SUMMARY:
Jehovah’s Witnesses claim to use portion of the contributions given to the World Wide Work funds for Relief work. Unfortunately, as shown by the “Alberta Flooding” video, they seem to have a greater interest in reporting (or advertising) it than they are in actually releasing funds for such work.
INTRODUCTION
Jehovah’s Witnesses generally have a sense of security that comes with belonging to an international spiritual family. From time to time, they receive reports on how brothers and sisters in distress have received timely assistance and have been blessed by Jehovah himself through his people. In most cases, they are also convinced that such help would not be possible without Jehovah’s organization and the guidance of his holy spirit.
This concept of an international brotherhood - helping each other - is also used when requesting funds to be assigned to the World Wide Work. Witnesses will explain that most of these funds are used for the preaching work while a smaller portion is used for the relief work. It is with this understanding that many brothers and sisters give greater contributions, some even signing the Watchtower as the sole beneficiary of their heritage! (Rom 15:26).
Driving home this idea is this quote from the Watchtower 2002, November 1st , p. 29.
Finding the necessary funds to finance our growing printing activities, relief efforts, and numerous other services performed around the globe may at times seem overwhelming. Recall, however, that the task of repairing the huge wall of Jerusalem also seemed overwhelming. (Nehemiah 4:10)
[…]The box “Ways in Which Some Choose to Give” shows several ways in which the Kingdom work can be supported financially. During the past year, many among God’s people have given such support, and the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses would like to use this opportunity to express their deep gratitude to all whose heart impelled them to share in this voluntary giving.
Through the years, as contributions have been made generously, the Watchtower has reported on how they have provided relief work. And recently, a sub section of the tv.jw.org is now entitled “Relief Work”! Though some of the work reported is truly remarkable and could bring you to tears, we are provided with vague information leaving us to make educated guesses as to exactly what amount was provided by the Watchtower for these particular disaster events.
ALBERTA FLOODING
For instance, we may review one of the videos: “Alberta Flooding”.
The video is also available through the “About Us” section of their web site at
This video reports on the relief work that Jehovah’s Witnesses have done in Calgary, Alberta (Canada) in June 2013. At first glance, we see that Jehovah’s Witnesses swiftly responded to a natural disaster and provided assistance to those in need. That being said, let’s review the actual help provided:
When the flood occurred, the Witnesses called each other to make sure everyone was safe. The following morning, they went to their local Kingdom Hall and coordinated the relief work to be provided; essentially, cleanup after sinister. In the meantime, local brothers and sisters gave away food, clothes and basic supplies. The video does not provide information on the number of houses cleaned, nor the actual period of time allocated to such work. Hence, we are left with making an educated guess. From the footage provided, it appears that three or perhaps four houses, belonging to other witnesses, were cleaned in one day. As explained by Brother David Jensen (at the end of the video), most of the help after this was emotional and spiritual support: “Some of them continued to get assistance from the brothers on the shepherding side and encouragement that way, spiritually.”
HOW MUCH WWW FUNDS?
With the above in mind, we may ask: How much of the World Wide Work funds were allocated to this operation?
In order to answer this question, we must acknowledge the great amount of work that have been done by the local Witnesses (and those of the surrounding congregations). They have provided food, clothes, and basic supplies. The relief work was carried out by 120 volunteers. We may also safely assume that most, if not all, the equipment used was local as a great number of brothers work in the construction industry and are affiliated to the Regional Building Committee (RBC). In additional, most of the coordinating work was obviously carried out by local Elders and ministerial servants.
With the above in mind, we are left with the following actual expenses: Brothers from bethel who have kept an eye on the situation fora few days. We also have the expenses possibly incurred for equipment that were not locally provided for. Hence, you may guess for yourself how much funds from the World Wide Work were actually used to help with this crisis.
Yet, before reaching a conclusion, you must also consider the efforts involved in producing this highly professional video that reported this event. As the Watchtower society produces its own media contents, the cost of producing this video is fully funded by the World Wide Work funds. Special filming equipment, skilled camera man, professional film editors and their respective equipment are part of the production cost. Then, there are also the bethel members assigned to monitor the content of the video and request adhoc changes. And impressively enough is how the video has been translated in 30 languages! Such strenuous work can easily be demonstrated by the fact that such videos generally take weeks, even months before reaching their final cuts. And finally, the distribution of such video also has its own price!
WAS IT WORTH MAKING THE VIDEO?
In the end, we could safely assess that a greater amount of money received from the World Wide Work funds were allocated to reporting the relief efforts rather than being spent in providing it. And so we must wonder why? If such funds were readily used to assist brothers in needs, then why give so much attention to such small scale disaster relief response? For instance, other organizations such as ARES, Red Cross, Mennonites, Salvation Army, and the St-John Ambulance all offered their services to the thousands of victims of the flood mentioned in the beginning of the video (0:40). In contrast, local Jehovah’s Witnesses assisted a few of their own and their Organization took most of the credit while spending considerable resources to brag about it. One must wonder where exactly this really fits with Jesus teachings (Matthew 5:46-47; 6:1-4).
