It's all about hours, not results.
Yep, too right.
Is the ministry really taken seriously by most JWs?
by XBEHERE 32 Replies latest jw friends
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ozziepost
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ozziepost
The "society", as it used to be called back then (NOT "the organisation") seemed more serious about 'teaching' and 'reasoning' with people, with a "Theocratic Ministry School", more informative magazines and study publications for "interested ones", and tools like the Reasoning book (for all its flaws).
Insightful comments. When did “the Society” morph into “the Organisation” ?
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BluesBrother
How do you generalise? There are those who absolutely love it and do it wholeheartedly and the spectrum ranges to those who might grudgingly do an hour or even fiddle a report.
I think there are more that do their best than the slackers
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enoughisenough
I would say I took it seriously and that is why I quit it save for the cart work once that started. Meeting with the group, standing around after that meeting while the rest plotted where to meet for coffee...so by the time you got to the territory and a couple of houses, it was time for the plotted coffee break which had to be driven to and the 2or3 car groups along with other customers in line....WHAT A WASTE OF TIME...so at least at the cart, people who may be interested or just friendly would beat driving around and knocking on not at homes. Did it really bother me that either way there was little interest? No! Because I felt like Jehovah is the one who draws people to him and not me-so from that point of view, I didn't take it a life or death matter whether I actually did the preaching/teaching,,,I just considered I was dropping seeds of truth and God could make it grow. ( jokes on me now....I was spreading lies and was too gullible to see it. I see it now and am sorry! I would apologize to people I taught the "truth" to if ever I see them again.)
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XBEHERE
then covid happened and zoom was a chance for a good chat while pretending to write letters
many or most did not want to go back to door to door.I do think that COVID has had a profound impact on the seriousness of the ministry for sure, however I do think that it does depend on the area you are in, the congregation, and the individual publishers. You can not generalize I agree. From what I can see, and speaking from my own PIMO experience, the above quote seems true in many many cases.
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road to nowhere
A few think it is a life saving work; as in tornado warning. A lot go to socialize, be seen, and to prevent nagging by brother elder.
Appearance is more important than message--ties, hose, 1954 hair, shaved, dresses.
Then there are the titles: elder, ms, pioneer etc.
The work that is neglected is internal--calling on sick, actually helping people. Even an effort to do something for community. Ever see a sign that this stretch of hiway is cleaned up by JWs snoot hill congregation?
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Hellothere
Oh things change before covid. Almost saw no JWs door 2 door before pandemic. They we're sitting around carts playing with their phones. Preaching zeal been low for a decade i think. What was weird was bumping into Mormons doing door 2 door. Run into them several times when I was out walking.😁 Plus they were smiling and seem to enjoy their service. Reminded me of JWs back in the 80s. Oh yes their was s time when you actually saw happy JWs. Wonder what happened to watchtower. Like a dark cloud came over congregations back in the 90s.
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ThomasMore
What happened in the 90’s is that publishers wised up. They saw WTC planning large real estate flips and publishing new non-sensical theories about the generation that was never supposed to die - BUT DID!
Personally, I kept going with enthusiasm, meanwhile my fellow elders were using every trick possible to post more hrs while actually doing nothing.
I think they gave ip on the doctrine but were not prepared to lose their status and their family and their friends.
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HiddlesWife
The ones who didn't take it VERY seriously as far back as in the 1980s and 1990s had their own personal agenda for going out in field circus: (a) Popularity and (b) Searching for marriage partners. These dubs wanted to be famous--similar to celebs. As regards to dating and marriage, they wanted to be betrothed to the most revered plus greatly admired brothers or sisters (whether these were in their home cong or some other cong). These members might've believed in the basic doctrines but had their own motives for engaging in the preaching work, anyways. 🤷🏽♂️
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LongHairGal
HIDDLESWIFE:
I seem to remember this mentality in the religion back in the ‘80s or so. I do believe some of those younger Witnesses wanted to be famous for their marathon f.s. hours and how ‘spiritual’ they looked to everybody.🙄
This is when I got the most grief and condemnation because I was not in the full time ministry with all the people that were around my age. They all felt they were ‘better’ than me and wouldn’t be caught dead in a full time job like I had. That was a no no. Yes, those were ‘lonely’ days being on the fringes of the JW religion. But, I have no regrets now because I Retired.. As for some of those other JWs who are also older: I heard through the grapevine that life is tough. Would they ever admit this to me? I doubt it. They might insist they have been ‘blessed’. Well, as long as they can pay their bills (without looking for handouts as has been rumored).. good for them.