Jhine - I agree with what you’re saying. But the point that I’m trying make, which certainly puts me in the minority, is that when doing comparisons with other faiths the JWs have done really quite well. I attend the Catholic Church now. I have to ask myself where are all the Caucasian people, as it’s a congregation mainly made up of Philippinos, and Indians. Even the Catholic Church is losing its local members.
joe134cd
JoinedPosts by joe134cd
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43
Research paper on Effects of Shunning
by peacefulpete inafter being around this site for 21 years now, i've heard many recount their stories and feelings.
many times i can immediately relate but other times they seem to have had a very different experience with the church.
i'm sure that is because not only are all of us different in personality, but congregations and family dynamics vary as well.
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Research paper on Effects of Shunning
by peacefulpete inafter being around this site for 21 years now, i've heard many recount their stories and feelings.
many times i can immediately relate but other times they seem to have had a very different experience with the church.
i'm sure that is because not only are all of us different in personality, but congregations and family dynamics vary as well.
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joe134cd
In comparison to mormons, that have more money. The JW are bigger in bums on seats on a Sunday.
The stats in year books are, at the very least, believable.
Their growth, be it small, is bucking the trend of general decline in religion.
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Research paper on Effects of Shunning
by peacefulpete inafter being around this site for 21 years now, i've heard many recount their stories and feelings.
many times i can immediately relate but other times they seem to have had a very different experience with the church.
i'm sure that is because not only are all of us different in personality, but congregations and family dynamics vary as well.
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joe134cd
Jhine - Gosh where do I start!:
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5183083536449536/statistics-out-yet
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/4871714881142784/three-children-families-stop-step-decline-mormon-membership
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5748058095616000/jws-bigger-more-successful-mormon-church
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5926017217593344/lds-statistics-extension-may-suggest-that-jws-could-bigger-more-engaged-membership
Just for the record. I do believe the figures printed in the annual report to be true. I have also noted a similar thing in my local area. The country census is twice that reported in the yearbook. This would suggest the 20million figure bill for the memorial to be with in limits.
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Research paper on Effects of Shunning
by peacefulpete inafter being around this site for 21 years now, i've heard many recount their stories and feelings.
many times i can immediately relate but other times they seem to have had a very different experience with the church.
i'm sure that is because not only are all of us different in personality, but congregations and family dynamics vary as well.
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joe134cd
This would support what slimboy fat and myself have been trying to argue. That the activity rates of JWs, compared to other religious traditions, are exceptional. It’s nice to see someone else backs us up.
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Governing Body: The growth we have is a sign of Jehovah’s blessing.
by RULES & REGULATIONS inthis looks like your typical watchtower study meeting.
lots of empty seats.. twenty-five years ago my old congregation had around 180 congregation members.
the elders decided to split the congregation in two.
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joe134cd
I have cut and pasted this from another thread that I commented on…
I saw a similar thing in my local area, with regard to the aging population of JWs. I have been physically gone from the JW religion, for just over a decade. Prior to this I spent about 18-24 months as a PIMO. During this time I was assigned the task of counting the meeting attendance. 4 things really stood out to me.
(1) at any given meeting there was an average of 20-25% of publishers who weren’t there.
(2)If you had the Sunday afternoon meeting there were virtually no under 25 year olds present. Guess they had better things to do.
(3)I too noticed a similar thing to the previous poster. At least 2/3 of the congregation were 50 years or older. I also noticed particularly at conventions the absence of those in the 18-30 year old bracket.
(4)The were no elders in my congregation who didn’t have a full head of grey hair.
Generally speaking I found it an aging religion. Where by a quarter of that membership was absent. Bearing in mind that this is ten years ago. I’d hate to think what it looks like now. I’m just so glad I got out when I did.
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Are the statistics out yet?
by slimboyfat inisn’t it about time they released the report for the service year?
or have they stopped publishing it?
did they released selected figures at the annual meeting as they usually do, such as the memorial attendance or record number of pioneers?
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joe134cd
I was going to say another good example of redistribution is that of the Iglasea ni Christ (church of Christ). I was attending their services for a couple of months after leaving the JW. This is a religion that relies heavily on the migration out of the Philippines into western style countries. When I was going they were talking about purchasing property to build a church because of the phenomenal growth taking place, and it was to. The rented facilities was at capacity. Yet I was the only one there who wasn’t born in the Philippines. They even highlighted an jw assembly hall that had purchased by the InC in Spain. To highlight the growth and god blessing. Needless to say I had to chuckle to myself.
