Jehovah's Witnesses, is your organization's focus on the preaching time of individuals, healthy?

Question

Where is the scriptural precedent for performing x amount of hours in a given time period as required of pioneers? Galatians 6:4 shows that one christian's performance is not to compared with that of another. Yet pioneers have to compare their preaching hours with a benchmark set for pioneers and the elders tend to compare the hours of regular (non-pioneer) publishers with some kind of average.

Your organization thinks - quite blindly I might add - that it can measure spirituality based on the number of hours preached, and has created a special, privileged caste of preachers based on how many hours they preach, affording them special meetings, a special publication and a privileged status within the congregation. This violates the principles Jesus brought out in the account of the widow's mite. (Mark 12:42-44) Jesus showed that it was the quality of the sacrifice that counts - not the quantity. How many publishers are there in your congregations who report a relatively small total of quality hours every month that they have made at great sacrifice, and who are overlooked, not given any special status, not given any special meeting with the C.O., not given any special publication? How do you think Jesus feels about that?

Preaching should be motivated by the heart out of love for Jehovah and neighbor. But your system of focusing on hours and measuring spirituality based on hours, means that many now preach partially or wholly based on a measure of pressure to please men - to please their judgments of how many hours is reasonable to give every month based on a group average, or how many hours they've stipulated to be completed for one to be in the special, pioneer caste of preachers. It seems many pioneers, as a result, talk more about making hours rather than making disciples. What an indictment on your man-made pharisaic system or quantifying works!

If your organization were to stop counting the preaching time of individuals, how many will still preach as much as they do? I have no doubt that many would preach less or even stop preaching altogether because your organization, by its fixation on time reporting, has actually institutionalized a wrong, man-pleasing motive for preaching with the result that many now preach to hand in a report - to keep up appearances before men. (compare Matthew 6:1-4) The reality is that many - perhaps most - of you preach to please an organization of men rather than being genuinely impelled by holy spirit. There is that pressure to have to hand in a report of hours every month.

How can God's spirit directed organization be so blind to just how spiritually unhealthy its policy of time reporting is when there are very clear scriptural principles exposing the folly of it all? Aren't you in a man-directed organization?

Answer 1

Interestingly, this issue was at one time raised by the head of the WT Writing Department, Karl Adams in a letter to N H Knorr the then WT president.

Adams noted reporting field service time was going beyond what the Bible specifically requires for Christian.

He further wrote that field service reports count more than showing love. ..publishers viewed their success in terms of field service hours and placements. ...

There is no report of the love shown to others, how a person discharges their Christian responsibility or fruits of the Spirit.

Adams recommended a change to field service reporting.

The Governing Body disregarded his recommendation and decided to retain the WT tradition of reporting started under JF Rutherford.



The Watchtower's emphasis on reporting hours results in JWs focusing only on what can be counted and included in the field service report....even cleaning the Kingdom Hall is a problem in most congregations.

Many JWs complain about a lack of love within the congregations....

But the Watchtower knows too well that if they dropped reporting field service,or even asked JWs to hand in a report without their name, few JWs would go door knocking.



Btw, in a recent letter to congregations, JWs are now required to report the number of TRACTS they place....

It is a business......



@ X Factor

If reports were for record purposes only, to know how the work is progressing, then why can't they be anonymous, like donations...why are pioneers announced? why have titles for those who report more hours ? Can you see Jesus encouraging that?

Jesus said when you give ,your right hand should not know what your left is giving.

Answer 2

Well it certainly seems to produce results due to the way most imperfect men tend to operate at this time, they seem to need this sort of push in order to help them.

Personally although being an active member for the last 27 years I do not count my time or report because it is against my scriptural conscience to do so, and neither did Jesus or his disciples do so, I believe a person should give freely without keeping an account.



Maybe you're just expecting to much from what after all is an imperfect organisation who will be bound to make some mistakes, lighten up and look at the overall picture. Perfection cannot be found where is does not exist, what can be found though is a group who are doing their best and 'the' best in comparison to every other imperfect group when it comes to following God's written word, which is quite unmistakable after looking at the facts without bias.

I suggest even though you may not like to hear it from your many questions it appears for whatever reason you have some, which is also not very 'healthy'.



