How Field Service Destroys the WTS

by metatron 23 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  metatron

  Years ago, congregations all over the world were built up
  and solidified by the door to door work. Since all Witness
  meetings were related to the field ministry, they had relevance.
  Going out in service kept the organization strong.

  Not any more.

  Field service - and the unrelenting emphasis to participate
  in it - is destroying the organization. How so?

  Aside from third world countries, most of the door to door
  ministry is imaginary. Homes are empty, people won't come to
  the door, and actually quoting the Bible at doors has become
  a rare event for countless Witnesses. The 'ministry' therefore
  quickly declines into attempted magazine selling - in between
  coffee breaks - and long waits in the car.

  The result is PRETENSE!

  The current generation of Witness kids has no experience with
  a door to door that actually generated converts. Because of this,
  both field service and the 5 meetings that are linked to them,
  TEACH PRETENSE AND A SHALLOW HYPOCRISY THAT DRIVE WITNESS KIDS
  INTO THE PRACTISE OF A 'DOUBLE LIFE'.

  If any of you loyal defenders out there will meditate on this
  just a little, you'll begin to see how foolish this structure
  of meetings and field service looks to Witness kids. ("Mommy,
  why does the emperor have no clothes?")

  MORE IMPORTANTLY, you will begin to understand why the behavior
  of Witness youth is becoming such a crisis.

  After years of this empty practise, A TERRIBLE THING HAPPENS
  IN PRIVATE TO WITNESS KIDS. They say in their minds:

  "My parents are idiots. They are religious fanatics"

  And THEN THEY THINK THIS DEVASTATING THOUGHT!

  "So, why should I listen to anything they say?"

  KA-BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  In this one moment, you have amplified the naturally rebellious
  tendencies of a teenager a HUNDRED FOLD!!!!!!! ALL OF THE WISDOM
  YOU HAVE GATHERED AS AN ADULT that they need to become happy,
  productive adults IS DESTROYED BECAUSE YOU HAVE LOST ALL
  CREDIBILITY BY INSISTING ON ATTENDANCE IN DEAD MEETINGS
  AND DOOR TO DOOR SALES!!!!

  THIS IS WHY Witness kids are becoming WORSE than 'worldly
  children'. This is why they throw off restraint THAT THEIR
  WORLDLY PEERS MAY GRASP THE VALUE OF.

  This is why the Watchtower is destroying itself and wiping out
  its future - its children - by fanatical insistence on meetings
  and a dead ministry - that ruin the credibilty of parents
  in the context of morals and spirituality.

  If you want to ruin your kids, obey the Watchtower.

  If you want good kids, teach them compassion and love
  and devote your time and attention only to activities
  that actually promote charity and kindness.

  Don't let them wreck your family.

  metatron
• 

  openminded

  I could not agree more. om
• 

  ozziepost

  They go to 'meetings' at their KH and claim that this is imitation of the early Christians. Yet an examination of the Pauline letters and the Acts shows nothing of the kind. Rather the early Christians met together and ate, sang songs of praise, celebrated the Lord's Supper and told experiences. A happy time. Nothing like the business atmosphere of Dub meetings.

  And to think they condemn churches for having worship services!

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "If our hopes for peace are placed in the hands of imperfect people, they are bound to evaporate."

  
  - Ron Hutchcraft Surviving the Storms of Stress
• 

  Reborn2002

  Truer words were never spoken metatron.

  I saw all of the above for myself while still a member of the congregation.

  You would never get a JW to admit any of the above... but that is the REALITY of the matter.

  Excellent post.

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• 

  spender

  great post, very true.
• 

  trevor

  I found your post interesting metatron.

  I agree with you. There are many more effective ways in which the WT could promote itself. People now days in the UK are irritated by door-to-door callers. It is an obsolete method of contacting people.

  Many would be JWs are put off by the requirement of going from door-to-door and having their standing judged according to how much they report. The kids that are dragged around the doors have all my sympathy.
• 

  belbab

  In the days of Russell, door to door, colporter work was the established method of distributing information and goods. You had wagons travelling from farm to farm distributing house wares, snake oil, encyclopedias, and books. No telephones, radios, and modern communications.

  Door to door work is an anachronism. They have made it into a Sacrement.

  I pioneered in Quebec for many years. While there I learned that Catholics go to a shrine, called Saint Anne de Beaupre. There the faithful would climb a long torturous stone staircase on their knees, while counting their beads. By this they were to receive some healing or blessing or brownie points.

  Meeting attendance and door to door work are similar futile exercises, that have long ago lost any effective benefit that they may deliver.

  belbab
• 

  TexSham

  I agree with Metatron's statement here:
  "Aside from third world countries, most of the door to door
  ministry is imaginary. Homes are empty, people won't come to
  the door, and actually quoting the Bible at doors has become
  a rare event for countless Witnesses. The 'ministry' therefore
  quickly declines into attempted magazine selling - in between
  coffee breaks - and long waits in the car."

  There may have been a conscious decision on the part of watchtower leadership to emphasize retaining current members, growing slowly or not at all. The cost of bringing in new members has risen signigicantly. Bringing people into the organization as adults, who have already had life experiences as students, workers, and parents, has other problems. These people are generally more sophisticated and more difficult to control than the "home-grown" witness.

  The leadership may have decided that smaller growth is better. Less problems, less work, and the org is still making money hand over fist. There is a lot more money to be pulled from the rank and file, and the cost of aquisition of those dollars is less than the cost of aquiring dollars from new recruits.

  TexSham
• 

  TR

  Excellent post, Metatron, and excellent comments, Ozzie.

  This topic really has substance to it.

  Any active JWs with kids care to comment?

  TR

  UADNA-WA
  Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America- Washington Division
• 

  Pete2

  Good post. I think the door-to-door work disguised as "preaching the good news" really comes back to the realization that the WTS is a publishing company. It is the distribution of literature that is the important thing -- not people.

  How many books and magazines does a religious organization need? What was truth a decade ago ( for example, the "generation" promise) is no longer true. There could be more effective ways of gathering disciples -- doing charitable works, hospitals, feeding the homeless, practicing sincere love and kindnesses to one's neighbor -- but the WTS is so enamored with its construction of a publishing giant that it can't see beyond its presses.

  Hey, Trevor good to see you back. I visit only occasionally so maybe you've been back for a while. What have you been up to?

  Love,
  Pete