Saturday morning field service is a joke

by hoser 37 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  hoser

  I havent been going door to door saturday mornings for since I can't remember when. I have been putting in regular reports to the congregation but the last time I actually went on a door was probably six months ago or so and it has been at least 2 years since I did a saturday morning

  9:30 we showed up to the group arrangement, we waited outside because we were not sure that it was the right place.

  9:50 people started showing up even though it was scheduled for 9:45

  approximately 10:00 meeting for field service started

  after meeting everyone mingled around talking about the new big screen tv that the elder conducting the meeting had just purchased

  we got to the territory about 10:20

  The "car captain" if they still call it that, would assign a couple doors to people and the rest of us would sit in the van talking about motorcycles and sports cars while we waited for them to do the doors.

  11:00 am coffee break

  11:35 drove around to find a sisters' out of the way return visit that was not at home

  11:55 back to the house where the service group was held

  This is not the religion I grew up in. It is not surprising that the growth in western countries is stagnant if this is what they call field service. If a person was honest about how they counted their time they would count it as about 30 minutes of acual preaching. I'm sure they will call it 2 hours. I know thats what I'm doing.

  I know many of you will be asking why do you bother with this nonsense? I have family in, and I am actually able to show mrs hoser that this religion has turned into a joke when we are able to see first hand the lack of zeal.
• 

  sir82

  Sounds about right.

  In a typical 2 hour Saturday morning, typically less than 5 minutes is spent in actually literally "giving a witness". The rest of the time is spent knocking at empty houses, walking slowly to & from empty houses, gabbing in the car, driving to return visits who are not at home, coffee breaks, etc.
• 

  88JM

  It's even more rediculous when a few of those are going off to do cart witnessing. In the congregation here, they're running the cart in a shift system, so half-way through the morning, another couple that has been out D2D has to come drive to the town center (maybe a 30 min drive) to take over, so the couple who were on first can then drive out to the territory (another 30 mins) and start D2D! It's like the most inefficient system they could have thought of - so much time wasted! (I know it's all a waste really but...)
• 

  MissFit

  Hoser , that's how my Saturdays used to be like. Were you in my car group? Lol.

  I tried going out "in service" when I was reactivating myself a couple of years ago. I never came home "refreshed". The highlight of the morning is the coffee break and the creative time counting.

  In one group a couple of us would bring some mags. Or tracts with us and try to place them in the parking lot to keep the time going. If you were pioneering, you would stop at a gas station or bus stop to start your time before the fs meeting and then hit a laundry mat right after and then go on a long distance call or not at home.

  I could go the whole morning without speaking or knocking at a door.

  I did get caught up on all the gossip though.

  I thought maybe I wasn't doing it right. I never got any RVs.
• 

  hoser

  I was explaining to mrs hoser that this lack of zeal is the result of the reward structure that the watchtower has in place. It rewards people for hours in the ministry not results.

  My wrong, sorry. It is a punishment structure in place by the watchtower. If you dont report the hours that the group expects you are subtly shunned, perhaps left out of social aspects of the group. The corporate structure punishes individual publishers that are not "visible" in the ministry.

  Being an effctive minister has nothing to do with being accepted by the group. It is all about being seen.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  This is not the religion I grew up in.

  Really? Because that seems about like what I saw all the time. There were some that were more gung-ho (zealous) and tried not to waste their time.
  But really- it's all a waste of time anyway. I saw the August push for everyone to "auxilary" pioneer (get in 30 hours) in the area where I work. So a group of 6 "sisters" would crawl by at the slowest possible pace that could be considered moving forward and half a block behind 4 "brothers" were following. I mean- they didn't even take the other side of the street and they were out so early in the morning when people don't stop to talk if you see people at all that early.

  They know the door-to-door work is virtually all not-at-homes on weekdays and they are switching many urban witnesses to the carts and tables. HA HA! That's even easier- just sit or stand there and don't approach people. At least the door-to-door work gets exercise.
• 

  jhi29

  MissFit-- getting caught up on the gossip was all being stuck in a car/minivan all day with people you didn't trust was about. :)

  Ugh. I don't miss a minute of it. Feel terrible for the kids who are stuck in it with no choice, until of course they feel full-on rebellion is their only option out.
• 

  Simon

  Most pioneering consists of walking around, speaking to no one.

  The odd times I did ever work with a pioneer a single hour would magically become 3 - they'd call on a magazine route at 5 minutes to the hour then walk across town to another one and get there are 5 minutes past an hour, stopping in shops along the way. That was 3 hours 'touched' right there.

  Can you imaging if a time-and-motion study was done of the witnesses and the work rate?!
• 

  keyser soze

  It's wonderful to see Jehovah's chariot blazing full speed ahead. The end is so very near.
• 

  daringhart13

  LOL

  That is EXACTLY how a Saturday morning group worked when I was a JW......and I was the elder leading the group! LOL