Matthew 7:14
Matthew 7:1414But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
is one of the JW responses to growth-as-blessing arguments: "few are finding it" supports the relative smallness of the Watchtower in a world of eight billion people. The verse is also invoked to soften the impact of low retention rates and declining baptisms in developed countries — small numbers are what Jesus predicted, and shrinkage can be reframed as the faithful remnant becoming distinct from a falling-away Christendom.
Read v. 14 with v. 13 as a single paragraph and v. 15-20 as the immediately following warning about false prophets known by their fruits. The "narrow gate" is not a population statistic; it is a description of the costliness of discipleship. And the irony of invoking to defend the 8.7-million JW membership is sharp: 8.7 million is too many to be the "few." You cannot use the small-numbers verse to defend a large number, and you cannot use it to defend a shrinking number while also pointing to global growth as evidence of Jehovah's blessing. Pair with (fruit test) — the growth/smallness lever proves nothing without examining what the tree actually produces.