Are witnesses getting lazy?

by david_10 8 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  david_10

  Hello,Everyone. Thank you for the warm welcome I received when I made my first post last week.

  It is a beautiful Christmas day here,more like early autumn than the beginning of winter. So I was a little surprised when I drove by my old Kingdom Hall a little after 9:00 AM and saw that there were no cars parked in the lot----no one had met for field service. Since two congregations share the hall,I would have thought that SOMEONE would want to go out. Maybe enough to make up one at least one car group. When I was an active witness,we always put forth a concerted effort to witness on all the holidays;I remember many times that I was assigned to lead the charge. But this has been 15+ years ago,so maybe things have changed. Has the Society decided to respect other people's privacy and not bother them when they are obviously wanting to spend time with their families? Or is this another sign of apathetic publishers who,given the chance,would rather sleep late than share in the most urgent work in human history? Anyone know?

  David
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  JT

  . Has the Society decided to respect other people's privacy and not bother them when they are obviously wanting to spend time with their families?

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  yea right ====only thing that has happened is most congo have merely adjusted their times in the Washington , congo meet at 10AM instead of 9 or 9:30AM to do thier "Holiday Witnessing"

  so they will be out in full force bothering folks again

  james
• 

  Gopher

  Agreeing with JT here,

  I remember the Kingdom Ministry (the 4-page pamphlet used for the Service Meetings) used to announce when the "worldly" holidays would be, so that the congregations could adjust the times for their "meetings for field service". But usually (at least in my area) only one elder would go out and take the group, and a small handful of publishers would participate (similar to what happens on Sundays).

  GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
• 

  Richie

  David...
  Yes things have changed, at least here in Canada and I guess by extension almost everywhere else in the world. The service arrangements on the weekends, for example, are more in harmony with what the householder wishes: they do not call on them too early whereas on holidays, especially X-mas and New Year, they (finally) realized that people have a life and should be left alone early in the morning (or perhaps the entire day?) The Borg recognizes that calling on somebody's door early in the morning might otherwise work against them, as nobody would ever want to become a witness because of their "unreasonable behavior". And..as you said, it will allow the witnesses to sleep in for a change...LOL

  Richie :*)
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  LB

  Well here in the northwest they are out in service today. I just took a little trip into town and saw a cargroup with 3 of my old friends in it. Funny, I'm just inactive yet they didn't return my wave. When I got home a few minutes ago I left my gate open, in case they want to come in and admire the Christmas tree.

  
  Never Squat With Yer Spurs On
• 

  forgetmenot

  LB, how funny! I get the same response when I go to work (I have to drive past the Kingdom Hall around 12:30). I try to wave but think it's really funny how they all stopped trying to "help" me after a couple of weeks. They actually tried saving my sister longer, one JW family has a business right across the street where my sister used to live. She used to come home and complain about how they'd come into the store (after meettings) and act like they were having soooo much fun (but she thought it was really stupid).

  There's only one time I remember someone tracking me down at work to talk to me about "encouragement" and "Jehovah's good news". I work at an expresson stand (not a shop but a drive through stand). A car group of JW's came up and ordered the hardest drinks to make. The hardest drinks to make are milkshakes with expresso and flavor in them. We have to hand blend them from real ice cream (some times it is sooo hard my arms feel like they are going to fall off!). Then, the nerve of them, they asked me if I wanted to read the Awake and Watchtower. I politely turned them down (I get them in the mail, ya know [or I used to, I heard that whole thing changed!]). I've had a few more visits from JW's but they don't offer any "spiritual support" or "encouragement". They just order the hardest drink to make and then don't tip!
• 

  rhett

  After opening presents at our house yesterday morning we went over to my wife's parents. Here in town my old cong. is right off one of the busiest roads in town and we drove by on the way about 10am and the lot looked pretty busy. I'd say probally about 10 or 20 cars were there.

  I don't need to fight
  To prove I'm right
  I don't need to be forgiven.
• 

  Simon

  I must say that I was very 'stumbled' when I visited San Diego a few years back (best business junket ever!) ...

  Here was I, pounding the cobbled salford slums in the pouring rain while the JWs there had set up a foldup table with some literature on it while they dozed under white hats on deckchairs in the sun.
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  r51785

  I pioneered for several years in San Diego. It wasn't that easy. Some days the temperature didn't even reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit. There were a few days it rained and some days we worked territory without a view of the Pacific Ocean. Also there was only one really good donut shop in our congregation's territory (Pacific Beach) and there weren't many chairs which caused a great deal of crowding at break time.