@Caribbean Man

“God's spirit does not direct his servants to publish error” - Agreed but again the only thing under question here is the amount!, in this case of God's direction, who said at this time time you could expect God to be directing to the degree you expect? imperfect humans!

What humans say, regardless of who they claim to be seems irrelevant to the matter, what does God's word say that's what matters.

To pay less attention to men and more to his word, what do you keep focusing upon? Exactly, lighten up as regards sinful men and their condemnation and pay more attention to the word of God and helping others.



(Jeremiah 9:4) “Guard yourselves each one against his own companion, and put your trust in no brother at all. For even every brother would positively supplant, and every companion himself would walk around as a mere slanderer”



(Psalm 146:3) “Do not put your trust in nobles, Nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.”



(Jeremiah 10:23) “I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.”

Answer 3

When have Jehovah's Witnesses said that by only preaching many hours you will get you saved?



As cragar6040 already said by using the Bible.

1 Corinthians 14:39, 40 "..keep zealously seeking the prophesying....But let all things take place decently and by arrangement."



What does zealously mean to you?



What does decently mean to you?



What does arrangement mean to you?



Opposers of Jehovah's Witnesses usually avoid attacking the bible quotes jw use. Like calling apostates "Mentally Diseased". Since they claim to have the Bible on their side it would make them look foolish and hypocritical. If they really had that much of a problem with the Bible commands and verses they would concentrate their attacks against the Bible itself or even against religion. Instead ther real motives are revealed because they choose to focus on Jehovah's Witnesses

Answer 4

Lets take a look at Pauls words for the christians at Corinth, shall we...1 Corinthians 14:39, 40 "..keep zealously seeking the prophesying....But let all things take place decently and by arrangement."

This "time keeping" is to measure the effectiveness of the "getting out the message"....if "hours of field service" drop in some areas, the organization then can recognize and fulfill the needed support in that territory! This would also apply to the spiritual "health" of the congregation....if the hours continually decline they would then see the evident need for spiritual help in these areas.

Besides all that....if we get enough hours in we get pink cadillacs!....Oh wait....thats Mary Kay cosmetics.....

Answer 5

Who are you to speak about other's feelings like that? I work a full time job and only really have time to preach during the weekends and the evenings. I preach to the best of my ability and my field service report reflects that. Even though it may not be a large amount of 70 hours, I'm proud of what I do. What difference is it to me if i don't have a special title or meeting with the CO (Idk what publication you're talking about)? Much like the Apostles, we shouldn't be striving to be higher than one another. The reports we turn in are just for records really, so we can see how much time was spent spreading the message, how much that has grown over the years, and how our brotherhood continues to grow. No one knows who reported however much time except for the one that counts it, so how would you know unless someone told you?



Please, our preaching work is very dear to us.

Answer 6

There was a time when 12 hours a month of preaching activity had to be accomplished to be considered an 'active' Witness. That was decades ago. For a long time now, the minimum required is to just simply do the best you can in holding Kingdom interest first as noted by Christ. If that is done, all other things will be added to you.



Your little insinuation that the pioneers hold more value to racking up hours rather than saving lives just doesn't hold water. If the Witnesses didn't love their earthly neighbors, they wouldn't be sacrificing the time it takes to find those in need of the truth. . . .

Answer 7

No, it isn't, because it isn't focused on hours whatsoever.

It is focused on the life-saving preaching work that Jesus commanded ALL Christians to do.

Matthew 28:19,20

Matthew 24:14



Is your negative life-controlling obsession with Jehovah's Witnesses & misleading internet hate sites healthy?

Answer 8

Your 1st paragraph is wrong so I can just imagine the rest of your mini series is wrong. You do not know what you are talking about. You should have your facts straight before trying to write a book and be an authority on something you know nothing about. For those who want to know the truth about Jehovah Witnesses please go to jw.org

Answer 9

We don't overly stress any certain amount of preaching time, although it is true that all active Witnesses do preach, to varying extents. It was actually a commission from Jesus Christ recorded in the Bible. But we are not forced to preach by any human being. You likely know this.

Answer 10

It is good for the spiritual health of those who listen.