Have you ever been on a congregation picnic?

by LostintheFog1999 42 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  TonusOH

  My experience was similar to TD's, where we would have a few informal Summer picnics on Sundays after the meeting or field service (some years our meetings were on Saturdays) along with a game of softball if enough people showed up ready to play. These weren't set up via messages on the congregation message board (a literal, physical message board-- this was the 80s and 90s!), just word of mouth. As long as you had that one person who worked tirelessly to get things organized, it worked just fine.

  They felt like 'congregation picnics' because it was only JWs attending, with possibly an interested friend/family member or active study brought along to see how much gosh-darned fun it was to be with Jehovah's people (ie, the only people who would not be gruesomely massacred in the soon-to-happen battle of Armageddon)!
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  Beth Sarim

  Those congregation bbq's and picnics were only a 'handful' of perks which I enjoyed growing-up as a kid in the Borg.

  I mean,,having no birthdays, Xmas, Halloween, Easter, MothersDay, Fathers Day all held back from you as a JW kid. Just to name a few things taken away from you as a kid in the Borg.

  BBq's and picnics were only a couple of things a JW kid can have in the Borg. Only to have them fall by the wayside slowly. Maddening. Probably to avoid 'legal' entanglements,,as allways.
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  FedUpJW

  They can have fun in the new system!

  Yeah, if searching for dead bodies and burying the bones of the killed for 300 years is fun, I guess so. Then after that you will have fun working your ass off to turn the entire earth into a paradise to be enjoyed by the GB 3.0, stifling any normal feelings in fear that you might happen to have an inappropriate thought and ToMo III will get the fun of turning you into a human hotdog.
  
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  Rattigan350

  I've gone to meetings in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and I don't remember any of them.

  But what I remember are the congregation picnics and softball games and wedding receptions.

  To the GB, let's focus on the forgettable and eliminate the rememorable.
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  Beth Sarim

  I know, just work, work, work, work, work....
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  Mum

  I remember a couple of picnics. I remember one sister complaining about another: "She brings a quart of Kool-Aid, and then she and her brood eat half of the food." I remember complaints that there was not enough food. A "good time" was had by all! LOL!
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  Gorb

  In the 70's we had local picknics. Many jw's liked it, but some were against it. Many discussions about it in the hall. The organizer was DF because of to much joy with another sister (...) and the picnics were gone.

  The dark 80's came with a lack of these events.

  G.
• 

  Biahi

  Yes, mum, there’s always those cheapskates around. I got married (first time), my reception was pretty swanky, quite expensive. One sister got invited, with her unbelieving husband. She called my mom to inform her that she was bringing her 10 year old son. A terror who was not invited (no kids). So, three came at $50.00 per person, and they gave me a $15.00 bowl. Lol. I just read on Reddit about a gathering of witnesses where one sister, a good cook, was asked to bring 2 large pans of food for a get together. She did, and the sister who asked her to bring those 2 pans, promptly took one and put it in her car. She wanted to take it somewhere else she was going and didn’t want to cook. 🙄 I’d say that makes her a thief.
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  Beth Sarim

  The 80s were the decade when these bbq's and picnics fizzled-out. They stilll had them in the 80"s even 90"s, but more and more scarce. Probably too much 'independent" talk.

  That's probably why in home book studys went by the wayside a decade or so later. Too much "independent" talk.
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  JeffT

  I'm a convert not born in, the fun social stuff in the seventies was a major factor in the conversion. The congregation (Pullman, WA) was relatively small and very close knit. We had parties and picnics frequently. We left Pullman in 1982 and I don't remember going to any social events at the two congregations we attended after that. Had my introduction to the JW's been at one of those later congregations I probably would not have converted.