Special Report, Part 5 of 7 — Global Expansion & Information Architecture. Published Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. Every quotation and statistic below is checked against a saved copy of its source.
Executive summary
- In 1971 the Governing Body was enlarged beyond the seven directors of the Pennsylvania corporation who had served as one; the Society counted 11 members that year, and six Governing Body committees began work on January 1, 1976. [1][2]
- The Society describes its corporations as legal agencies. Its early corporations were the Pennsylvania society (1884), the New York society (1909) and a London association (1914); a New York corporation called Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses was filed on August 21, 2000. [1][3]
- The Society bought land at Warwick, New York on July 17, 2009, closed on the sale of 25/30 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn on August 3, 2016, and announced that Warwick would open for tours on April 3, 2017. [4][5][6]
- By its own count each issue of The Watchtower had a printing of some 45,000,000 copies in over 210 languages in 2013; jw.org reached content in 1,000 languages in 2019; the New World Translation has been published in whole or in part in 352 languages. [7][8][9]
- The 2025 service year report lists 9,205,326 peak publishers, 241 lands, 119,652 congregations and 20,635,015 Memorial attendees. All are self-reported. [10]
- The only audited, regulator-filed finances we could retrieve are those of one national charity, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain: income of £130.21m in the year to August 2021 and £38.46m in the year to August 2025. They say nothing about worldwide finances. [11]
Scope and sources
This part describes how the organization says it is run and what its documents show about how that changed. Its own publications are primary evidence of what it teaches, reports and announces; they are not independent verification. Corporate records, a court filing and a charity regulator’s register supply the outside view. A trade-press report is used once and labelled. Legal controversies and abuse policies belong to Part 6.
From one corporation to a Governing Body (1884-1971)
For most of its history the legal corporation and the leadership were the same thing. The Society’s own box in Proclaimers lists the early corporations: Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society, “legally incorporated in the state of Pennsylvania on December 15, 1884”; the People’s Pulpit Association, formed in 1909 when the principal offices moved to Brooklyn, later renamed Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (the name since 1956); and the International Bible Students Association, incorporated in London on June 30, 1914. [1] A 1971 Watchtower gives December 13, 1884 as the date the Pennsylvania charter was issued, so the Society’s own documents differ by two days. [12]
The same book says that until the 1975 reorganization publishing, supervision of the preaching work and arrangements for schools and conventions were handled “under the direction of the office of the president” of the Pennsylvania society. [1] In 1944 the charter was revised so that membership was limited to between 300 and 500 men chosen by the board. [1]
| Corporation (Society’s account) | Place | Formed | Role described by the Society |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania | 1884 | Original society; its directors had served as the governing body [1] |
| Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. | New York | 1909 (as People’s Pulpit Association) | Brooklyn-based corporation [1] |
| International Bible Students Association | London | 1914 | Incorporated June 30, 1914 [1] |
| Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses | New York | Filed August 21, 2000 | Entity involved in US congregations from 2001, per a Watchtower court filing [3][13] |
1971: separating the Governing Body from the board
On October 1, 1971 the Pennsylvania society held its annual meeting at Buckingham, Pennsylvania. All seven directors attended, and a question from the platform asked whether the Board of Directors and the Governing Body were “the same, identical, or are they different.” [12] The December 15, 1971 Watchtower answered that they were different. It said the society had 450 members, only about 200 of them anointed, so those who voted for directors were not all members of the “slave” class that the Governing Body represents. [12]
Primary source excerpt. “A legal religious instrument according to Caesar’s law should not attempt to direct and control its creator; rather, the creator of the legal religious instrument should control and direct it.” (The Watchtower, December 15, 1971, pp. 755-762) [12]
The article also said that governing body members “are not elected annually” but serve “permanently as long as they live and continue faithful.” [12] Proclaimers gives the structural result: membership “was enlarged beyond the seven” directors who had served as the governing body. There were 11 members in 1971, as many as 18 for a few years, and 12 in 1992. [1] A 1973 Yearbook names the eleven and records that on September 6, 1971 the chairmanship was set to rotate alphabetically. [14]
Our saved sources do not describe how a new member is chosen today. They show the 1971 principle: the corporation is the tool, the Governing Body the user.
