GROWTH IN THE 1970’S

As we entered the 1970’s and reflected on the previous 90 years of light-bearing in this land, we were excited and thrilled. What would a full century of Kingdom-preaching produce? Expansion and increase continued into the 1970’s.

The 1970 service year saw seven publisher peaks, six of them in succession. In December 1969, Canada went over the 45,000-publisher mark for the first time. The peak for the service year was a very encouraging 46,808 in May 1970.

But what about the years since then? Well, what has happened so far in the 1970’s convinces us that Jehovah is pushing the work to a successful conclusion in this generation. Please note the increases indicated by the figures in this chart:

[Chart on page 165]

Year Peak Pubs. Congs. Memorial Att.

1970 46,808 788 93,503

1971 49,204 790 97,518

1972 50,166 797 100,755

1973 52,773 863 104,707

1974 58,452 919 110,847

1975 60,759 979 114,744

1976 62,880 1,011 120,533

1977 63,090 1,033 120,958

1978 61,836 1,035 120,060