Why do Jehovah's Witnesses keep track of field service hours?

by Faithful Witness 68 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  144001

  They keep track of hours so that they can use this as a tool to push the rank and file to do more; more hours, more book studies, etc., because growth is necessary to maintain the cash flow of the WTBTS organization.

  By keeping records, the organization has a quantifiable unit of measure with which to "crack the whip" on underperforming congregations. In my time, the CO would visit and was never happy with the performance of the congregation, in terms of hours of field service, books placed, etc. Guilt trips would promply be imposed by the CO on the entire congregation for not doing enough.

  Although I was raised in this cult, I cannot understand why anyone would be stupid enough to believe anything they say. By the time I was in my early teens, I had already come to the understanding that theWTBTS is a cult. It always amazes me that there are those who are so blinded by faith that they can't see what is painfully obvious to anyone with a modicum of skepticism.
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  NVR2L8

  At the last CA I attended in 2009 the drama showed a first century elder returning home from fields service and he was recording the group's activities as he was telling his wife all about it. I had a WTF moment realizing the WTS was attempting to have us believe keeping records had its origin with the first century congregation. ..
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  cliff

  "Busy doin' nothing, ....." tra-la
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  Faithful Witness

  SFPW: Another thought-provoking response. Thanks for taking the time to give scriptural references. This leads me to another question.

  You said, "A Christian's spiritual health is maintained through theocratic activities."

  I'm still confused about what you mean by "spiritual health."

  Is your spirtual health a score that is calculated from a record of your time and literature placements? I find this very confusing! I don't see what one has to do with the other.

  You are saying that your efforts need to be examined by someone higher up in the organization, so they can determine your spiritual health for you? Is that true?

  Again, what is spiritual health? Does your health determine your status with Jehovah somehow? Sorry for repeating myself. I really am curious, and appreciate your feedback. I have a hard time being concise.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Another reason they give for reporting is that it is "encouraging."

  When the local JWs are wasting 2-10 hrs/mo, place little, no "progressive bible students," and seeing no benefit to door-knocking, the world-wide report of bajillions of hours and millions of bible-based-publication studies is supposed to be encouraging. There supposed to get a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that their wasted time and energy was a part of a larger-scale time and energy wasting yearly total.
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  problemaddict

  They will say there is a record taking precident in the scriptures. For example Acts says ____ many souls were added in that day. They use this to suggest that some basic record keeping is reasonable. After all someone counted them right?

  Also, they will say since we are all charged to be ministers, that someones faith possibly being shipwrecked will first show up on their field service report. They may be getting less hours, or becoming inactive. it helps them identify who needs help the most.

  So those will be the responses if they are smart. Here are the replys.

  The ____ souls that were added were a round number. Its not like they counted to the man, and it jsut ended up even. Looks like an approximation was good enough. Counting baptisms however is not the same as counting time, and there is no precident for that in scripture.

  Only so much can be determined by a time card. If I am hearing this right, ones spiritual state can be determined by the amount of hours in the ministry reported? What about the number of placements of literature? What is that a barometer of? If we are really following scriptural precident, it doesn't seem anyone kept track of anyone elses offerings, and they also only used scripture and reason. Is that what happens today?

  Also, its of note I believe this started under Rutherford during a time in American history when corporations and other companies really began to discover data mining and metrics. Think Dale Carnegie etc...
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  Stand for Pure Worship

  FaithfulWitness, remember wben Jesus was fasting right after being baptized? Remember, he hadn't eaten for over a month and was at a vulnerable state physically speaking. The Devil paid him a visit, and one of the temptations Satan threw at him was the taunt for Jesus to turn stones into bread satisfying his physical needs. Jesus rebuked him and set an example for us saying, "Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth." With that said, he provided an illustration giving us the admonition to be concerned about our spiritual health in the same way we do so with our physical health.

  Our field service time only provides a snapshot of our spiritual health, similar to how a physical examination provides a glimpse into our physical health. In both cases, further and more in depth analysis still needs to be done to ascertain a more concise portrait of one's health. As far as being examined by someone else, it benefits us in the sense that they can see what we cant or choose not to see. Besides they've been entrusted by Jesus to guide us along in these troublesome times. 1 Pet 5:2-4, Jude 22, 23;
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  prologos

  there was a time when field service reports were tabulated and displayed on monthly updated Charts on kingdom hall platforms and at Circuit assemblies, contrasting the competing congregations.

  Fuller Brush seminar techniques brought into the christian brotherhood.

  the worldniness of the world at its worst.
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  EndofMysteries

  It makes you wonder about the census and such, don't they remember what happened when King David took the census?
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  watson

  That is beautiful Stands For Pure Worship.