A few weeks ago I got a visit from a sister from the old congregation. She was our uber pioneer, fearless, regular and often accompanied by her husband, a ministerial servant. She didn’t know I lived here so it was a brief visit after she found out I had disassociated myself.
I got a knock at the door a few minutes ago and it was her husband this time. I thought, “Ah! I’m finally getting a shepherding call… after four years.”
Boy was I wrong.
I opened the door and he took my hand immediately with a nervous smile on his face. “[Zoos], I understand you are no longer in the fellowship. I’m leaving too. Can we talk?”
In a million years I would have never guessed that to be his opening words.
We spoke at length about why he was fed up with the organization… “organization”, “Organization”, “ORGANIZATION!”,… “that’s all they ever talk about anymore.”
I sat there and focused on being a good listener. He unloaded on me and was mostly worried about losing his very zealous wife. “I’m 70 years old and I’m starting to have health problems.” The man is terrified.
I confirmed his suspicions about the organization without bombarding him with a bunch of information. I assured him that the number of new people hitting the various ex-JW support systems, discussion forums is snowballing. He confirmed that the number of people leaving has been a prominent topic of discussion at BOE and MS meetings. He expressed his desire to remain a Christian so I gave him the addresses for jwstruggle, jwfacts, freeminds along with my contact information and an assurance that my door is open to him anytime.
My heart was breaking for the old fella. I hope he plugs in to the support system.