Do any of the JWs go out door to door with a territory any more?

by Spiral 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  steve2

  One factor that makes it difficult to gauge door-to-door coverage is the actual "coverage" always has been wildly uneven.

  If you live near a kingdom hall and/or are of "nice" disposition, you will likely have lots of JW contacting you which has little to do with the coverage of the territory; it's just that you are in a convenient location or are an easy "target" .

  In my old home congregation, a supply store was located around the corner from the kingdom hall. back in the day, the friendly store owner told me (with a mock exasperated tone in his voice) that he had more Watchtowers and Awakes left at his store each week than copies of newspapers he sold daily (back in the day when people bought and read papers). He was a friendly guy and his store provided a handy starting point for counting time. He liked the JWs who often made purchases so it was no problem to him.
  
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  Esse quam videri

  working the doors (to death) and keeping all the records had gone away.

  How many thousands of times did I walk away from a 'Not at Home' and stand on the sidewalk, in front of the house, look back at the number and write it down, all official and professional like. That must have been a sight from peoples living room window.
  
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  pale.emperor

  I've not had them knock at mine since I left 2 years ago. I've not seen them in passing either. It seems to be all carts.

  Had to laugh to myself seeing their new simple magazine offers. It looks like a children's free insert the kind you'd clip from a newspaper and hand to your kid on long journeys.
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  sparrowdown

  If they are going D2D anymore it must be invisibly because they have been MIA where I live for about 2yrs now.
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  alanv

  I live in the UK and I see both door to door visits and cart witnessing. They have me as a do not call, not because I asked for that, but because they know i am an ex JW who has no interest whatsoever in returning back to the org. Whenever I have watched the cart witnessing I can truthfully say I have never seen anyone at all approach the carts or engage in conversation with them.
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  respectful_observer

  Our last house was in another congregation’s territory (so no local JWs would have known to skip it). In almost four years, we never got a knock on the door or a tract, Memorial invitation, etc.
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  dozy

  When I was a JW the only real "bulk" witnessing ( in terms of volume "first call" activity ) was done by the more active pioneers. Most publishers just did a token hour or so once every week or couple of weeks , much of which was spent hanging around street corners and generally not knocking on doors.

  From what I have heard , most of these pioneers spend a lot of time on the "trolley work" or are in more productive areas of ministry such as the foreign language work , so I would imagine there isn't really much of the traditional "first call" work being done now.

  From a personal observation , I've been out for 10 years and only once have I ever met anyone at the door ( and I am home most weekends and almost all evenings. ) . A couple of times I've had tracts through the door when I have been out but that is totally the sum contact of any direct JW "field service" contact. Friends I talk too say the same - many say they haven't been called on by JWs for years.
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  _Morpheus

  most of these pioneers spend a lot of time on the "trolley work"

  This is only my observation but i think theres a lot of truth in that statement. Avg pubs dont a lot of effort in to cult recruiting.
  
  
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  nugget

  where we live has always been seldom worked but I have to agree that I don't see witnesses around as much as I used to. It is a genuine surprise to see them on first call at all whereas before I would see them more regularly.
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  careful

  I recently moved to a secure building, so they do not come by, but before that I lived outside a small town and we were visited D2D 2-3 times a year. The last time was a middle-aged sister alone (so I figure a pioneer) who gave me a tract, invited me to the KH, did not have a Bible out, and held a tablet in her hand the whole time. Clearly she was not trying to get into a conversation.