PRE vs POST 1975 Field Service

by Amazing 11 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Amazing

  Reading many posts about Field Service over the last few years almost always reveals an almost "disgust" for the door-to-door work ... admissions by ex-JWs of hating it "all along," but doing it out of pressure. When I first left the religion in 1992, I don't recall all the hatred of Field Service by ex-JWs ... mostly I heard of ex-JWs feeling weird not doing it anymore, or wondering if now a different message should be carried under another banner. Myself, I never hatred the work, just began to feel it was useless.

  Then it dawned on me that 95% of those who hated Field Service were either raised JWs, or became JWs after 1975, especially from the early 1980s onward. Talking to ex-JWs who were in the religion prior to 1975, their feelings about Field Service seem to be mostly neutral. I even know of a few of these who continued going door-to-door after they became ex-JWs ... only they now changed the message.

  The difference seems to be with the reasons for going door-to-door in the first place. Prior to 1975, the times were "urgent" ... Armageddon was due by October 1975 ... and time was getting sooooo short ... lives were literally at stake ... we started with our relatives because we wanted them to survive Armageddon and live forever in paradise ... we gave up saving money or getting ahead financially, because in just a few years, the entire old system would be gone ... and we wouldn't have need for such worldly wealth. It was not a matter of peer pressure, though there was some of that ... it was a matter of motivation. Like warning people to get out of a burning building, the "urgency" made us want to get into Field Service.

  The post-1975 JWs and ex-JWs are a different breed. They are the same good people ... but I never before considered how the lack of motivation of a date like 1975 could make the Field Service seem more of an act of peer pressure than an act of urgency. It stands to reason that after 1975 passed than new JWs and those raised in the religion would be governed by different pressures. I wonder what kept me going until 1992? Well, the beginning of 1992 ... because by then I was in the quiet exit stages ... and I was able to fake Field Service by just turning in time studying with family, and return visits.

  JW Motivations After 1975: The sense of urgency continued for a time as we were all believing that we were living on borrowed time ... that is, Jehovah would have ended the system in 1975, but he was keeping the door open for a few more ... then by the early 1980s, when it was clear that the end was not coming when we thought, the motivation was to keep on doing all we could because the end of the "Last generation" was closing in, and Armageddon would have to be soon, though we no longer had a date in view.

  By 1992 I no longer could see the last generation, and I no longer cared. I was leaving the religion, so any sense of feeling motivated by anything, even peer pressure, didn't phase me ... so, I guess that JWs today go door-to-door for some other reason(s) ... but what could possibly motivate them beyond peer pressure has me stumped ... and to hear of all the hatred of the Field Service is starting to make some sense and strongly suggest that JWs in general are no longer motivated ... and, finally, judging from the lack of seeing them out door-to-door also suggests that the Field Service work is not being participated in as much.

  It used to be fun thinking the end was near and that we were being used by God, like a giant collective Latter-Day Prophet Class doing work like that of Jeremiah or Ezekiel ... but then, it used to be fun thinking there was a Santa Clause or an Easter Bunny until the JWs took all the fun out of that too. Somehow, we just grow up, and discover there are truly serious things in life besides what we did as JWs or as children.

  Edited by - Amazing on 16 September 2002 9:57:59
• 

  TR

  Amazing,

  Being a post-1975 'hovah,(baptised '85), I really did feel reluctant to go out in service. Since I knew nothing of "1975", I did not feel the urgency to do field service. I just felt the guilt that the Society heaped on my shoulders for "not doing all I could". Hell, whole families, including children were sellings everything and moving to third world countries "where the need was greater". However, I felt that I could make a bigger impact "informal witnessing". It just stood to reason that people who knew me would be more inclined to listen, and indeed, not one person I ever contacted at the door came to the meetings, let alone got baptised. There were a few friends I knew before becoming a 'hovah that actually came to meetings, and one of them got baptised.

  I always wondered why the WTS demanded all 'hovahs do the same thing when the scriptures(can't remember which one) pointed out that there were people with different abilities in the cong.

  TR
• 

  metatron

  I can't say that 1975 was the turning point but field service DID change, as you say.

  It bothered me that field service was presented as a sacrifice, often without any
  real relation to disciple-making, as early Christians did. It evolved into a perfunctory
  ritual in which months would go by without ever opening a bible or getting into
  discussions with any depth at all.

  Most Witnesses are just putting in time, wasting time, marking time.....
  Meanwhile, real brotherhood and compassion in most congregations I know
  quietly evaporates as the friends have little time for each other.

  metatron
• 

  William Penwell

  A dub bases his love on how many hours he puts in banging on doors.

  Will
• 

  NeonMadman

  I thibk that the changing attitudes of the people in the field may have had something to do with it as well. In my early years as a JW (I was baptized in 1969), you really could hardly work for a whole morning without getting into a conversation with someone, often more than one person. Sometimes you'd get to banter for a while with a born-again Christian, or a skeptic. Personally, I found this sort of thing very stimulating in my pioneer days. As years went by, however, the response got to be less and less. People didn't want strangers knocking at their doors anymore, and even the people who, in years past, might have been willing to chat for a while, pretty much just wanted to get rid of you. Toward the end (I think the last time I went out in service was in the early 90's), getting any response at all was pretty unusual. Mostly field service came to be just knocking on doors of empty houses and hearing the few people who were home say, "I'm not interested."
• 

  ThiChi

  You have really tapped into my feelings too. My heart really goes out to those who are still trapped by guilt to keep on the field service tread mill........

  Edited by - thichi on 16 September 2002 15:12:24
• 

  Bendrr

  The Grumpy Old Men in Brooklyn have to be well aware of the unspoken feeling shared by most dubs about field service.

  Look at how the hourly requirements for regular pioneers have dropped. What is it now, like around 70? Used to be 90. Do they even have auxiliary pioneers anymore? What is the hourly quota for aux's now if the regs only have to put in 70?

  Col. Bendrr [classified]
• 

  DanTheMan

  50 hours for AP's, Bendrrr

  It's all been said before, but those of us who have left recently can tell you that field service nowadays (in the U.S. anyways) is largely a formality. A few not at homes, a couple of return visits (the ones you know are never home, a good waste of 10 or 20 minutes) then off to McDonalds or whatever for half an hour. Then back out into the territory (oh wait a minute, sister so-and-so needs to get something from her house, we'll do that first, then we'll do some d to d, oh wait a minute, do you mind if we stop at the bank, too? - another half hour killed) then it's door to door, spending lots of time standing on the porches of the not-at-homes, walking VERY slowly between houses...

  I was in for 10 years, 1992-2002, in that time I knew of maybe 1 or 2 people who were recruited in the door-to-door. Zero were recruited in my own congos. I was one of the last of the dumbshits to fall for JWism.

  It's a joke.
• 

  William Penwell

  I have to agree with you dantheman, not many are converted from actual "cold calls" or door witnessing. Most converts have been around the troof most of their lives or were raised as a dub. I think the door to door work is a complete waste of time and that is the reason why I quiet going out years ago.

  Will
• 

  Amazing

  I agree as well that the door-to-door work is a waste of time. During my 25 years as a JW, I helped 15 people into the religion, and none came from door-to-door work ... all were through niformal witnessing. The door-to-door work and street work is to accomplish only two things: 1.) To advertize Watchtower publications, keeping their name recognition before the public at no cost, and 2. Less importantly, to make JWs feel good about themselves in a religious sense.