Thought on “0 hours” reporting

FFGhost

So everyone knows the “big news” of this past weekend, no more reporting of hours, placements, return visits, etc. Beginning November 1, JWs just tick a box indicating whether they “shared in any form of the ministry during the month”.

So there was a brief comment by a redditor that seems like a brief joke “throwaway comment” but after thinking about it….why not?

The idea is, what is “any form of the ministry”? Don’t JWs teach that “giving a witness” is pretty much “talking about any ‘spiritual’ topic with someone who is not a baptized JW”?

So, at a congregation meeting, there is almost certainly going to be at least a few unbaptized JW kids. Virtually any meeting will have kids in attendance.

So, if I make a comment at the WT study, or the CBS, or any other meeting, aren’t I publicly expressing my faith within the hearing of unbaptized people?

So if I make any comment at a congregation meeting, aren’t I engaged in “any form” of witnessing? So if I just answer a question, can’t I go ahead and check the box?

i’ll go even one better. Isn’t just raising my hand a form of “giving a witness”? Unbaptized people see that I want to “express my faith”, and that in itself should count as a “witness”, right? I’m evidently willing to say something, and all these unbaptized kids in the audience will say to themselves “wow, he has faith and wants to express it”. Voila, witness given, and I can check the box for that month.

So all you PIMOs out there - want to stay in good graces as an “active publisher” until you finalize your exit plan? Just shoot your hand up a second or 2 after the conductor has picked someone else to comment, and you can legitimately 🤓 “check the box”.

is it just me, or did the “brain trust” at Warwick not really think this through? They have effectively made “active publisher” so easy to accomplish that it is now an utterly meaningless designation.

Ding

Why wouldn't giving a friendly greeting to someone at the hall be considered "any form of the ministry," especially if you love bomb a visitor?

If it refers to the "preaching ministry," why wouldn't leaving one tract a month at the laundromat, restaurant table, or public bathroom qualify?

As FFGhost said, "It is now an utterly meaningless designation."

TonusOH

There are all kinds of ways to witness to others. If the minimum is now 'anything' then you can check the box if you had a conversation with a non-witness family member. Or a neighbor. Or someone on the line at the grocery store.

You can write a letter. That is time spent witnessing to others. If you are feeling particularly ambitious, write two! Send a text message with a link to the JW site. Make a phone call and leave a message. Once a month.

If they did the same with the meetings, imagine how many "active" members they will have!

Phizzy

" They have effectively made “active publisher” so easy to accomplish that it is now an utterly meaningless designation. "

That was part of the reason for doing it, if over 8 million JW's tick the box, then they can claim over 8 million active members worldwide. Thus making their retention figures look better for a while, The young ones are leaving in droves it seems, so won't be ticking any boxes !

Ding

Wear a jw dot org sticker on your jacket and you are constantly witnessing, just like JWs at carts who don't engage anyone in conversation.

FFGhost

they can claim over 8 million active members worldwide. Thus making their retention figures look better for a while

Yeah, in the short term, it gooses the numbers a little. Maybe they even hit 9 million in the next year or 2.

But the actual amount of real ministry will plummet. All those “20 hour” publishers will now be “4 hour” publishers. All the current “4 hour” publishers will now become “2 minute” publishers.

They’re not going to keep track of hours anymore, but if they did? Hours would be, what? 20% of the current amount? 10%? Less?

Over the past 3 years, hours plummeted and new baptisms plummeted even farther. What will baptism numbers look like 3 or 5 years down the road (if they still publish them)?

Without enough new baptized members, and with mortality affecting the remaining demographically aged JW population ever more strongly, the numbers will inevitably drop.

i know they are reacting to <something>, and they likely have some sort of plan to keep the game going, but at this point it just feels like they are throwing in the towel.

slimboyfat

I remember a pioneer brother who was a bit of a joker used to say that if he waved to a return visit from his car when passing them on the street - that counts as a return visit! The definition of return visits was something like “furthers the interest of the householder in the good news”. He used to say that a friendly wave was a good as a chat for encouraging the householder. Others in the group would get flustered arguing with him that a wave didn’t count as a return visit. I’m sure he was just winding everybody up. 😆

Ding

Counting time meant that the goal was putting in the time, not actually accomplishing anything.

A good example of that is all the cart sitting that has gone on.

Hours and hours without even trying to engage anyone in conversation.

If someone actually asks a question, they just refer them to the website.

stan livedeath

when i was a pioneer ( 100 hrs a month) my time started when i got in my car in the morning till i got back home. i counted about 100 a month so as not to appear too keen.

So no difference now if someone ticks a box--even if they havent even been to the KH all that month.

FedUpJW

Counting time meant that the goal was putting in the time, not actually accomplishing anything.

Agreed. I remember back in the day getting frustrated with the "star" pioneers and telling them MY time was valuable and I wanted to make my time count, not just count my time.

Now my time counts for more than free slave labor to WT.

Thought on “0 hours” reporting

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