Dec.03 KM - Evidence of a Fake Ministry?

by metatron 16 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  metatron

  I have often asserted on this forum that the published totals for publishers and hours

  are not to be believed. First, because I'm a fake publisher ( like many) and second, because

  I'm very familiar with the 'rigours' of field service! - such as coffee breaks, waiting in the van

  to get warm, traveling to opposite ends of the county on calls, bible studies with lonely

  old people who have no intention of becoming JW's, and generally trotting from door to door

  while talking to no one.

  On this basis, I expect that the Society would become concerned about the utter lack

  of hard results from so many hours spent accomplishing so little - and that they would

  write something about it.

  Well, guess what?

  The Dec. 03 KM seems centered around these worries - as on the front page

  "Searching Out Deserving Ones". Perhaps you could go out on evenings or annoy

  people with Theocratic Telemarketing.

  Then, on the back, is "Help Those Rightly Disposed" - emphasizing that you MUST

  call back conscientiously

  Not Convinced? Inside ( pg 5) is "Please Call Promptly " - apparently the Society

  is getting requests for literature from the public and issuing S-70 forms ordering

  a local visit and NOT finding publishers acting diligently.

  ( Those pastries at Tim Horton's really are quite good - especially the tarts)

  The Jan 5 meeting has a part called "Your Labor Is Not in Vain" featuring old timers

  (those not dead or faded away) denying that they've wasted decades peddling magazines

  for a cold-hearted group of ....... oops! I digress!

  oh, and publishers are reminded that you can't use the World Wide Work / Kingdom

  Hall Fund money to pay the mortgage.

  metatron
• 

  little witch

  Most interesting!

  And I always wondered and wanted to ask if anybody ever "dipped" to cover their gasoline and time.

  I guess I have my answer! (If I understood you correctly).

  I would. I tell you I would...If they made a condition on me that I HAD to do service, and I felt it was worthless, yes I would!
• 

  ballistic

  I can tell you the answer why. They collate figures for hours spent for each baptism, and without even factoring in baptisms of children, it is very disheartening for them. What you have there is a figure for efficiency, and it is low, very low indeed. In fact, it almost sickened me when I saw the figures and it brought back the haunting words of many a householder, "do you not have something better to do with your time?"

  If we are mistaken about anything here, it is that they want to increase publisher hours. Answer: no. At the end of the day, they need new recruits to donate more money. They would not care less if average hours dropped by 50% but converts increased at a higher rate. What they are driving here is efficiency like any other business would, it's just taken them a little longer to realise it.
• 

  RandomTask

  Im waiting for the publisher totals from the January WT.
• 

  willyloman

  Meta: This post, and your other recent one, paint a fascinating picture. On the one hand, the WTS is clearly concerned about the lack of seriousness displayed by the R & F when it comes to the all important "live saving" work. On the other, accuracy in doctrine is not nearly as important as moving out the old stock of books.

  Portrait of an organization in decay.
• 

  William Penwell

  I will repeat what I have said on past posts, the actually hours that are spent talking to people is a lot less than what is reported. For example a car load of 4 publishers on a Saturday morning would report 8 hours (4 publishers X 2 hours each). Now if you minus the time wasted i.e. driving around the territory, walking to the doors, waiting in the car while the other couple is talking at a door, the 30 plus minutes spent in the coffee shop etc. you would end up with about 15 minutes per publisher actually spent in talking to others. On this rough calculation, about 80% to 90% that is reported is wasted time.

  Will
• 

  Mysterious

  Random Task they were posted already from the german watchtower: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/62483/1.ashx
• 

  jonnydangerous

  Haha why does this not surprise me?

  The Red Flag raised in my mind when my Grandmother (a devout pioneer for 20+ yrs) introduced me to the "Pioneer Stroll"... which basically means shuffling your feet and gabbing for 5 mins between each door.... sad sad waste of life....

  -- Nny
• 

  uriah

  I remember sitting in a car with the field service overseer watching the pioneers walk by and mentioned the 'pioneer walk' in jest. He said 'Well, they have to get their hours in'. It is a strange thing that walking slowly to get 'hours in' is preferable to talking to people (from the JW stand point). I tried to reason with the FSO that if they had territory that was local, that they could walk to, then they could spend more time actually talking to people instead of walking to distant territory and counting the walking time there and back as FM. Also there were any number of JW's who had 'return visits' that were a couple of mile apart - excellent FM time counting strategy. The FSO could see nothing wrong with this and just repeated that they have to get their time in. Some JW would give a tract to the first person they met to 'start counting the time' as they went to the group. One brother told me that he counted the time from when he decided to go out - no wonder he got made an MS with such a fine FM record! I also worked with a brother who would spent between 10-15 mins if he could get away with it, standing on not homes. He happened to be the PO. Other JW would try to work in a 'Theo-speak' word in conversations with 'worldlings' so they could count the time at work etc. As a loyal dub at the time, I found these practices hard to reconcile with what I understood to be 'life saving work'. I came to understand that the hours reported was the most important thing and if you could get any time from anywhere then that is what you did. The FSO said that I had not been considered as an MS because my hours were down. He then gave me instruction on how to get the hours up, using many of the devices mentioned here - even if it is only 5 mins, write it down, it all adds up, he added. As I began that fade, I used these devices to keep them off my back. I even developed the skill of 'seeming' (tm) WT to press the door bell when working with others. Going on calls - i.e. going for a country drive and then turning up for tea later on. Using 'theo-speak' to deflect any enquiries by asking first 'did you have a good time, placed many mags?' As people generally like to talk about themselves it was a useful strategy to do nothing but seem to do lots. But it does take a toll and in the end I just stopped doing it. I got one call from the secretary - who never phones or speaks to me to ask for my time sheet. I said it was nil. 'Oh dear', says he and never called again. In the last few months before the total fade I put in hours never worked, sometime threw in a few mags for good measure and the odd return visit. No-one cared so long as there was 'time' on the form. I am not proud of being deceitful and am not writing this for approbation. When I was a loyal dub I would faithfully put what I did, sometimes knocking some off if I thought it had been an unproductive morning, or whatever. I never counted my family study as I thought this was my duty to my children and not FM. But as the light dawned, it became clear that I would have to make use of the devices I had seen to survive the fade. I came to realise that a vast majority of the reported time is fiction, not only that but many JW don't even read the publications they 'place' - one Brother actually said to me, when I enquired if he had read an article, 'Oh I don't read 'em, I just place 'em'. The only time many actually read the publications is if they have to read at the book study or the cong WT study, as most stare into space and parrot the underlined text. A great world-wide work? Spiritually well fed? Spirit-directed-work? Zealous (gag) witnesses?
  

  I think not.
• 

  drawcad_1

  It looks like an effort to revitalize a dieing mission.