Loving Rainy Saturdays

Saturday morning and praying for rain.  That's life for a lot of Jehovahs Witness children.  Another weekend of knocking on strangers doors and trying to talk to them about your religion.  The only respite to this drudgery is if it's pouring with rain, in which case my parents would give Witnessing a miss.

There are some JW's who genuinely enjoy their ministry work but for most it's about being seen and being able to put in a monthly report that keeps you under the radar of the elders.  I am sure the the organisation would hotly dispute this claim however just a brief observation of a group of Witnesses engaged in the door to door ministry will prove that I am right.

You will notice that some, usually the men, make a big play about ensuring everyone has enough territory, so they will spend much of the time walking between streets 'checking everyone is okay'.

Others will knock on a door and spend five minutes or more waiting and talking to their companion, despite the obvious fact that the house is empty.

Still others will 'pop in' to a local Witnesses house for a toilet break and will be gone for half an hour or more. Others will knock on doors for a few minutes and then disappear on a 'pre-arranged call'.

Don't misunderstand me, I am not criticising the tactics of these Witnesses to minimise the time they spend actually talking to people - I used to do it myself and the vast majority of JW's I knew did the same.  The fact is most normal people don't want strangers knocking on their door and trying to convert them.  JW's point out that they don't have a choice, the preaching work is a command from God through Jesus - so why is it so unpopular?

My theory is that most JW's secretly dislike the door to door ministry because their efforts in it are being constantly monitored.  Every month they each have to report how many hours they've spent in it, how many magazines, books, tracts they have placed, how many bible studies they have and how many 'return visits' they've made.  It's a competition where the 'official' line is that each must do as much as they can in their circumstances but in reality, everyone knows that the more you do the better you are thought of, regardless of circumstance.  Before I left there were even some elders and circuit overseers that openly expressed the view that all Witnesses had an obligation to make the ministry work their full time occupation - though in fairness the organisation never openly confirmed this.

Recently the organisation has introduced a new method of Witnessing which entails a small group of JW's standing in a town or city centre with a board displaying the latest magazines or book and they wait for people to approach them.  I have seen quite a number of these stands over the last three years and rarely have I ever seen anyone approach them - however Witnesses assure me that it is a much easier way to preach and that they do have success with it.  This seems to me to be a win win for everyone as presumably only those that are interested will engage in conversation and everyone else won't be bothered by unwanted approaches.

Of course the whole issue as to why so many Witnesses want to avoid the house to house ministry as much as possible creates a thought provoking question.  If they truly believe that God is going to make the whole earth a paradise where sickness and death no longer exist and man is perfect why don't they all shout it from the rooftops?  If they genuinely believe that they will see their dead loved ones again and others can too why are they not stopping everyone they see and begging them to listen?

The organisation would claim that they are doing just that, pointing to the yearly report and the billions of hours being reported - yet dig a little deeper, ignore the figures and look closely at the individuals making those reports and you will see an apathy for the work which belies a lack of real belief in what they are preaching.  That does not apply to them all - far from it, there are many who genuinely work as hard as they can in the ministry work but in my experience there are many more who pray for rain on a Saturday morning.