Six committees and “helpers” (1976-present)
The Governing Body unanimously accepted new recommendations on December 4, 1975, and six committees began functioning on January 1, 1976. [15][2] Each had a chairman serving one year. [2] Branches were to be run by branch committees of three or more members appointed by the Governing Body. [2]
Primary source excerpt. “These committees are supervisory in nature and it is not intended that they will handle all the details and routine work.” (The Watchtower, February 1, 1976, p. 96) [2]
By 1992 the Governing Body had 12 members and invited helpers, mainly from the “great crowd,” to attend five of the committees; each then had seven or eight people. [16] The Society’s current FAQ says helpers “do not share in making decisions.” [17]
| Committee | 1976 (Watchtower) | 2008 (Watchtower) | Current FAQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service | Listed | Preaching, congregations, pioneers, elders, traveling overseers | Preaching work |
| Writing | Listed | Written material and translation | Printed and website instruction; translation |
| Publishing | Listed | Printing, shipping; printeries and properties of the corporations; use of donated funds | Production, shipping, construction of meeting places and branch facilities |
| Teaching | Listed | Assemblies, schools, audio and video | Meetings, schools, audio and video |
| Personnel | Listed | Bethel family members | Bethel family members |
| Chairman’s / Coordinators’ | Chairman’s Committee | Coordinators’ Committee | Coordinators’: legal matters, disasters, persecution |
Sources: [2][18][17]. The Society states that the Governing Body is not a hierarchy of rulers:
Primary source excerpt. “the members of the Governing Body are not the leaders of our organization. They look to the Bible for guidance, acknowledging that Jehovah God has appointed Jesus Christ as the Head of the congregation.” (Frequently Asked Questions, What Is the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses?, undated) [17]
The same page says the body supervises the worldwide work, directs the public ministry and oversees “the use of donated assets.” [17] The record we hold shows who sits on the committees and what they supervise. It does not show how often decisions are contested or how a member is removed.
Congregations, circuits and districts
Proclaimers dates the modern congregation structure to 1938, when “all the servants in the congregations were appointed theocratically.” It traces traveling supervision from regional service directors (1928) to zone servants (1938-1941), and says circuit assemblies were revived in 1946 and the term circuit servant adopted in 1948 (now circuit overseer). [1] It adds that after 1971 congregations moved from one congregation servant to groups of appointed elders and ministerial servants. [1] The 1993 Yearbook dates “further refinements” to 1972. [16]
The Society counts 69,558 congregations in 1992. [1] The 2025 report lists 119,652. [10] Our sources do not give a current number of circuits or districts.
Primary source excerpt. “Jehovah’s Witnesses are not divided up into national or regional organizations. They are a united global brotherhood.” (Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, box on early legal corporations) [1]
Branches and consolidation
As of September 2012 the oversight of “more than 20 branch offices” was transferred to larger branches, and new branches were set up in Serbia and Macedonia. [19] In Central America six branches came under the Mexico branch, and branch office members fell from 300 to about 75, according to the Society. [19]
Primary source excerpt. “improvements in communications and printing technology have reduced the need for personnel in some branches.” (Branch Offices of Jehovah’s Witnesses Consolidated, jw.org, undated) [19]
The 2025 report lists 84 branches. [10] The Society says volunteers in some 350 remote translation offices do much of its translation. [8]
The corporations in practice
A New York State record (archived in August 2009) shows Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses as a domestic not-for-profit corporation first filed on August 21, 2000, with its address at 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson. [3] In a 2019 Supreme Court petition, the Society’s New York corporation described itself as the former national office and wrote the following. The filing is a party’s description, not a finding:
Primary source excerpt. “Watchtower was the national office formerly involved in the affairs of the congregations prior to March 2001” (Petition for certiorari, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. v. J. W., a minor, 2019) [13]
The petition says that from 2001 the Christian Congregation corporation was the entity involved in congregation affairs. [13] We did not retrieve that corporation’s charter or the Society’s own announcement of the change, so we cannot say which duties moved between entities.
