Oh, yes those wonderful meetings for service. For some reason, they are so long and disorganized and boring. Seems no one wants to get out there in the territory.
I remember in one Hall when I was a teenager, a Ministerial Servant, about 50 years old, would conduct the midweek meeting for service at the KH at 9 am. He would consider the text for 30 MINUTES. Then he would start to assign the car groups, but as the late ones came in, he would try to rearrange. He never, ever once finished the meeting under one hour. The pioneers complained and complained, the elders talked to him to no avail. Finally the C.O. cut him off from conducting, and had the elders take turns during the week. They soon got tired of that, and put him back in there with strict instructions. So since he was so mad at the friends for turning him in to the elders, he trimmed the meeting for service down to 5 MINUTES INCLUDING THE PRAYER. He looked mad too. Sometimes only one or two people were there. I felt uncomfortable, so did a lot of others. So an enterprising sister asked permission from the elders to have an "early morning" meeting for service at her home at 8 am. We all supported it and didn't bother going to the KH one. Big problems ensued.
In my missionary assignment, occasionally people would show up in the morning to preach THAT WERE NOT WITNESSES. Since the dress code in some countries is different due to culture and lack of money, it was often hard to distinguish who was dressed "for the ministry." So I would assign pairs to work together, only to find out later that several were Bible studies not approved for service, an unbelieving mate who wanted to accompany his wife, teenage friends of young Witnesses, or just people that had come to the meeting the night before. It was hilarious. Part of the problem was that as the C.O, on Tuesday nights I would invite the entire congregation for service that week. Since so many in the audience are interested ones, not even studying the Bible yet with JW's, and since the culture is different, they would accept the invitation! One guy showed up one morning WITH HIS OWN BORN-AGAIN LITERATURE.
But here in California usually the meetings for service were boring, too long, everyone stood around after, no enthusiasm unless the C.O. was there. The ones assigned to "work" together didn't want to so they changed the arrangements.
In developing countries, we hardly ever took a break, even after two or three hours. In California, we always break after an hour. For at least 30 minutes. Half the group doesn't go into the "territory." They do their own "return visits."
I am curious as to what the meetings for service are like around the world. Long, short, boring, what kind of car groups, what time did you break, any good stories, etc.
BF