Simon has made some good points, and I'm sure others than myself have a more informed opinion, but when a "company" starts selling off the family silver, i.e. it's physical assets, isn't that usually a classic sign of "panic" or at least a company in crisis?
I realise this has been happening in other countries for a while, but it's interesting that this is now happening in Britain at this time, and not in a subtle way burning away in the background, but in a big announcement letter to all congregations. As to the answer of why Britain and why now, there's the obvious stuff going on in the courts which could likely be causing the cash grab. A few other possible additional reasons though:
- Coming in November, it seems quite likely they now have the 2013-2014 service year-end figures, so it's possible that Britain is once again showing a decrease, as they did in 2001 and 2003.
That's surprising to me from what I saw and heard anecdotally from baptism figures at the summer conventions which looked about average or above. It's possible there have been a lot of people leaving though - young folks are getting wise to the cult younger and younger. I've also thought that future conditions are not looking favourable for much growth in the foreign language field as Britain is wanting to take a much firmer stand on immigration. - Again, I don't put much stock in my own opinion, but I would say on the property market it's also probably about the right time to be selling up - interest rates could be going up in the 18 months, there's a lot of uncertainty around the election next year, whether Britain will be taken out of the E.U. and also the economic state of the E.U. itself which has a huge effect as a trading partner of the U.K. whether it is still part of the E.U. or not. So the property market is probably close to peaking.