Jehovah's Witnesses | |
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International headquarters in Warwick, New York
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Classification | Nontrinitarian, restorationist |
Governance | Governing Body |
Structure | Hierarchical |
Region | Worldwide |
Founder | Charles Taze Russell |
Origin | 1870s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US |
Branched from | Bible Student movement |
Congregations | 119,485 |
Members | 8.3 million |
Official website | www |
Statistics from 2017 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses |
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of more than 8.3 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance figures of more than 17 million, and an annual Memorial attendance of more than 20 million. Jehovah's Witnesses are directed by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, a group of elders in Warwick, New York, which establishes all doctrines based on its interpretations of the Bible. They prefer to use their own translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, although their literature occasionally quotes and cites other Bible translations. They believe that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent, and that the establishment of God's kingdom over the earth is the only solution for all problems faced by humanity.
The group emerged from the Bible Student movement, founded in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell with the formation of Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society, with significant organizational and doctrinal changes under the leadership of Joseph Franklin Rutherford. The name Jehovah's witnesses was adopted in 1931 to distinguish themselves from other Bible Student groups and symbolize a break with the legacy of Russell's traditions.