I know there have already been a couple of threads posted about this, but I thought it made since to bring it up again. I hadn't really heard any "Oh my what a blessing, are you pioneering in April?" talk right after the big announcement last month. However, as suspected, it is becoming a huge topic of converstaion at the meetings now. My Service Overseer seems to find a way to mention it in every single one of his comments.
Our local needs part was scrapped this week so that he could get up on stage and encourage everyone to Auxillary for at least 30 hours in April. He kept asking "by show of hands" questions regarding the audiences love for Jesus, including "Would you die for Jesus?" Then, of course, he compared the Governing Body's request for 30 hour pioneers to a lot less of a sacrafice than "dying for Jesus", and yet most raised their hands that they would die for him. I found it interesting though, that he never mentioned the Governing Body or "Faithful Slave" once during the whole part. He kept saying "Jesus" is asking us to do this.
I kid you not, he had the mic handlers pass out an Auxillary Pioneer application to every baptized person in attendance along with suggested schedules printed on the back, and asked us to put them on our refridgerator and pray about it. If that is not pressure, I don't know what is. What ever happened to the Scriptural suggestion in the announcement letter? "Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under cumpulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." -- (2 Corinthians 9:7)
What is more, we had our Circuit Overseer's visit not too long ago, and he also ratcheted up the pressure to Auxillary Pioneer in April. One talk during the week in particular focused on our level of committment to The Ministry. He spoke about being in a "Saturday Only Field Service Rut," and said that we should always be striving to do more in the service of others as ministers. However, he convenienctly neglected to point out that ministers do a lot of other things besides go door-to-door pushing literature. He ACTUALLY SAID that "Armageddon is coming and if that's not incentive to do more in the service of Jehovah, I don't know what is."
He went on to point out that we should never be satisfied with what we are doing now, and should always be striving for more. He mentioned a talk on a District Convention from 1981 where these questions were asked:
"If you are a single person without Scriptural obligations, can you justify before Jehovah why you are not in the full-time service?"
"If you are a married couple without Scriptural obligations, can you justify why one or both of you are not in the full-time service?"
"If you are a retired person without Scriptural obligations, can you justify before Jehovah why you are not in the full-time service?"
Towards the end of the talk, he made a statement that really got my blood boiling. He said: "Would you expect The End to come when Jehovah has got more people than ever involved in the Pioneer work? Could it happen in April?"
MiseryLovesElders mentioned in a previous thread on this same topic that he somewhat suspected that this April Pioneer Drive could be on some level a sort of "weeding out process," for the mechanical witnesses and faders. In that same thread, I agreed. Whether this is an effort by the Governing Body to weed out people or not, I don't know. It probably isn't. However, there will certainly be some sort of sub-conscience "marking" of the individuals who do not sign up, by the rest of the congregation. Those who do not sign up will either be viewed as weak, rebellious, our lazy. If this Pioneer Drive becomes a repeated effort in the future, this will no doubt compound the problem.
I certainly do not intend to sign up in April. Field Service is a complete waste of time, I struggle justifying the time I spend in the ministry already, let alone spending 30 hours. A young man in my congregation who has been Regular Pioneering for about a year mentioned to me last weekend that he feels like it is a total waste of time, and he hates it. So I said to him: "Go off the list. Jehovah doesn't want you to do anything your heart isn't into."
He's 17. I advised him that he should be preparing for college anyway, and if he decides not to go, at least he'll have the option if he's applied for Financial Aid and Scholarships. Good kid, smart kid, and definitely has some potential to wake up. However, I tried to keep quiet as much as possible. I don't want to be responsible for "polluting" a teenager against the organization. If there is anything that would get me accused of apostasy and df'd fast, it would be that, I think.
Anyhow, I'm off to do something else. Thoughts?