More, More , More _______Andrea true connection
Is their a slackening off / lack of zeal in the witnessing work that I am observing or is it just the area I`m living in
by smiddy 67 Replies latest jw experiences
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smiddy
Something else that comes to mind going back to the 60`s & 70`s, it was not unusual to do fs an hour before the book study began around the area of the b/s venue and this was on a tuesday evening from 6:00 pm on
Also return visits as they were called then were encouredged during the evenings , with people who were not home in the weekend ministry .
And what about the policy to cover the territory sat. sun. approx 2 hours then after you have completed that territory, you then go back on that same territory on those who did not answer the door ( double whammy , we know you dodged us ,but we caught you this time ) Don`t tell me this was only something that was tried in Australia ?
smiddy
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dozy
Ironically , one of the side effects of the "do 30 hours in March & you can call yourself a pioneer" campaign is that many JWs are using participation in that as an excuse to do even less in the ministry for the rest of the year. They can dine out on the fact that they "pioneered" for the rest of the year. The actual number of hours done masks the fact that the great bulk of those are pioneers driving around delivering magazines on their route calls.
The problem is that the ministry is such an uninspiring , frustrating activity that most JWs are keen to do as little as they possibly can. Those with any enthusiasm are going to foreign language congregations where at least they can get a few studies.
What first call ministry is done is just a mid-week "sisters" Wednesday arrangement where people go out for an hour then off to Starbucks or shopping. At least it makes it palatable and hardly anybody is at home , so they can have a good gossip. It also generates vast numbers of not homes for working on Saturday morning.
One of the reasons that we don't observe JWs around nowadays is that if you work in a normal 9 - 5 job , you will hardly ever come across JWs at the door. As service overseer , several times I tried to get an evening group congregation arrangement organised on the basis that you could meet a lot more people on the doors but I just couldn't motivate people to go out , even though I pushed it heavily from the platform & with the other elders. Half the time it was only myself & wife that would go along. I used to start every year in March & it basically petered out in May / June every year when I just disbanded it due to lack of interest.
Sunday ministry has long since died. When I was younger half the congregation used to do the rurals on a Saturday & Sunday afternoon - we would take packed lunches & genuinely do 3 / 4 hours of solid first call ministry. Nowadays , even the CO doesn't make an effort any longer. There is a rota for the hapless elder or ms who has to stay behind after the Sunday meeting & take the arrangement and the proverbial " one man & his dog" stays after the meeting to do "calls" or pick up a couple of sheets of not-homes to do on the way home , never to be seen again.
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besty
the above description by Dozy neatly captures the difficulties of running and end-times cult without an end-time
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sir82
Ironically , one of the side effects of the "do 30 hours in March & you can call yourself a pioneer" campaign is that many JWs are using participation in that as an excuse to do even less in the ministry for the rest of the year.
Oh you'll love this.....
In a recent elders meeting, "qualifications" of ministerial servants were reviewed. Part of what was reviewed was field service time (now what is that scripture that lists "hours" as a requirement? But I digress....).
All of the MS's "pioneered" in March. But the service overseer, in his spreadsheet analysis of the MS's, completely removed that month when determining the "monthly average" for them. It just flat-out didn't count for him. He's an old-school ex-Bethelite and in his view, the 30 hours is so easy to manage for just one month that it's meaningless.
So remind me again, why exactly the auxiliary pioneering work is so all-flaming important?
If you don't do it, you are condemned as "spiritually weak". And if you do do it, it doesn't count. How are you supposed to win?
Oh, by the way, after removing the 30-hour April, several MS's are averaging 8 hours or less and are due for a good "talking to".
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besty
that 30 hours would add +2 to the average taking the 8hr MS's back into good standing :-)
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AuntBee
Smiddy: To answer your question...YES! I'm just a never beenJW, but i'm a Protestant who likes to talk with Witnesses. I've seen a difference in the last 2 years or so in zeal, in even being willing to "argue", play Bible ping-pong, answer questions, etc.
I was talking with 2 guys that had a lit table outside about 2 months ago, and through them met a sister who asked me if i wanted a Bible study, and i said yes, gave her my info, etc. She only phoned me back once, to say that she was having trouble finding another sister to come with her, but she hadn't forgotten me, but has never called me back since then.
Also recently a guy came to the door with a Convention invite. I invited him in, but he said he didn't have time, so i said, can you call me , so we can make an appointment to talk later when you have time? And he never called back either. (now i may have missed the call, but he definitely didn't leave a message, which everyone does if you're really trying to get in touch...)
I'd say that many years ago, JWs that would come around seemed much more like they really believed in it, and were more well-versed in how to use the Bible. At least that's my observation in my area.
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LongHairGal
AuntBee:
Your observation is correct. The days of zealous JWs (who knew how to intelligently debate) who would have doorstep bible studies and who were eager to reach people are way over. Many JWs are not even clear about what they are supposed to believe and cannot defend it in an intelligent way.
So as not to sound stupid, they shy away from anything resembling a real dialogue with an eager householder who may have some bible knowledge. They can deal with the usual bible-ignorant public who will accept a tract but they are afraid of anybody who has a little knowledge. They are especially afraid of ex-JWs and fear running into them. If somebody makes a "scene" and brings up contradictions and things wrong with the religion the JW is afraid they will come out looking like the loser.
There is also the economic factor and many of the "large army" of women who went out in service during the day are no longer around. The elderly ones might have passed away or moved. The younger ones may have had to get a job to help support the household. So, there are even fewer people available to go out.
Things have changed and the JWs today are not the same but neither is the religion. The pre-millennium "hope" has fizzled out and there is nothing to replace it with. Now that the religion has changed the "generation" teaching yet again, the JWs are pretty much lost.
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JakeM2012
"But the service overseer, in his spreadsheet analysis of the MS's, completely removed that month when determining the "monthly average" for them. It just flat-out didn't count for him. He's an old-school ex-Bethelite and in his view, the 30 hours is so easy to manage for just one month that it's meaningless."
Sir 82, I have seen this before in various forms. One service overseer came to our bookstudy and gave us a butt chewing telling us that we had slacked off. The SO told us that we had a 6-7 hour average and needed to really think about our spiritual condition. I took all the cards and several were regular auxilary or auxilaring often. Basically what he did was give the average for the elderly and unbaptized publishers; the pioneering counted for nothing.
I called him up told him that he was manipulating the numbers to make the study look bad and he did not like it. I also told him that he needed to apologize to the bookstudy. He didn't. It was like he knew as a pioneer that you had to keep the publishers thinking they are not doing anything. It's clowns like this that made me want to do even less. Obviously, this type of "encouragement" is having it's real effect shown now.
