Jehovah's Witnesses splinter groups
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Jehovah's Witness splinter groups are religious groups which were formerly associated with the Bible Student movement or the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
While the legal entities founded by Charles Taze Russell (the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and the International Bible Students Association) have always remained grouped, various congregations and individuals in the Bible Student movement have broken away to form their own groups. The vast majority of these splits occurred with the death of Pastor Russell in 1916 and the subsequent power struggle for control of what was then known as the 'International Bible Students Association', or the 'Bible Students'. [1]
Most of these groups split off before the group adopted the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" in 1931. Many of those who broke away continued to call themselves some variation of 'Bible Students' or 'Associated Bible Students'. Joseph Rutherford, the second President of the Watchtower Society, felt that there was a need to clearly distinguish between those that remained associated with his fellowship and others who split off. In a convention in July, 1931 he gave them the name Jehovah's Witnesses.
Most Jehovah's Witness splinter groups have very low membership, and few are commonly known. In contrast, the 2008 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses reports an active membership ("publishers") of almost 7 million.
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[edit] First splits
In 1909 Pastor Russell more pointedly expressed that Christians were not developed under the New Covenant, but that the New Covenant was a future arrangement made between God and the nation of Israel during the millennial reign of Christ for the purpose of teaching the world his plan. Controversy over this and other similar doctrines led some to leave, resulting in the formation of the New Covenant Bible Students. M.L. McPhail, a member of the Chicago Bible Students, also disassociated himself from the Bible Student Movement at that time, and led the New Covenant Bible Students in the United States, founding the New Covenant Believers in 1909 informally referring to themselves as the Free Bible Students.
[edit] Succession Crisis: Pastor Russell's death
After Charles Taze Russell's death in October, 1916 and the subsequent power struggle that ensued for control of the organization, [2] Joseph Franklin Rutherford was elected second president of the Watchtower Society. He immediately started an intensive work of restructuring the movement which led to nearly three-quarters of the membership ending their association with the Society between the years 1917 to 1928.
One of Rutherford's first and most controversial moves was the expulsion of four members (R. H. Hirsh, I. F. Hoskins, A. I. Ritchie, and J. D. Wright) of the seven-member Board of Directors appointed by Pastor Russell, and replaced with his own appointees in July 1917. After their expulsion two of them eventually formed the Pastoral Bible Institute, and started publishing The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, edited by R. E. Streeter.
The Australian Berean Bible Institute also formally separated from the Watchtower society in 1918.
In December 1918, Charles E. Heard and some others, considering Rutherford's recommendation to buy war bonds to be a perversion of Russell's pacifist teachings, founded the Stand Fast Bible Students Association in Portland, Oregon.
In 1917, Alexander F.L. Freytag, Branch manager of the Swiss Watchtower Society since 1898, founded the Angel of Jehovah Bible and Tract Society (also known as the Philanthropic Assembly of the Friends of Man and The Church of the Kingdom of God, Philanthropic Assembly) and started publishing his views; he was ousted from the Watchtower Society by Rutherford in 1919.
Paul S. L. Johnson a close personal friend and confidant of Pastor Russell's [1] founded the Layman's Home Missionary Movement in 1919 following repeated vocal and written attacks by Rutherford.
[edit] Later departures
In 1928, Norman Woodworth [2] left the Watchtower society to create the radio program Frank and Ernest with the help of the Brooklyn congregation of Bible Students. This eventually led to the founding of the Dawn Bible Students Association for the purpose of printing and distributing Pastor Russell's Studies in the Scriptures Bible textbook series which the Watchtower Society had officially ceased publishing in 1927.
Also in 1928, the Italian Bible Students Association in Hartford, Connecticut led by Gaetano Boccaccio also withdrew its support from the Watchtower Society and changed its name to the Millennial Bible Students Church, then to Christian Millennial Fellowship, Inc. In 1940 Boccaccio began printing The New Creation (magazine) for the Free Bible Students. The magazine continues to be published by Christian Millennial Fellowship to this day, led by Elmer Weeks.
The German Bible Students Association had stayed affiliated with the Watchtower Society but had no contact under the Nazi regime, who persecuted them severely. When contact was re-established, the German Bible students disagreed with the doctrinal changes that had occurred in the meantime, and disassociated themselves from the Watchtower Society with some establishing contacts with the various Bible Student groups.[citation needed]
Jesse Hemery, one of the most prominent Bible Students of England, had been appointed president of the International Bible Students Association by Pastor Russell in 1901, and held that post until 1946. In 1951 he was disfellowshipped by third Watchtower President N.H. Knorr and founded the Goshen Fellowship.
In 1948, Jehovah's Witnesses in Romania came under ban from the Romanian government which lasted until 1989. They had limited access to changing Watchtower doctrines and studied largely from the books of Rutherford and older magazines. A prominent teaching was that the Superior Authorities did not refer to governments but to Jehovah. (Superior Authorities) After the ban was lifted they were in disagreement with the changes in teachings that had happened over the years and formed The True Faith Jehovah's Witnesses Association in 1992. [3]
In 1962 some of Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR could hardly believe that the new understanding of who the "Superior Authorities" were was really given by the Watchtower Society, not by the KGB. That is why they stopped using the publications of the Watchtower Society published after 1962. Some of these splinter groups in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova still exist. They call themselves the Theokratic Organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses and claim to seek contacts with Witnesses in other countries.[4]It is to be noted, however, that the membership of these splinter groups is still significantly smaller than the membership of Jehovah's Witnesses in those areas.
[edit] Membership
Most Jehovah's Witness splinter groups have very low membership, and few are commonly known. As cited by one of the splinter groups, The Herald:
"The most sizable movements, with over a thousand each, are in the United States, Poland, Romania, and India. [5]
In contrast to the splinter groups, the 2008 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses shows a peak of Publishers in Kingdom Service of 6,957,854 referring to the highest number of active members in the Service Year (which runs from September 2006 to August 2007) who submitted a monthly report regarding time spent in the public preaching and teaching work. The tally for Average Publishers Preaching each month is shown as 6,691,790 for 2006-2007, and the Worldwide Memorial Attendance rose to 17,672,443 in 2007 (an increase of 997,330 or 5.98% over 2006).
[edit] Other Groups
- Associated Bible Students
- Dawn Bible Students Association
- Christian Millennial Fellowship
- Layman's Home Missionary Movement
- Lord's Witnesses
- Pastoral Bible Institute
[edit] Defunct Groups
- Bible Student's Fellowship?
- Hirsho-Kittenger Movement
- Olson Movement
- Ritchie Movement led by A. I. Ritchie, vice-president of the Watchtower Society)
- Servants of Yah
- Sturgeon Movement