Brooklyn to Warwick
The Society says its headquarters had been in Brooklyn since 1909. [20] A spokesman said the Columbia Heights buildings were bought in 1969 to gain space and to consolidate offices scattered among several buildings. [5]
The Society gave these reasons for leaving Brooklyn. Branches elsewhere now share printing once done only in Brooklyn; printing and shipping in the United States moved to Wallkill in 2004; and operating Brooklyn was costly. [20]
Primary source excerpt. “It is expensive to operate and maintain the facilities in Brooklyn.” (Jehovah’s Witnesses to Relocate Their World Headquarters, jw.org, undated) [20]
| Date | Event (Society’s account unless noted) |
|---|---|
| July 17, 2009 | Warwick property acquired: 253 acres (102 ha), about 80 km northwest of Brooklyn [4][20] |
| July 4, 2013 | Agreement to sell the six-building 117 Adams Street and 90 Sands Street complex [21] |
| July 17, 2013 | Warwick Planning Board approves the site plan; construction starts July 29 [4] |
| February 1, 2016 | Wallkill expansion completed; US branch departments move there [6] |
| August 3, 2016 | Sale of 25/30 Columbia Heights (733,608 gross square feet) closes [5] |
| April 2017 | Warwick scheduled to open for tours April 3; two Saturday open houses drew 863 visitors [6][22] |
| October 31, 2017 | The Towers, 21 Clark Street (bought 1975), sold [23] |
The Society’s releases give no sale prices. A trade-press report cited an unnamed source for a figure, which we do not repeat because it is neither audited nor regulator-filed. [24] Property records would show the prices; we did not retrieve them. The site’s previous owner, per the Society, was International Nickel Company from 1960 to 1987. [4]
Print to digital
The Watchtower began in July 1879 with a first issue of 6,000 copies. [12] The Society says it was printed in seven languages in 1916, 16 in 1922 and 112 in 1993, when Awake! was printed in 67 languages at 13,240,000 copies per issue. [25][26] In 1975 it advertised 8,750,000 copies per issue in 79 languages. [27]
| Item | Year | Figure the Society gives |
|---|---|---|
| Watchtower | 1975 | 8,750,000 copies per issue, 79 languages [27] |
| Watchtower | 2013 | some 45,000,000 per issue, over 210 languages [7] |
| Awake! | 1993 | 13,240,000 per issue, 67 languages [26] |
| Awake! | 2013 | some 44,000,000 per issue, 99 languages [7] |
| Awake! | 2019 | over 280 million copies a year, 211 languages [28] |
| New World Translation | 2013 | more than 184 million copies, 121 languages [7] |
| New World Translation | undated “last official count” | 565,112,175 copies, 352 languages [9] |
These are print runs, not audited circulation. A jw.org page compares a print run of more than 42 million with the paid, verified figures of U.S. magazines. [29] We found no independent audit of either series, and no current Watchtower or Awake! circulation figure.
The digital steps, by the Society’s dates:
- jw.org was redesigned on August 27, 2012; in January 2013 an episode of a video series was released in digital format on the site. [30]
- In May 2013 the Governing Body asked a headquarters department to build JW Library; it was released at the annual meeting five months later. [31]
- JW Broadcasting began October 6, 2014 as a trial English-language station. [32] Over 37 million videos were downloaded that month. [30]
- By 2019 broadcasts were translated into an average of 185 languages and viewed in 230 countries. [33]
- jw.org reached content in 1,000 languages, including 100 sign languages, on November 4, 2019; it said 508 languages had been reached in January 2013. [8]
- In 2021 the Society said JW Library was opened on 8 million devices every day, with some 200,000 publications and over 600,000 recordings. [31]
The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures was released on August 2, 1950 to an audience of 82,075 at Yankee Stadium. [34] The complete translation has been in one volume since 1961. [7]
The 2025 service-year report
The 2025 service year ran from September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025. [10] The grand totals list 84 branches, 241 lands, 119,652 congregations, a peak of 9,205,326 publishers, 304,643 baptized, 1,743,567 average pioneer publishers each month and 7,603,182 average Bible studies each month. [10] Memorial attendance was 20,635,015; “partakers” numbered 24,576. [10] The page does not list a total of hours.
