A Faders Guide to Field Service

pronomono

As a fader, I'm working on a mental guide to field service. Because most of this is a mental exercise realizing that your new knowledge, the mental side of things, is what makes it so hard to preach after learning TTATT. I'm familiar with some of the tactics of avoidance - knocking lightly, walking slowly, working with someone that likes to take all the doors, etc. - but what happens if you actually meet someone and your conscience doesn't let you preach JW propaganda? You have to preach. But about what? Well, we have the Bible of course. That's what many can agree on, if we can base our presentations entirely on the Bible.

As a new fader, I unfortunately don't have any. I'm too indoctrinated into throwing magazines into the householders hands. So can you help me out? What presentations have you used in field service as a fader to preach the good news without preaching JW propaganda?

Splash

"Good morning, we're showing folks (wt like this word) a scripture from the Bible that tells us why it's important to live by Bible standards. Do you have time for me to read this to you?"

Basically, mention the Bible, make it sound judgmental, and leave them with the option of saying "No!".

You'll also get kudos for trying to use the Bible on f.service.

Crazyguy

Just say something to the effect of or about Jesus being the messiah, if they agree then agree and move on.

LostGeneration

The first step to fading is quitting FS.

Don't go anymore. If you must, fake a slip with 2 hours a month for six months.

I'm sure the protest will be "But I can't quit right now" Yes you can. There will be fallout, man up and deal with it.

ITS YOUR LIFE, TAKE IT BACK!

tornapart

I don't go in the first call any more. I just do RVs with the magazines to calls that have had them for years and years (no intentions of taking it any further). I just pass the time of day with them, maybe just show a single non doctrinal verse in the bible. Soon I may just quit altogether when I feel the time is right.

pronomono

LostGeneration, Agreed. The only reason I still go, once a month, is to keep my wife happy. I'm being patient with her to let her doubts develop. This takes time, just as it did with me. It's been 6 months now and a steady progression. It hasn't been nearly that long with her. She's already progressed to missing more meetings, saying that she'll go out in service but rarely does, and watching entertainment that the society condemns. Although she rarely goes in service, we still usually manage once every month or two. It's a start but not nearly the finish. As I help her to break the chains I have to be supportive, which means giving in to her spiritual inclinations as she has given in to my inclinations to do otherwise. With the progress that we've made, I'm sure that we will both be inactive soon.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for manning up and dealing with the consequences. I've taken a large portion of my life back already. But out of love, I want to slowly help my wife out of the org instead of destroying her world overnight. Just as Jesus slowly opened the eyes of the blind man, I'm opting to slowly open the eyes of my wife.

So to help me through this, I need some field service presentations. Because there is nothing wrong with preaching the good news. The wrong is preaching the JW propaganda that comes with the good news.

Thanks Splash/CrazyGuy for the suggestions. Hoping they turn me away doesn't happen all that much in the Bible Belt until you try to put literature in someone's hands, though.

Phizzy

When I was nearly at the point of stopping FS , I used to do a presentation something like Splash suggests above, I would simply ask the HH to consider reading their Bible more. I was very good at starting and maintaining conversations, so would chat for 15 or 20 minutes on each door until it was time to pack up.

I would never suggest that I would call back, and I never left literature. One lady said to me "I don't mind your lot coming round for a chat, but I can't stand those Jehovah's Witnesses". I don't know what church she thought I was from, LOL

I could get away with this because I always worked alone unless forced to work with another JW, but I was known as a loner.

In the end I simply could not go DtoD anymore, I would not preach falsehoods, 1914 etc.

So my advice is, make sure you work alone, say you believe all JW's should do so , as it gets more of the life-saving work (puke) done, and then do as I did.

Seezee.

NewYork44M

Going out in service once you know the TATT is one of the most stressful events ever. I still have dreams about this.

I am sure you will hear lots of tricks, many of them work. Do what ever you can to remove the stress.

Vidiot

I was still in when my kids were born, but when I heard that reading (the admittedly WT biased) My Book of Bible Stories to them daily as toddlers counted as "time", I just did that.

Bingo; four hours a month, zero door-to-door, and nobody made a fuss about it.

Other issues with the WTS had been piling up mentally, so it didn't take long for me to realize that a lot of the content was simply inappropriate for them (both for age- and ideology-related reasons).

We happened to move around the same time, and I just stopped reading it to them as I went full-on into my fade.

Bugbear

The stress you feel comes out of your own concienceness. You know that what you are suposed to tell the people at the doors is not simply the truth. I stopped 10 years ago going on the field although my wife still was in. I remember we had some arguments about me being inactive, she was mainly scared that I would be lost in harmageddon. But I just sincerely told her my point of view. I also showed her the facts for my position. Now 10 years later I am Dfs. This making it impossible for my wife to listen to my argument, but I am sure that she also nows the TTATT. Now she is only afraid of losing all her friends at the KH.

Bugbear

A Faders Guide to Field Service

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