# of weekly meetings-down to 2?

by Quandary 12 Replies latest jw friends

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  Quandary

  We recently had the visit of the CO, during the elders meeting he addressed his concern over the decline in meeting attendance, especially for the TMS & SM. Our particular congregation saw a decline of 30% from his last visit 6 months ago. In a private conversation with him I asked if our congregation was unique in this regard and he said no, some congregations have seen a much higher percentage of decline, 50-60%. I asked if he thought the Christian Congregation is considering cutting the # of weekly meetings. His response was he did not think so but the way he answered gave me the impression he knew more than he was willing to relate.

  Does anyone here have any information they would like share? Any friends at Bethel who might know something?

  Just curious-
  Q
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  2SYN

  HIGHLY FRIKKING UNLIKELY! I was a Dub, and that was the LAST thing they'd do. Remember, the Dubs are a High Control Group, and cutting down the # of meetings will reduce their numbers even further by giving the R&F enough breathing room to actually think or something.

  
  [SYN], UADA - Unseen Apostate Directorate of Africa - For Great Justice!
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  AvailableLight

  I've often thought about this. If they were to reduce the number of meetings, what would the cut out?

  They just completely revised the way the ministry school will run. R&F are getting the revised guidebook, the changes go into effect in '03. Not likely they'll get rid of that.

  Service Meeting - Not at all likely. This is where members are guilted into doing more in the ministry, exploring alternative forms of ministry, instructed in how to do the house-to-house ministry and harassed or bored to tears with local needs talks. I wonder if the ministry would even go on without the pressure of the service meeting...

  Bookstudy - A possibility, maybe, but still, hard to imagine. R&F are often told that when the time of tribulation arrives, they will be forced to meet in small groups - and so they should get to know those in their bookstudy groups. In reality, this meeting allows the elders to more closely observe the members of a congregation.

  Public Talk - Usually the most boring meeting of the week; occasionally an interesting speaker comes along. Though I'm not sure if others would agree, I've often found the public talks to be quite repetitious and very generalized. The congregation members daydream while looking up scriptures on autopilot. Those "worldly" individuals attending for the first time are given a mild introduction to JWs.

  Watchtower Study - The primary modern source of spiritual nourishment. This is the meat and potatoes meeting; Christianity according to the Govering Body of Jehovah's Witnesses 101. It's hard to imagine JW life without a question and answer WT study.

  Logically, I believe that the public talk would be the best candidate for a pink slip. However, since it is so traditional for a church to have some sort of a Sunday sermon, and since the public talk fits this religous tradition so well, I can't imagine them doing away with it.

  But then again, you never know...

  I started a related thread:
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=24869&site=3
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  roybatty

  I just had this memory. When I was an elder and had to call those in my bookstudy informing that the meeting was cancelled, I could almost hear the joy in many of their voices.

  Why do people put themselves through this???
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  AvailableLight

  During the winter months, I used to pray for snowstorms every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.

  I know the feeling of waiting all day in anticipation for those wonderful cancellation phone calls.
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  2SYN

  Snow doesn't happen in South Africa, let alone bloody snowstorms, so there was never a 'cancellation phone-call' from any Elder. If anything, I have a feeling that the Elders would have sold their souls to the Devil before actually cancelling ANY meeting whatsoever!!! I always felt so joyously happy whenever my parents said we weren't going to the meeting - my heart would literally be bursting with joy, and I could see my sister was very happy about it too!

  
  [SYN], UADA - Unseen Apostate Directorate of Africa - For Great Justice!
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  Scully

  When we lived in Quebec about 12 years ago, there were frequent power outages in the area where the Kingdom Hall was. There were times when the Thursday night meeting (Theocratic School/Service Meeting) was cancelled for 2 weeks in a row because of the power being out. Of course, the power would go back on by the time the meeting started, but they never un-cancelled the meetings!

  Snow storms cancelled a lot of our meetings too, because elders lived further away and the roads would become treacherous for driving.

  There was one winter when the School Overseer would call me on Thursday morning to ask me to fill in for a cancellation, and then later in the day, he'd call back to say the meeting had been cancelled. It happened three Thursdays in a row. Finally I told him I wasn't going to bother preparing any more short notice talks for him until the weather improved.

  We really got into the habit of watching McGyver and Matlock on those nights the meetings were cancelled!!

  Seriously, though, the Book Study has historically been the most poorly attended meeting (with the exception of cake night!) That "might" be the one they will consider eliminating. Unless they try a "restructuring" first. Our Book Study group, when we hosted it in our home, took our suggestion when we thought it was a good idea to have the Book Study on Saturday mornings. It meant one less night away from home. It meant one less cleaning of my house every week. It meant that everyone who went to the Book Study would likely go out in service for at least an hour and a half on Saturday morning. We agreed to start the Book Study at 8:45am and limited the time to 45 minutes, so that we would be able to have the Service Arrangement at 9:30. It was a very laid back Book Study because I had coffee set up on the dining room table and everyone had a cup of coffee while we were considering the Book Study material, so that we could go out in service ASAP after we were done with the Book Study. It worked for a long time, because our group had a great service average, and great book study attendance.

  Of course, with all things innovative and the least spark of creativity, the powers that be felt it posed a serious threat and was detrimental to everyone concerned. So it, too, along with our previous attempt at a weekly cake night, was beaten down into submission and cast aside.

  Love, Scully

  
  
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  picosito

  Several years ago a tropical storm parked over Del Rio, Texas, for a few days and there was a catastrophic humungous flash flood that washed away cars, people and homes primarily in the poorer Mexican part of town. When the rain was beginning it looked very ominous and the elder conducting the school that evening was asked if it might not be better to cancel the meeting to be prepared for the worst, but his answer was, "Why should we?" Result was the catastrophic flood which also wiped out the homes of lots of the Spanish Congregation. Fanatic meeting overbalance. So stinking boring to boot!!!
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  ozziepost

  that was the LAST thing they'd do. Remember, the Dubs are a High Control Group, and cutting down the # of meetings will reduce their numbers even further by giving the R&F enough breathing room to actually think or something.

  A very good point. The history of the org has shown a tendency to MORE not less meetings. Special meetings, Zone Visit meetings, etc Most unlikely they'd go for less. Maybe re-structured?

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "If our hopes for peace are placed in the hands of imperfect people, they are bound to evaporate."

  
  - Ron Hutchcraft Surviving the Storms of Stress
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  ballistic

  things that have been cut in the past have been things which cost money. Shortening of assemblies for example mean the premesis can be hired for less time but they can expect the same contribution. The meetings do not cost the organisation anything. It's poples time which goes into them and are generally times for collecting money. Why cut money collection times by a third?

  I will contradict myself here now; the cutting of pioneer hours was not costing the society anything. I strongly welcomed this move, well done society. The balance sheet showing the number of hours spent to obtain one baptism was so depressing, they had to do something to cut hours spent without being discouraging.