| Measure | 1976 | 1992 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak publishers | 2,248,390 | 4,472,787 | 9,205,326 |
| Memorial attendance | 4,972,571 | 11,431,171 | 20,635,015 |
| Congregations | not in our sources | 69,558 | 119,652 |
Sources: [16][1][10]. The 1992 congregation figure is from Proclaimers; the April 15, 1992 Watchtower announcement quoted in the Yearbook says 66,000, and the sources do not explain the difference. [16] The report defines a publisher as one who actively preaches. Memorial attendance counts people present, so it is not a count of members. Independent checks belong in Part 7.
What the money record shows
Regulator-filed finance is scarce in our sources. The Charity Commission for England and Wales register for Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain lists objects such as producing Bible literature, building places of worship, humanitarian aid and distributing funds to other entities with similar aims. [11]
| Year to 31 August | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total gross income | £130.21m | £88.97m | £100.90m | £120.65m | £38.46m |
| Total expenditure | £61.42m | £82.01m | £133.85m | £111.08m | £78.17m |
| Donations and legacies | £129.23m | £77.07m | £96.30m | £114.04m | £30.96m |
Source: [11]. The register says no trustees receive remuneration, payments or benefits. [11] The 2025 trustees’ report, read from a poor-quality OCR copy of the filed accounts, says donations from other global entities fell because other charities were better placed to support needs. We paraphrase it and do not quote it. [35]
These figures show one national charity’s income and spending. They do not show worldwide income, the finances of the Pennsylvania or New York corporations, or the cost of Warwick. We found no US filing and give no US figure.
What the record does and does not show
- Established: the Society’s own documents say the Governing Body was enlarged beyond the seven corporation directors in 1971, that six committees began in 1976, and that the corporations are only agencies. [1][12][2]
- Established: the dates of the Warwick purchase, approval, sale of 25/30 Columbia Heights and opening, all from the Society. [4][5][6]
- Not shown: how decisions are made inside the committees, how members are chosen or removed, which corporation does what today, and any sale price.
- Self-reported: every publisher, Memorial, congregation, language and print-run figure comes from the organization, with no independent audit that we found. [10][7]
- Open: whether the Governing Body’s control over the corporations works in practice as the 1971 article describes cannot be tested from the saved documents.
Image provenance
Every image in this report was checked against its source page for public-domain status. The basis is stated for each.
