7.3 Million Regular Pioneers (page 2)

slimboyfat

Percentage of JWs serving as pioneers or auxillary pioneers:

1969 - 6.6%

1979 - 5.2%

1989 - 13.1%

1999 - 12.5%

2009 - 15%

-- In years past, failure to meet the annual goal would result in termination of pioneer status - no longer the case. In fact, most pioneers in our congregation miss the hour goal. Unless they miss it by a huge amount, it's no big deal.

I second that. On the Body of Elders, we constantly "forgave" pioneers who attempted to get the majority of their hours or only missed two out of three years or had a decade of faithful pioneering or..... (endless reasons to allow them to continue pioneering).

One elder regularly talked about the "real number of hours" that they actually needed to avoid even being considered for removal. While there was nothing in print, the general thought was somewhere between 500 and 700 hours needed to avoid the elders looking bad for not removing you. Generally, 600 hours was our cutoff.

Also, in the years right before I left the BOE (2006), the organization decided that older pioneers with "many years of faithful service" could retain the precious title regardless of their current hours (due to declining health). The same elder who talked about the "real hours" talked about liberally applying that rule, even to him. We declined as he still worked full time. But I imagine some BOE would let any pioneer over 10 years keep the title even if they got their "15 minutes" in.

So what's a tiny increase in pioneers worth in real recruiting hours? Probably a loss.

Terry

I was coerced into becoming a full-time Pioneer!

The Congregation Overseer (back in the good old pre-elder days) had a ne'er-do-well son that he wanted to straighten out and he signed the kid up as a Regular Pioneer. Said kid balked.

I had just come out of Prison over the Neutrality issue. The Overseer grabbed me as soon as I walked in the front of the Kingdom Hall without so much as a "Hey Brother Terry, good to see you!"

He had the Pioneering application all filled out like an over-eager Insurance salesman hungry for a commission.

I'll never forget his words.

Brother Beard said, "I know you'll want to continue your service to Jehovah on the OUTside the same way you've done on the inside (prison) by using these last few months before Armageddon to share all you've learned."

You see, this was 1969 and there were only a "few" months left before 1975 and ARMAGEDDON!!!

I signed on the dotted line, of course.

The son of Brother Beard was the quietest person on Planet Earth. Going out in service with him every day for 6 to 8 hours was worse than being by myself!!

I won't soon forget the Joy of Service in the days of my Yoot.

slimboyfat

So what's a tiny increase in pioneers worth in real recruiting hours? Probably a loss.

...actually the average number of hours Witnesses (publishers and pioneers) spend on the ministry has been increasing in recent years, and 2009 was one of the highest averages ever.

1969 - 191

1979 - 145

1989 - 215

1999 - 193

2009 - 213

There was an apparent dip in 1979 following the 1975 fiasco, but not much sign of slowing down in recent years.

dgp

You have to bear in mind that, for every one who is out there "pioneering", someone else is working very hard to support the adventure. I knew of a case where the pioneer husband and daughter were out in the street while their 80-something mother (and mother-in-law) worked as a maid to help them pioneer.

Such a pity that so many good people get exploited and weathered.

Slayerbard

the numbers are highier now cause they reduced the hours it takes to be a pioneer. I know people who were already getting the aux pio hours or the regular pio hours a month so when they lowered the hourly requirement they signed up. This made it look like they have more pioneers but in reality is pretty much the same ol same ol

OnTheWayOut

...actually the average number of hours Witnesses (publishers and pioneers) spend on the ministry has been increasing in recent years, and 2009 was one of the highest averages ever.

I don't actually have to discuss reality here, do I?

5thGeneration

Great comments all.

I've just always found that an interesting question.

If you lived in Sodom and Gomorrah and truly believed, I don't think you'd be farting around, making money and talking about it for an hour or so every weekend.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"If all JWs truly believed 100%, wouldn't every single one be pioneering?"

Yes. If they really believed that the end was very near, they would put everything else on hold and pursue the "Kingdom work" wholesouled. That's what I did.

Boy, was that ever a stupid waste of years of my life. I think a lot have learned from my errors. And if they haven't learned yet, I just haven't gotten around to anti-witnessing to them yet.

5thGeneration

a stupid waste of years of my life

Don't feel bad Billy X. You no doubt still helped a lot of people along the way.

7.3 Million Regular Pioneers

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