[UntoHim]

Ray,
First of all, I am only aware of (and concerned with) the Local Churches in North America. It’s not that I don’t care for all the dear believers in other parts of the world, it’s just that is all I have experience with and frankly it’s all I have time for!

Maybe you get around a lot more than I do, but I must tell you I have made a rather concerted effort to find out the raw numbers and I think they are down…considerably down…from the heyday back in the 70s and early 80s. Yes, there may be a city here or there that now has a church of 50-100 members where only a few existed before, but I am talking about the USA and Canada in general. If the Local Church was growing, even slightly, in these two countries you can be sure they would be tooting their horn big time. During the heyday years they were not shy at all about giving out some raw numbers. Now it is like pulling teeth. Up to 5 or 6 years ago they were publishing a church directory (of sorts), complete with the names of the elders, phone numbers and even email address. My understanding is that this directory has been discontinued. Why? The main reason is that don’t want nosy outsiders (and probably people like me) trying to figure out an accurate number of regular attending members.

As to the FTTA, it is my understanding that there are a considerable number of foreign “students” (mostly Asian of course). Many of them come to the USA for college and end up staying for the FTTA. Again, I can’t be sure of this, but I have sources that have told me that this is the case. I can, however, give you a concrete example. I live in a major metropolitan area of several million people. There is a Local Church here. As far as I know they have only sent ONE, yes, that is ONE American brother to the FTTA in the last few years. There may be a sister as well but I can’t confirm that for now. Maybe this is just a little co-wink-ee-dink, but I don’t think so.

Now as far as the college presence, I think you may be confusing quantity with quality. As far as the college campus work is concerned, the Local Church is a mile wide and an inch deep. In the recent past, they have been targeting “key cities”….almost all of them college towns. This campaign has been a dismal failure so far. Why? I can tell you why. It is because God is doing something among the young people in America again. Many are moving past and beyond their baby-boomer parent’s milk-toast Christian religion. They are seeking truth. Unlike most of the kids of my generation, they can tell truth from religious dogma, and they have some recent history to help them. Anyway, I think the vast majority of kids nowadays can sniff out the Local Church religion in a heartbeat. They will reject such religion and go about their business in search for the truth.