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Russia2008 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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“Back then, there were remarkable numbers baptized at assemblies and conventions; it could be 10 percent or more of those attending. Not all congregations had enough responsible brothers to meet the need for elders and ministerial servants. One elder was even serving as the presiding overseer of five congregations! He asked me to give the Memorial talk for one of these congregations. In attendance were 804 people, and they had to leave the hall right after the talk because another congregation needed to meet there. As it turned out, the speaker for the second talk had a car accident on his way to the hall and could not arrive on time, so I had to give the talk again. That time 796 were in attendance! So for just two congregations, we had a Memorial attendance of 1,600, which shows the tremendous interest that people had in the truth at that time.”
JEHOVAH ‘SPEEDS UP’ THE HARVEST
In his Word, Jehovah promised to ‘speed up’ the gathering of his “desirable things.” (Isa. 60:22; Hag. 2:7) In 1980 there were 65 publishers in St. Petersburg who despite close surveillance by the KGB tried to hold conversations on Bible topics with the residents of the city. By 1990, more than 170 Witnesses were street witnessing informally in various parts of the city. In March 1991, the activities of the Witnesses in Russia were registered, and soon five congregations were active in the city. The international convention in St. Petersburg in 1992, as well as other theocratic events, resulted in rapid growth. In 2006, more than 70 congregations were active in St. Petersburg.
In 1995 there was only one congregation in Astrakhan, not far from the Kazakhstan border. The congregation had no elders or ministerial servants. Nevertheless, the brothers held both a circuit assembly and a special assembly day. The talks on the program were given by elders who traveled more than 430 miles [700 km] from Kabardino-Balkaria. These brothers did not know beforehand how many were going to be baptized at these assemblies. Roman Skiba recalls: “Another elder and I arrived two weeks before an assembly was scheduled in order to go out in field service with the congregation and to go over the questions with those desiring to be baptized. However, it turned out that we had absolutely no time to go out in the ministry. All of our time went to the discussions with 20 possible baptismal candidates!”
In Yekaterinburg in 1999, the brothers invited several merchants from a market to the Memorial. The merchants asked if they could invite their friends as well. How surprised the Witnesses were when about 100 people showed up at the hall! Although the rented hall was large, some had to stand.
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Russia2008 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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In 1994, just in Ivanovo alone, there were 125 publishers, and 1,008 people attended the Memorial. During the same year, 62 from Ivanovo were baptized at the district convention. A new congregation had formed in one day! Now in Ivanovo Oblast, 1,800 Kingdom proclaimers are busy in the Lord’s work.
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Russia2008 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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[Graph]
(See publication)
Total Publishers
Total Pioneers
Total Publishers
Total Pioneers
Total publishers in the 15 countries of the former U.S.S.R.
360,000
300,000
240,000
180,000
120,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 1990 2000
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