Membership
Main article: Organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses

The group's members are noted for their diverse but close-knit brotherhood, and their markedly different teachings and practice. As of August 2004, Jehovah's Witnesses have a practicing membership worldwide of more than 6.5 million individuals. According to data reported in the Annual Worldwide Statistics at the Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses (http://www.jw-media.org/people/statistics.htm):

"While other religious groups count their membership by occasional or annual attendance, this figure reflects only those who are actively involved in the public Bible educational work."
This statistic is based on the service report completed by each publisher every month indicating the amount of time they have personally spent in the ministry and other relevant information. (Publishers are both baptized and non-baptized persons who engage in any and all aspects of the evangelizing work.) These reports are compiled and forwarded to the appropriate Branch Office. To be classed as an active member, and counted in the yearly collated figures, members must serve at least one hour a month in the preaching work, or 15 minutes a month for elderly members, or those that are otherwise physically restricted.

Jehovah's Witnesses commemorate the Memorial of Christ's death, (also known as the Lord's Evening Meal or Lord's Supper), annually. Worldwide attendance at the 2004 celebration of the Memorial was 16,760,607. This is obviously in excess of the more than 6.5 million individuals regularly associated with the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses around the world, but includes many visitors and interested persons. Of this only 8,565 persons participated in eating and drinking the memorial emblems of the unleavened bread and of the wine. These are the only anointed ones, or "remnant," Witnesses believe are going to heaven out of a literal 144,000. See the 2004 Report of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide (http://www.watchtower.org/statistics...ide_report.htm) which shows the "memorial partakers" at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

Jehovah's Witnesses generally exhibit a high degree of commitment to their religion, attending meetings three times a week (totaling approximately five hours) in their local Kingdom Halls and in private homes. Larger gatherings (called assemblies or conventions) are held usually three times a year in assembly halls that are owned or maintained by the Watchtower Society or in rented public facilities, such as sports stadiums or auditoriums. The offices of the world headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses are located in Brooklyn, New York. There are over 100 Branch Offices (http://www.watchtower.org/how_to_contact_us.htm) in various countries and lands around the world. -

See also Practices of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Beliefs and doctrines
See the related article Doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses for additional details.

The teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses differ from most Christian groups in several ways. For example, they reject the doctrine of the Trinity, holding it to be a pagan belief derived from ancient Babylonian religion. They also reject the immortality of the soul, and eternal punishment of the wicked in hell. They believe that the earth will, following Armageddon, be restored to global paradise in accord with their beliefs of God's original purpose, and that God will permanently destroy the wicked - ending their lives rather than eternally punishing them in hell.


Divinity of Christ
Because of their rejection of the Trinity doctrine, many conclude that Jehovah's Witnesses deny the divinity of Jesus. Their belief is that Jesus was Michael the archangel who became a man (The Watchtower, May 15,1963, p. 307; The New World, 284) and he is God's son, and the appointed ruler over God's Kingdom for a thousand years. They believe Jesus is 'a god' and even a 'Mighty God' (a title applied to him from Isaiah 9:6). They believe that the Greek term theos, also applied to Jesus, at John 1:1 can correctly be translated 'divine.' (It is usually translated 'God' at John 1:1) This word is also applied to Greek and Roman gods as well as angels. Therefore Jehovah's Witnesses reject the doctrine that Jesus is Jehovah, the "Almighty God." Rather, they believe that when Jesus is called “the firstborn of all creation,” “the beginning of the creation by God” (New World Translation - Colossians 1:15; Revelation 1:1; 3:14), this signifies someone who was created by the Almighty God.


God's Name
Their use in English of the common pronunciation "Jehovah" for the Hebrew name of God is based on its familiarity in that language. It also emphasises their disbelief in the Trinity. For more information see the Tetragrammaton article.