What the Family Worship Evening Arrangement Really Entails (page 4)

chickpea

the formula for an epic fail

even if somehow a family
initiates "family worship"
successfully, ultimately
the effort to sustain it
assures a lingering death,
but death nonetheless

sspo

I would like to see the elders themselves devoting 4 hours of worship with their family! What a joke !

This is one more way for the JW's to feel more guilt and bad conscience for not being able to fulfill

"God's Law".

The GB is senile and F^&%$d up.

BluesBrother

The Elders are going to visit everyone in the cong over the next 6 months

Come off it ! An elder hasn't visited my believing wife in years and years - they are much too busy with Kingdom Hall projects and "work for the Society" .

As for 'family study night' it just means an opportunity to catch late shopping night, homework or T V ..just normal in fact ...I cannot believe that this tone would be adopted generally

Bangalore

I wonder whether the GB are regretting dropping the book study meeting.

Bangalore

dinah

Did the CO actually say "research"? Doesn't he know "research" is what got so many of us out of the Borg?

LUKEWARM

The Elders are going to visit everyone in the cong over the next 6 months

From what I can recall, the CO mentioned elders should "encourage family worship" WHEN they are on a shepherding call. It was the subject of one of the three main themes discussed in the elders/servants meeting themed "buy out the opportune time". Here are some questions the CO asked in the meeting (some required responses others were rhetorical):

Analysing our use of time:How are you appointed men using your time?
In what practical ways are you scheduling time for spiritual as well as secular responsibilities?
Think of your schedule - how does it show what takes precedence? Are you an example to others in the cong?
Have you set things up so time works for you and not vice versa (knocking back overtime on meeting nights, working weekends etc)?
Are you prepared to "buy out time" for more important things?

Buying out time for family worshipWhat schedule for family worship have you found practical?
What can you do to ensure time is set aside for family worship?
What have you done to keep study up?
How can family heads keep worship interesting and practical?
What can you do to encourage others to do family worship (do you talk about it during meeting parts, when in the ministry or when you have brothers over)?
How can a shepherding visit be used to help a family (ask questions about what they are doing, offer suggestions on what they can do or how)?

Buying out time to share in the ministryDo you have freeness of speech when talking about the ministry from the platform?
Do others see you taking the lead in the ministry or are you seldom seen?
Why might the lack of VISIBILITY in the ministry be a cause for concern (if doing bible studies or return visits only and not doing door-to-door with group)?
What assistance are you giving others to increase their share in the ministry?
How can your practical suggestions and counsel help others to but out the opportune time?

He also mentioned there are over 20 irregular publishers in our cong!

WTWizard

I bet they are also going to ban any of those games that sometimes come up advertised to make this sort of events a little more bearable for children. Bad enough you have to waste the evening--and now, they are saying you can't even salvage it for boasting session preparation, weekly reading, or even the regular family Washtowel study! What's next, having the hounders actually making trips to make sure they are wasting the whole evening, and that the children are pretending to enjoy it (if you don't enjoy it, you die)?

On top of that, I see this is going to get those hounders to my place (and damn soon, with the August 2009 Kingdumb Misery field circus directive to go after men in field circus). While they might waste their time ringing the doorbell (which will not be answered), making a phone call (which will not be answered), or writing me a letter (which will be shredded, wasting their time and postage), they might get smart and get me on my way to or from work, or at work, and physically drag me to their homes (or the Kingdumb Hell) for force-reindoctrination. And, I can only imagine how horrible this s*** is going to be--the same story all the time, no outside research, practice field circus, enacting washtowel dramas, and the like--I would rather spend my time in the dentists chair getting a root canal.

eyeslice

Personally, I think they will find this whole Family Worship Evening to be a total disaster.

The fundamental problem is that majority of family heads are not good teachers. Just think about the general quality of teaching/speakers in the Ministry School. Generally, the handful of good teachers rise through the ranks to become elders (though even amoungst elders the general standards are not high) and these are the ones who lead the meetings. The majority of people I have spoken to hated the old 'family study' arrangement; most found it tedious, boring and unexciting.

At least with old bookstudy arrangement if you had a good conductor it could be interesting and fun and there was an opportunity for a coffee, biscuit and chat afterwards.

cantleave

Lukewarm, the part of the appointed mens outline where this stressed was

"How can a shepherding visit be used to help a family (ask questions about what they are doing, offer suggestions on what they can do or how)?"

After the MS's were dismissed our CO suggested that we should see all members of the cong in the next 6 months in order to encourage a meaningful family worship. This may have just been his personal thought on how to make application of the outline (a CO expressing his own thoughts - now there's an idea) but it was definitely suggested.

cantleave

Ynot - Our CO made a big thing about family worship during his opening remarks just before getting into the outline for "The Spirit and the Bride keep on saying come". It was in this talk that the comparison with the Sabbath was made.

What the Family Worship Evening Arrangement Really Entails

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