| Image (source page) | Creator, date | Public-domain basis |
|---|---|---|
| Residence and executive offices of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Columbia Heights, Brooklyn (1928) | Photograph reproduced from the 1928 Messenger published by the Watch Tower Society; scan uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by user Dtbrown, 1928 | Public domain: US publication in 1928 (before 1931); the Wikimedia Commons file page carries a Public domain tag and states that copyright for the Messenger was not renewed. |
| Hotel Margaret, Brooklyn (etching) | Joseph Pennell (1857-1926), artist; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, 1924 | Public domain: etching dated 1924 by an artist who died in 1926; the Wikimedia Commons file page for LCCN 2003673831 carries a Public domain tag. The LOC rights page was not checked. |
- Part 1: Roots & Reconstruction (Sunday, Nov. 8, noon Central)
- Part 2: Separate Tables (Monday, Nov. 9, noon Central)
- Part 3: The Original Watchtower & Esoteric Symbolism (Tuesday, Nov. 10, noon Central)
- Part 4: Mid-Century Transformation (Wednesday, Nov. 11, noon Central)
- Part 5: Global Expansion & Information Architecture (Thursday, Nov. 12, noon Central) — you are here
- Part 6: Contemporary Pressures & Institutional Scrutiny (Friday, Nov. 13, noon Central)
- Part 7: Synthesis & The Horizon (Saturday, Nov. 14, noon Central)
References
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Development of the Organization Structure,” in Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (online edition; publication year not shown on the page). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Governing Body Adjustments,” The Watchtower (February 1, 1976, p. 96). ↩
- New York State Department of State, Division of Corporations. “Entity Information: Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses” (Internet Archive capture of August 20, 2009). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Witnesses Begin Construction on New World Headquarters in Warwick, New York,” jw.org news (August 5, 2013). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Jehovah's Witnesses Close on Sale of Their World Headquarters Buildings in Brooklyn,” jw.org news (August 5, 2016). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Highlights of the Past Year,” 2017 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses (2017). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Global Printing—Helping People to Learn About God,” jw.org (figures as of 2013; page undated). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Jehovah's Witnesses Reach New Preaching Milestone—JW.ORG Now Features Content in 1,000 Languages,” jw.org news (November 4, 2019). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Bibles,” jw.org library (page undated; fetched 2026). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “2025 Grand Totals,” 2025 Service Year Report of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide (2025). ↩
- Charity Commission for England and Wales. “Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain, charity 1077961,” Register of Charities (data to financial year ending 31 August 2025; fetched 2026). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “A Governing Body as Different from a Legal Corporation,” The Watchtower (December 15, 1971, pp. 755-762). ↩
- Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. “Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. v. J. W., a minor, et al.,” Supreme Court of the United States, No. 19-40 (filed June 2019; a party's filing, not a court finding). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “The Governing Body,” 1973 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses (1973, pp. 257-259). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses,” 1977 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses (1977). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Organizing for Further Expansion,” 1993 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses (1993). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “What Is the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses?,” Frequently Asked Questions About Jehovah's Witnesses, wol.jw.org (undated; member list as fetched 2026). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “How the Governing Body Is Organized,” The Watchtower (May 15, 2008, p. 29). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Branch Offices of Jehovah's Witnesses Consolidated,” jw.org (undated; describes changes as of September 2012). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Jehovah's Witnesses to Relocate Their World Headquarters,” jw.org (undated). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “An Organization That Is on the Move,” 2014 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses (2014). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Open House at Witnesses’ New World Headquarters Draws Positive Community Response,” jw.org news (May 22, 2017). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Jehovah's Witnesses Close Sale of Historic Building, The Towers,” jw.org news (November 1, 2017). ↩
- Liam La Guerre, Commercial Observer (secondary; trade press). “Developers Close on Jehovah's Witnesses' HQ Buildings for $340M” (August 4, 2016). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Publishing The Watchtower,” in Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (online edition; publication year not shown on the page). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “Awake!—A Magazine With Broad Public Appeal,” in Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (online edition; publication year not shown on the page). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “8,750,000 Copies of Each Issue in 79 Languages,” Awake! (January 22, 1975, p. 32). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “A Century of the Awake! Magazine,” jw.org news (October 1, 2019). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “The Watchtower—No Other Magazine Comes Close,” jw.org (undated; compares with 2011 U.S. figures). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “A Decade of JW.ORG—Part 1,” jw.org news (December 28, 2022). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “A Library in the Palm of Your Hand,” jw.org, How Your Donations Are Used (September 1, 2021). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “‘We Love JW Broadcasting So Much!’,” 2016 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses (2016). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “JW Broadcasting Reaches Five-Year Mark,” jw.org news (October 11, 2019). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures First Released 75 Years Ago,” jw.org news (August 1, 2025). ↩
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain. “Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st August 2025” (filed June 2026; OCR copy hosted by OpenCharities, text partly garbled). ↩
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