@Village aux. pioneer. No i do not count any minute that i am on here.
@sir82 right Europe
reading a report of an elder in a friends cong has been hiding and spying on the pioneers who seem to have a practise of dumping the cart and finding a local coffee shop, i've noticed that they do this in my local high street as well but this week they seemed to be all huddled around the cart, they've clearly been warned, a vast percentage of the time i see they seem to be more interested in fiddling with their mobile phones and gossiping, is just seems these carts are a means for the pioneers to turn in "easy time" i wonder what sort of figures show how much literature is being taken by the public?
i bet its very minimal.
naturally the gb would say they are a phenomenal success , we clearly know they are not.
@Village aux. pioneer. No i do not count any minute that i am on here.
@sir82 right Europe
reading a report of an elder in a friends cong has been hiding and spying on the pioneers who seem to have a practise of dumping the cart and finding a local coffee shop, i've noticed that they do this in my local high street as well but this week they seemed to be all huddled around the cart, they've clearly been warned, a vast percentage of the time i see they seem to be more interested in fiddling with their mobile phones and gossiping, is just seems these carts are a means for the pioneers to turn in "easy time" i wonder what sort of figures show how much literature is being taken by the public?
i bet its very minimal.
naturally the gb would say they are a phenomenal success , we clearly know they are not.
reading a report of an elder in a friends cong has been hiding and spying on the pioneers who seem to have a practise of dumping the cart and finding a local coffee shop, i've noticed that they do this in my local high street as well but this week they seemed to be all huddled around the cart, they've clearly been warned, a vast percentage of the time i see they seem to be more interested in fiddling with their mobile phones and gossiping, is just seems these carts are a means for the pioneers to turn in "easy time" i wonder what sort of figures show how much literature is being taken by the public?
i bet its very minimal.
naturally the gb would say they are a phenomenal success , we clearly know they are not.
reading a report of an elder in a friends cong has been hiding and spying on the pioneers who seem to have a practise of dumping the cart and finding a local coffee shop, i've noticed that they do this in my local high street as well but this week they seemed to be all huddled around the cart, they've clearly been warned, a vast percentage of the time i see they seem to be more interested in fiddling with their mobile phones and gossiping, is just seems these carts are a means for the pioneers to turn in "easy time" i wonder what sort of figures show how much literature is being taken by the public?
i bet its very minimal.
naturally the gb would say they are a phenomenal success , we clearly know they are not.
@Village probably because all those inactive others and ex-jws that left years or decades ago do not man a cart.
They speak about what they observe during a few minutes or from their own prejudices. I speak from my own real-life experience
reading a report of an elder in a friends cong has been hiding and spying on the pioneers who seem to have a practise of dumping the cart and finding a local coffee shop, i've noticed that they do this in my local high street as well but this week they seemed to be all huddled around the cart, they've clearly been warned, a vast percentage of the time i see they seem to be more interested in fiddling with their mobile phones and gossiping, is just seems these carts are a means for the pioneers to turn in "easy time" i wonder what sort of figures show how much literature is being taken by the public?
i bet its very minimal.
naturally the gb would say they are a phenomenal success , we clearly know they are not.
My personal experience is that a lot of books and brochures are placed with the carts. In our territory we use two locations for the carts. One is near a high school and university the other one is on a busy open-air citymarket.
people approach the carts and decide themselves if they would like to take some literature. If they take something it is because they really want it.
Young people often take the Young People ask books and brochures on creation. At the market it is more bible teach books that are taken.
If i compare two hours door to door work with two hours with a cart i must say from my own experience that the two hours with a cart yield better results. When going door to door most people that are visited are not interested. But every time i am with a cart i have spoken with a number of people that show interest and approached me instead of the other way around and decided to take some literature.
In the back of the cart we keep a notebook and write down all experiences and placements and so i can see that others have the same experience when using the cart
does anyone have any links to how the mormons (or ex mormons for that matter) view the changes that the wts has made over recent years, especially the growth of jw.org and characters like caleb & sophia?.
have they noticed?
do they see similarities?
@sir82 the changing political situation in eastern europe and the change for the better for the JW's during the 90's, as well as their growth, is a well known fact.
Just take a look at the yearbooks and check it yourself,.. i just grabbed two yearbooks ('94 and '96) from the 90's (figures of 1993 and 1995) from the bookshelf reporting 29% growth in 1993 for the countries of the former Soviet Union in 1995 50% growth in the 10 countries of the former Soviet Union
Also there are studies about the changing in households as i mentioned.
In my country (a typical industrialised western democracy with a thriving economy) a special government agency, called the central bureau of statistics, keeps track of such data and its a fact that nowadays both spouses work instead of just one with a main income during previous decades.
That means that in previous decades much more people were at home during the days.
does anyone have any links to how the mormons (or ex mormons for that matter) view the changes that the wts has made over recent years, especially the growth of jw.org and characters like caleb & sophia?.
have they noticed?
do they see similarities?
@sir82 but that does not tell us what you think it does.
For example JW's were forbidden in the former Soviet Union and East European states. So after 1990 the bans were lifted and Jehovah's Witnesses became a legal religion. The result,.. phenomenal growth during the years that followed,.. the 90's,
So the higher number of baptisms and growth can be explained easily it was not because of a certain amount of hours and effort but because of other political circumstances and improved human rights. So after that initial high growth and peak in those countries the situation normalised and a a normal growth rate remained.
Also times change. For example, during the 80's and 90's in many countries there were more people at home during the day than there are nowadays because of more traditional values and customs during previous decades. But today in many countries both males and females have full time jobs.
The result,... when you are out in service during the mornings a lot of doors wont open. It does not mean that people are less receptive...or that it take more hours now to convince a person,... but they are simply not at home.
That is why for example this year they are poundering in the KM (see for example the KM of April 2015) on field service at night or the late afternoon and through mobile carts.
does anyone have any links to how the mormons (or ex mormons for that matter) view the changes that the wts has made over recent years, especially the growth of jw.org and characters like caleb & sophia?.
have they noticed?
do they see similarities?
@millie why would you need that?
what's the problem with prophecy?prophecy primarily requires a pattern recognition or insightful strategy not an analytical strategy.
prophecy rarely gives names whether of empires or their rulers.
even the name of the messiah - yeshua -wasn't foretold.
the doomsday clock is not based on nuclear threats only since 2007 it also reflects climate change and new developments in the life sciences and technology that could inflict irrevocable harm to humanity
The most recent officially announced setting—three minutes to midnight (11:57 pm)—was made on January 22, 2015 due to climate change, the modernization of nuclear weapons in the U.S and Russia, and the problem of nuclear waste.
does anyone have any links to how the mormons (or ex mormons for that matter) view the changes that the wts has made over recent years, especially the growth of jw.org and characters like caleb & sophia?.
have they noticed?
do they see similarities?
@millie i think because of a combination of secularisation and the preaching work. Churches are running empty in Europe the traditional denominations are dying. A lot of people are dissapointed in their churches, church leaders and teachings.
besides that SDA's do not preach so are not well known in Europe. Mormons do preach but only a very few (only young american missionaries for a two year period). The rest of the Mormons in a country do not go door to door. There are only about 80,000 mormon missionaries worldwide.
Contrary to that all JW's in a country preach and go door to door. So those dissapointed church people are not visited by SDA's or Mormons. Instead of that they are visited by JW's,.. not foreign JW's or missionaries but just local JW's that speak their european languages and are familar with the country and local customs.
That is why there is a difference in Europe between member figures of JW's , Mormons and SDA's