The reporting of field service time

by lepermessiah 26 Replies latest jw friends

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  lepermessiah

  Were any of you really bothered/still bothered by the practice of field service reporting?

  There was an old post on here that got me thinking how the practice got started.

  Instead of simply being a tool to monitor the progress of the faith, or to see if the work was done "throughout the earth", it appears to me that it was just a tool used to keep the presses rolling and to see how much literature to produce - along with controlling the rank and file. The average JW gives it no thought, its just another "blessing" from the organization when you hear the monthly reports, etc.

  The organization is so statistics-driven that they make Jesus out to be a CEO with people who need to meet their sales quotas.I'm sure he really wouldnt care if Peter and Andrew got 20 hours one month and John got 25. Wait, maybe thats why John was "beloved"

  When I first started to have questions about the organization, the first thing I mentioned to my wife was the practice of field service reporting. I told her I think its used to control people, make them feel guilty, etc. Its also used to measure "spirituality". The first thing used to evaluate an elder or a MS is "How many hours does he average in field service?" You could be a wonderful shepherd, kind, true Christian, but if you dont have 10 hours a month in service, you are not considered whatsoever. Then you get counseled - "Well if you want to "reach out" you need to get your field service time up." How many times did you see an A-hole appointed in the congregation simply because he was male and had 10 hours a month in service?

  The whole thing is a total joke.
• 

  CuriousButterfly

  I see no need for it. You know there are publishers out there who will "fudge" their time to at least make the so called average hours.
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  dissed

  Its my contentionthat if the Gb dropped the FS report, no one would go out in service. That's exactly what a Bethel Elder told us in defending the precedure.

  Says a lot about a JW's heart, no?

  "Let your gifts be in secret...."
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  Heaven

  Yes it bothers me. It was one of their practices I questioned right off. There is no scripture in the Bible that says this is a requirement for eternal life. But I was told I wouldn't gain everlasting life if I didn't go out in service. And then having to count the time on top of that?

  Jesus didn't count his time therefore no one doing his so-called work should have to either.
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  wheelwithinwheel

  If you believe…

  it’s necessary to write down and report the time you spend talking about God, and can actually get yourself into trouble if you don’t…

  you probably are a J.W.
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  donuthole

  In the days of Rutherford publishers actually had hour and placement quotas they had to maintain. Things are more relaxed otday.

  From the corporate standpoint literature placements is meaningless in determining how much literature to print. The determining factor is how much the congregation orders. Think back to being a JW and consider how much literature you got from the counter versus how much literature you placed at the door. Field service reports are used to gauge spiritual health of publishers by elders and congregations by circuit overseers.
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  5thGeneration

  Service time as a barometer is the biggest pile of BS the congregation does.

  I can't begin to explain the cheating, wife-swapping, porn watching, gambling, cigar smoking, alcoholic, judgmenta, non-Christianl A**HOLE Elders I've had to live with my whole life.

  But at least their service reports always read 20 hours.
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  JWoods

  From the corporate standpoint literature placements is meaningless in determining how much literature to print. The determining factor is how much the congregation orders. Think back to being a JW and consider how much literature you got from the counter versus how much literature you placed at the door.

  It all got stacked up in the trunk of their cars until the time came to clear it all out to go to an out of town assembly. I knew pioneers who actually had to throw away whole rolls of the magazines that were not even opened.

  Yet you were always expected to take a certain fixed amount no matter what you actually got sold.
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  sir82

  The point about elders & MS not being appointed without a "good report" is 100% true. In every congregation I've been in, that is the first, and often primary, factor in whether someone is "appointed" or not. Let's face it, the other Biblical requirements (how many drunken brawling bigamists can slip under the radar in a congregation anyway?) are pretty easy to pass.

  The kicker is that it makes not one whit of difference if those numbers on the report are an accurate reflection of someone's real efforts or not.

  How many up-and-coming "reaching out" brothers manage to get the majority of their "double-digit" hours driving around doing other people's return visits, taking extended coffee breaks, and engaging in 30 seconds of "informal witnessing" that gets rounded up to an hour or 2 each time? I daresay the majority.

  Everybody knows that most field service time is bogus, and no one ever says anything about it. Just so long as the numbers on the card look good, that is all that matters.
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  yknot

  Mixed feelings.....

  I genuinely like 'preaching work' but after the early 80's things changed....

  I have no guilt over my fudged time.......