never had one that I can remember
How Did "Shepherding Calls" Go For You?
by minimus 23 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
When I was the Secretary, the PO and I would regularly do shepherding calls Together. He was a very kind man and together we were often asked to visit a home. Most of my experiences were positive.
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OnTheWayOut
As an elder, I never enjoyed them much. I didn't dread them as I was not the one who felt like someone was coming to pry into MY life.
Most I went on were pretty generic and we didn't really need to say more than some polite exchanges. Sometimes, a parent would open up to us about their teen/young adult child and look for advice on how to save them from the world. As usual, we really had no good answers except the standards: pray more, study with them, drag them to meetings, have serious discussions on how they make Jehovah feel.
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Apognophos
I never saw a reason to panic over shepherding calls, even though they usually centered on my lack of activity and led to awkward questions. I would just put on a receptive, polite face and lob a halfhearted excuse back over the net at them, and express a sincere desire to do better in the future. Any genuinely intrusive questions would be sidestepped. Basically I killed them with blandness.
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molybdenum
According to the well known "Elders guide to the universe",
An elder may shepherd at the publisher's home,
at the Kingdom Hall, while in field service, over the
telephone, or on other occasions.So maybe a shepherding "call" was made on you while you were at the KH or you got
a phone call. Or maybe when you were going from door to door. I wonder when
sherpherding will be done by a text message or by email, as this might well come under "other occasions".
Sample shepherding template:
Hi Brother ____________
How are you?
We miss you.
Why are you not commenting/ attending meetings / going regularly on field service /
(insert other criticism) ___________________
Read the Bible more.
Have a good day.
(End of shepherding text)
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Phizzy
Slightly off topic, but the guys doing these would see them as "Sheprherding Calls", there is a programme going on at present when the C.O visits that two Elders call on Inactive non-Attenders , totally unannounced in my case, to spout the following Script this time "The Governing Body has asked us to call on you to invite you back..."
What I would like to know, if anyone has sure knowledge of this, is: Is this an on-going Programme, can I expect a similar visit next time the C.O visits the Congregation ?
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stuckinarut2
"shepherding calls"
Should be re-named "cattle prodding calls"!
cos out comes the cattle prod with an electric charge to try and "remotivate the slackers..."
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stuckinarut2
After I accompanied elders on 'shepherding calls', I then got one out of the blue and was told I was "too soft on the brothers', because I actually listened to their concerns and life trials, and encouraged them using scriptures and showed them that "jehovah and jesus love their efforts, and we cant see their lives, and assume the best of them"
I was told that I was "condoning their slackness"
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OneEyedJoe
Phizzy - no idea if it's an ongoing thing, but like most special initiatives I suspect it'll fizzle out after a while. At the very least, the elders will get tired of calling on the ones that don't respond at all and they'll give up. My question, though, is who on earth would hear that they're being invited back by the GB and be encouraged? I can see telling people that jesus/jehovah is calling them back, but the GB wants you back? That just screams cult. It almost seems like they're trying to goad inactive ones into DAing.
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tim hooper
I seem to recall that when we did shepherding calls we were also able to count the time.