Interesting. I took one of Anthony Morris’ talks through an inference engine (AI) to predict what he was going to say next:
Now, we’re going to look at why we should take the initiative,
how to take the initiative,
and then a concluding thought about who’s helping
in directing us in our preaching work.
Now, first of all, why take the initiative?
Well, think about it.
One thing about being Jehovah’s Witnesses
is that we’re never off duty.
We never stop being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses
—wherever we are or whatever we’re doing.
So it isn’t just when we’re out
in the formal preaching work with a congregation group
—we are one of Jehovah’s Witnesses all the time.
There’s no such thing as being off duty
when we’re one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Now, to give you an idea of how
significant this is with informal witnessing,
I will tell you a statistic: A survey was taken some years ago
(and you’d be surprised, possibly),
and one group of over 200 baptized Witnesses,
now notice, over 40 percent
had been contacted by informal witnessing.
Isn’t that amazing?
Now, you could assume that this
group are the total
Jehovah’s Witnesses in this country,
wherever they are,
whether in New York or England or San Francisco.
Well, yes. But actually, this is a
conservative estimate, because
people are tempted to become more passive in their approach.
And if you’ve seen that sign on a congregation door,
“No finger food,” then you’ll have an idea of what I’m talking about.
People are embarrassed to approach
seemingly shy people.
But that’s why the evidence
gives us an opportunity
—a very significant opportunity
—to remind them
that we’re one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Now, of course,
even then, a major problem would be to get the person in question to sign the second witness card
in the book.
But even though they don’t have to sign, it’s
really a very good sign when they do.
And what’s going to make them feel
more comfortable is
the fact
that we’re letting them
know that we are one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
We’re not just going
off-duty
and letting them do it.
Now, it’s true that they’re
not really off-duty,
but
initiating an approach like that shows us we’re not just passively watching, and
that they’re
open to what we have to say, because we’re there
being Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Now, to give you some examples:
Just a few weeks ago, one of the brotherhoods here on
the West Coast was visited by a Brother McDonald.
Now, remember, that this is a recent brotherhood.
They only have, I think, four active members.
They’ve come here on a special invitation from Jehovah’s Witnesses
in southern California, to the Sacramento, where
they are holding a conference for about 1,500 Brothers from that congregation.
Well, it was a good opportunity for us to present them with an introduction to JW-Canada, with some
tourism literature and brochures.
And they really enjoyed it.
And they asked for other presentations and materials
they could take back to their congregation.
We hope that other JW groups
will do the same.
We’ll help you, of course, if you want
a particular copy or flyer or whatever.
If you’re making a presentation to people
in your congregation, and you’d like
a pamphlet or a pamphlet
[telephone talk transcript, side two:]
with a list of things to do in the area, or
a tourist brochure, you could always give it to a Brother who’s going
to be at the venue.
Or you could give it to them
before they’re there.
Well, that was part of what happened a few weeks ago in Sacramento.
Another Brother came along.
And as we’ve been saying, we try to introduce them to each other
since we’re on the same page.
But this Brother’s brother-in-law
was living in south Sacramento, and
he wanted to have a look at this conference, so he went along.
And when he found out that we were there, he
volunteered to give us a tour of the area.
I think he was a little surprised to be given this
opportunity.
He said that he was a bit intimidated when he first
woke up and found he was the only member of his family who was a Jehovah’s Witness.
But we have been able
to introduce him to a lot of people.
And we’re very thankful to him.
Well, it
may not seem
that significant.
He didn’t
volunteer to give us a tour.
He didn’t
give us his phone number so we could contact him
later.
But when people find out that they’re not alone, that there are other Jehovah’s Witnesses in
the area, that there are other Witness
campsites or campgrounds or accommodation places, they’re always willing to
help each other out.
Sometimes they have to get introduced to each other.
Sometimes we have to go on the give a bit of a tour
together.
But the point is,
when you go
for a
vacation, you’re already
like-minded, of course, and you want to be with other people in your
group.
But being introduced by somebody else, like
a brother or a sister-in-law, or a friend who comes to
visit you in the resort or at your campground, can really make a
difference, as well.
Again, it’s not a
volunteer effort.
But we’d be happy to accept any kind of invitations to go for a
tour.