An estimated 85,000 Worldwide Church of God members
and former WCG members kept the Feast of Tabernacles the last part of September
and first few days of October at regional sites around the world.
Reports from independent groups have continued
to arrive at In Transition's offices, and the Worldwide Church of
God reported its attendance in the Oct. 29 issue of The Worldwide News.
Although the WN did not report a worldwide attendance total, the
sites listed in the issue added up to about 45,000.
This year's WCG attendance is the lowest in almost
30 years.
As earlier reported (In Transition, Oct.
28, page 1) about 40,000 former WCG members observed the Feast at organized
sites. An undetermined number of former WCG members, sometimes referred
to as the Stay-at-Home church of God, also observed the Holy Days.
Of the 40,000 non-WCG brethren observing the festival,
half (20,233) attended United Church of God services. The next-highest attendance
was that of the Global Church of God, which reported an attendance of 6,504.
The Philadelphia Church of God reported an attendance of 4,811, and the
Church of God International reported that 2,302 attended its services.
The four major offshoots accounted for a combined
attendance of 33,850.
In addition, more than 40 independent groups sponsored
Feast sites this year. About 60 percent of the independent groups reported
attendance figures to In Transition totaling 4,341. In Transition
projects, based on the fact that groups not reporting probably represent
smaller attendance figures, that some 6,000 attended independent sites.
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