Question about monthly hours, timesheets, etc.

Alleymom

Hi --

Can anyone think offhand if there has been a thread about keeping hours, the timesheet, etc? A friend has some questions, and since I was never a JW myself I am a little hazy on the actual procedure. I figured this has probably been discussed many times before, so if anyone has a link to a previous thread, I would appreciate it.

Does anyone have a scan of a timesheet? How often is it turned in?
What happens if you don't turn one in, of if your hours start to drop?

Is it correct to say that it is a "requirement" for JW's to go out in service? Can you be a member in good standing if you don't go at all? You can count hours in other ways, right?

Thanks,
Marjorie

blondie

*** w57 2/15 p. 114 par. 4 How Jehovah’s Witnesses View Their Ministry ***

Being one of Jehovah’s witnesses means more than saying, ‘I am one of Jehovah’s witnesses.’ Are you witnessing? Regularly? All physically able have the responsibility to preach publicly and from house to house, as did Jesus, and in addition take advantage of all opportunities to witness to friends, neighbors, etc., while the physically infirm are privileged to witness to visitors, write letters, make telephone calls, and in other ways share in giving the mighty witness. Without exception each witness of Jehovah is aware of his obligations in this regard, as set out in Ezekiel 3:17-21. If one does not witness, he is not one of Jehovah’s witnesses. To call ourselves witnesses of Jehovah and then to refrain from witnessing, which is ministering, would be taking Jehovah’s name in a vain or worthless way. Never may that happen, and it will not so long as a proper view of the ministry is maintained.

Alleymom

Thanks, Blondie! That's a terrific quote.

Do you have anything on the actual procedure of keeping hours and turning in a timesheet?
Is this done monthly?

Is it broken down according to the type of witnessing?

I'd be interested in seeing a scan of a timesheet if anyone has one.

Marjorie

blondie

Form S-4 Field Service Report slip

Is this done monthly?

Yes, during the last service meeting of the month, an announcement is made to remind the rank and file to turn in their time in the box or to their book study conductor or the service overseer at the end of the meeting.

The service overseer/secretary work together to send the report to the WTS by the 6th of the following month.

The book study conductor gets a report the next month letting him know how much time each publisher in his book study group put in (and if they didn't turn anything in)

Is it broken down according to the type of witnessing?

They keep track of

Hours (whole numbers only)(15 minute publishers--elderly, sick--turn one in but elders don't send in until 1 hour accumulates)

Magazines, brochures/booklets, books (tracts are not counted), return visits, # of bible studies conducted with separate individual; (used to keep track of subscriptions, but no longer offer except in very rare situations)

Separate slips are filled out for each bible student, listing name, address, publication studied, how many times studied that month (same form is used for congregation meeting statistics)

I don't have a scan of either form.

I'm sure someone has it.

Blondie

Alleymom

Blondie ---

Thanks for the details on the field service report. There is a disabled JW woman who has just started posting on a Compuserve forum I've belonged to for years. You mentioned 15-minute publishers, and I wonder if she is perhaps one of these. I assume she is counting her time on the board.

Marjorie

blondie

Any JW that is a 15-minute publisher has to be pre-approved by the service committee (presiding overseer, secretary, service overseer). They have to determine if, in their opinion, they are disabled, sick, etc., enough.

Imagine.............

***

km 10/02 p. 8 par. 6 How Congregation Book Study Overseers Show Personal Interest ***

The book study overseer is interested in those who because of their circumstances are able to have only a small share in the preaching work. He makes sure that those who are very limited because of advanced age or because of being shut-ins and those who are temporarily limited because of serious illness or injury are aware of the provision that allows them to report field service time in 15-minute increments if they are not able to report a complete hour during one month. (The Congregation Service Committee determines who qualifies for this provision.)

Alleymom

It makes me feel sad reading about this .

Marjorie

Leolaia

Hopefully I'm not bringing back nightmares for some people:

Alleymom

Thanks, Leo. I will make a copy of those scans.

An Orthodox Jewish acquaintance in the thread is wondering why on earth the JW's come into her neigborhood in the first place, when everyone has a mezzuzah on the door, showing that these are Jewish households.

http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&tsn=21&tid=155367&webtag=ws-religion

Marjorie

blondie

Oh, the dreaded pink slip for the regular pioneers.........no longer used....the regular pioneers are no longer "handled" by Bethel headquarters.

Actually, there are some bootleg forms that some pseudo-JW sites print with "improvements."

Blondie

Actually, Alleymom, for awhile the WTS had a procedure where JWs turned their time in around the 15th. That way the book study overseer could see who hadn't turned in time and "encourage" them to get out by the end of the month.

***

km 4/77 p. 3 Report Field Service Twice a Month ***

Report

Field Service Twice a Month

Congregation publishers sometimes overlook turning in a field service report at the end of the month. It will be practical for them to turn in a report by about the 15th of the month and then another at the end of the month. The regular report slip will be used. Congregation elders should plan to remind all congregation publishers of the need to turn in field service reports at the meeting nearest to the 15th and to the end of the month. Some, by overlooking the turning in of their reports, are now counted as irregular publishers, when in fact they have published the good news each month. If some congregations wish to ask the congregation book study conductors to collect the reports twice a month and turn them over to the field overseer, there is no objection to that arrangement. Do what will be of greatest help to the publishers and the congregation.

Question about monthly hours, timesheets, etc.

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