Yet really had the InC grown in real terms internationally. Had it attracted members who weren’t Philippines. Or was it a result of existing members been redistributed. You decide
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Are the statistics out yet?
by slimboyfat inisn’t it about time they released the report for the service year?
or have they stopped publishing it?
did they released selected figures at the annual meeting as they usually do, such as the memorial attendance or record number of pioneers?
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joe134cd
I guess what Slim is saying “ it more a reshuffle, rather than actual growth.”
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169
Are the statistics out yet?
by slimboyfat inisn’t it about time they released the report for the service year?
or have they stopped publishing it?
did they released selected figures at the annual meeting as they usually do, such as the memorial attendance or record number of pioneers?
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joe134cd
I enjoyed the analogy of the sand sand castle, with the waves of the internet destroying it.
I saw a similar thing in my local area, with regard to the aging population of JWs. I have been physically gone from the JW religion, for just over a decade. Prior to this I spent about 18-24 months as a PIMO. During this time I was assigned the task of counting the meeting attendance. 4 things really stood out to me.
(1) at any given meeting there was an average of 20-25% of publishers who weren’t there.
(2)If you had the Sunday afternoon meeting there were virtually no under 25 year olds present. Guess they had better things to do.
(3)I too noticed a similar thing to the previous poster. At least 2/3 of the congregation were 50 years or older. I also noticed particularly at conventions the absence of those in the 18-30 year old bracket.
(4)The were no elders in my congregation who didn’t have a full head of grey hair.
Generally speaking I found it an aging religion. Where by a quarter of that membership was absent. Bearing in mind that this is ten years ago. I’d hate to think what it looks like now. I’m just so glad I got out when I did.
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169
Are the statistics out yet?
by slimboyfat inisn’t it about time they released the report for the service year?
or have they stopped publishing it?
did they released selected figures at the annual meeting as they usually do, such as the memorial attendance or record number of pioneers?
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joe134cd
Jeffro - They just can’t be directly compared with datasets that count membership differently.
This is simply not true:
I've broken the video into time slots to give a more definitive and direct answer. The video is fascinating, and may force us to rethink our position on JW statistics. I would hope that MR JWFACTS will read this as well. The real discusion on statistics is from the 21min - 1:45 mark.
21-31min A similar observation is made, to Slim, with regard to church attendance. The exception is that he was a Mormon Bishop covering two Australian states.
i have argued many times that number of congregations is the best statistic for comparison for number reasons.
50min - 1hour They support slims argument on counting congregations.
1:33 - 1:44 Activity rates in the UK at around 14.7% of the 188,000 members claimed by the LDS. Interestingly he makes the statement that there could be 30,000 active members in Australia. Considering that the Australian JW figure is 67,000, could reflect JW membership is considerably higher at an international level.
1:03 - 1:07 If it wasn't for Africa the LDS would of been in decline 4-5 years ago. In recent times the LDS has only just managed to grow by 1%. I think the JWs have grown by just over 1%. Lets just say their growth is comparable.
1:30 - 1:32 Units opening and closing around the world. Europe in decline. Growth in Africa. Mixed bag in north America perhaps indicating inaccurate counting by the church. South America not looking good. Asia in decline.
00:42 - 00:47 Phantom LDS members in Polynesia. Tonga could end up having more LDS than what live on the island due to inaccurate counting methods.
00:36 - 00:39 unnecessary buildings been built that cant be supported by the local members.
1:45 - 1:50 Its wealth. It has annual income of $US400 billion that it generates off its assets. WT is nothing compared to wealth of the LDS.
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169
Are the statistics out yet?
by slimboyfat inisn’t it about time they released the report for the service year?
or have they stopped publishing it?
did they released selected figures at the annual meeting as they usually do, such as the memorial attendance or record number of pioneers?
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joe134cd
I’ve always believed that the church to watch will be the Seventh Day Adventist's. I have had a little bit of involvement with them, since leaving the JWs. They have certainly got the mix right, despite having a very similar doctrine to the JWs. I believe that this religion will surpass its two relatives (LDS/JW), if it hasn’t done so already.