, JWs don't pass a collection plate, but they are now requiring each congregation to pay a pre-agreed upon resolved amount. I'm not sure what the difference is. Oh, wait, yes I am... with a collection plate, one gives from their heart. With a pre-agreed upon resolved amount, one gives under compulsion.
