How many remember the 15 min break Between the Public Tlk and WT Study? (page 2)

fleaman uk

Im surprised this topic is under Entertainment...i never found going to the Meetings even remotely entertaining.lol

Yes I remember the breaks quite well. Used to go outside with my buddies and bs dreading the bald headed elder that would always stick his head out the door to tell us the WT study was starting. We would stretch those breaks as long as possible which usually meant a reaming from my parents if we got way out of line.

rocketman

Yes, I remember those breaks. They gave people more incentive to leave than to stay around. But they also made the meeting all that much longer.

potleg

I remember them too...seems like it was the perfect time for "weak" ones to leave...which they did. I had to stay inside the hall, which meant that the meeting was that much longer.

DaCheech

I think we tried for a year in the late 80's?

they gotta get rid of the book study meeting and make the meeting 1 hour long for goodness sake!

ozziepost

Were any of you around in them early days of the bOrg?

Struth, mate, history's a bit longer than that!

blondie

I remember those days; I was a pre-teen/teenager. We called it the smoking break. Several JWs would dart out to their cars to take a drag. One brother told me that in his congregation there was a five and dime store nearby and the kids with money would go down and get candy and be slurping on it all during the WT study (things were lax back then). Actually, it was supposed to give non-JWs who were visiting, time to leave after the talk; some JWs said it was to give them time to take the person home, I wonder how fast they had to drive to make that trip to and from in 15 minutes, meaning the JW missed a good portion of the WT Study, accident or on purpose?

But figure it out, 60 minutes public talk, 60 minutes WT study, 15 minute break and 15 minutes for 3 songs and 2 prayers (woops 1 prayer. They didn't pray before the public talk out of deference to the non-JWs in the audience). That ended when they realize how few non JWs were in the audience.

2 1/2 hours folks.

Prayer before the Public Talk started around here:

*** km 9/72 p. 8 Question Box ***

When

are we to start having prayer before our public meetings?

If your congregation has not yet begun to do so, this week is a good time to start. Since we look to Jehovah as our Instructor for his blessing and guidance, it is appropriate for our meetings to be opened and closed with prayer. (Isa. 54:13; John 6:45) This is true whether the meetings are attended only by regular members of the congregation or are ones to which the public has specially been invited. If two meetings are held, one after the other, then prayer is offered at the beginning and end of the entire program.

A capable brother, generally one of the elders or ministerial servants, should be assigned in advance to be chairman at the public meeting. After he warmly welcomes those in attendance, he will invite the congregation to join in a song of praise to Jehovah, and then he will usually offer the opening prayer. Following this, the chairman should inform the audience of the title of the talk to be given and introduce the speaker. His remarks ought to be very brief. After the talk, the chairman may make whatever announcements are appropriate for those present.

While the material at our public meetings is explained in terms that the public can grasp, it is not directed solely to newly interested ones. The information is also highly informative and upbuilding to the members of the congregation who are regular attenders. It is fitting that all of us, whether baptized Witnesses or persons newly interested, turn our hearts to Jehovah in prayer on such occasions, for truly he is our "Grand Instructor."—Isa. 30:20.

Previous WTS opinion on prayer before public talk...this Question from Readers makes it seem like an individual congregational decision.

***

w50 3/15 pp. 95-96 Letters ***

ABSENCE

OF PRAYER AT PUBLIC MEETINGS!

November 17, 1949

Dear Brother:

Answering your query of the 9th instant regarding the absence of prayer in opening and closing our public meetings:

It is certain that the public does not come to our public lectures in our Kingdom Hall or elsewhere to hear us pray, but do come to hear the advertised subject spoken upon by the speaker announced as competent to handle it. Our Exemplar Jesus held many public lectures, but there is no record that he opened or closed any of them with prayer. There is no Bible record that he opened up the sermon on the mount with prayer, or those open-air lectures after which he fed the multitude, first the 5,000 and then the 4,000. But there is a record that when he thus fed the multitudes he did offer prayer of thanksgiving to God before breaking the bread and fish and distributing the pieces to the hungry crowds. And these lectures, mind you, were public gatherings of practically all Jews who already believed in Jehovah God. But in our case today we advertise our public lectures as open to all peoples, whether nominally Catholic, Protestant, Jew, skeptic, atheist, or of the many pagan religions. Surely those of the public who are not of the Christian faith do not turn out to our meetings in order to join with us in prayer to our God, but solely to hear the speech which is the drawing feature. So we give them that and do not think to impose upon them by attaching something else to the lecture which might offend or stumble them before they hear the speech they came for. The apostle Paul, at 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, says Christians should offer prayer at their own meetings in a language to be understood in order that the hearers might be able to say Amen! at its close. But we should not expect any non-Christian public to join in any prayer if offered at a public meeting and then say Amen! with us at the close. Our brethren are offering public lectures in many pagan lands, and if it would be imposing upon the pagan public to offer our prayers before we let them hear our public message, then the same rule ought to apply even in Christendom. Because the message is for the public to tune in on, prayer is likewise not offered over the Society’s radio station WBBR. But this does not mean prayer is never offered in behalf of all such public meetings. It is, privately, by those promoting and supporting the public lecture campaign. That suffices.

Yours faithfully in serving The Theocracy,

WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY

PopeOfEruke

ahhhh - precious memories. Those breaks were so cool - esp. as the water tap was out in the yard at the side of the hall and we had a 18:00 Public tlk. Used to go out into the cool of the night and have a drink, tell jokes and play knuckles with my buddy.

Sometimes the breaks would be SO long - 10 minutes or more easily.

Best part of the meeting. Of course that's not too difficult a thing...

Pope

garybuss

Yup! We had smoke breaks here. We'd walk to the neighborhood store about three blocks away and buy candy. Growing up a child of Witness parents was just plain terrible. I hated it.

Gretchen956

I remember the breaks but don't have any fond memories or stories to tell about them.

Sherry

How many remember the 15 min break Between the Public Tlk and WT Study?