Pioneer Hours Update (page 4)

dropoffyourkeylee

I just became aware of an online source to see the 1943 Watchtower quotation in context:

https://jws-library.one/?list=publications

The whole article is outrageous, A few additional quotations from the same article:

The Lord through his “faithful and wise servant” now states to us, "Let us cover our territory four times m six months.” That becomes our organization instructions and has the same binding force on us that his statement to the Logos had when he said, “Let us make man in our image.” It is our duty to accept this additional instruction and obey it.

...

The time has come when each one must bear his own burden fully before the Lord. With the provisions that the Lord has now made in supplying us with new books, question booklets which contain complete instructions for properly carrying on a study, etc., there is absolutely no excuse for anyone, man or woman, to claim to be unable to accept an individual territory assignment and assume full responsibility for it.

...

The territory now being covered one to two times in six months could very easily be covered four to six times in the same period if everyone took his Kingdom responsibilities seriously. This is not theory, but actual facts based on figures gleaned from a number of companies during the past six months.

...

eyeslice

When my was pioneering in the 70s, the requirement was still 1,200 per year. It was pretty tough back then.

However, no one has picked up on one huge change since then, and that is the change in magazine distribution. Back then, there were two issues of both the Watchtower and Awake each month and the way many pioneers got their time in was with so-called magazine routes. Have 50 people who would take the magazines twice each month and you had massive magazine placements and a return visit for each call. We used to leave the hall with huge piles of magazines under our arms.

Pioneers would start their time with a 'route call' at one end of the territory, then walk 45 minutes to the next and then back to the other end. If the householder was out, the magazines weren't pushed through the door but another call would be made a few days later. Lots of inefficiencies but that's the way it was.

WTWizard

I remember when to auxiliary pious-sneer, you needed 60 hours during that month, no matter what month it was. No "discount" for March or April, it was still 60 hours. And you needed 1,000 hours within a service year to regular pious-sneer. With this cut, they are going to start hounding whole congregations to go for it during March and April, and especially during months where there are 5 Saturdays and/or 5 Sundays.

Even that is a complete waste of time. Just 15 seconds a month doing this work gives negative value (to help enslave the world while putting more filth in your own soul).

ThomasMore

Great comments in this thread!

JWTom - "When everyone is special.....no one is special!"

Apparently the Lord is less demanding these days and that is a relief!

Reporting time continues to be a stress point for the JWs. I suspect that they want it for 2 reasons:

1. Proof of activity for tax-exempt status

2. Competive hierarchy that keeps the rank & file engaged

Too bad there are no longer any merit badges for being a pioneer. Elders used to get "extra" privileges for being a pioneer, like speaking parts. Now the Branch takes those and they are delivered in video as television stars.

It is sad that they are still able to cajole people into their hamster wheel when the facts show that the D2D and cart minding are not productive. The growth of internet anti-jw info and videos is killing the religion. No matter what they do, it grows larger and makes proselytizing less productive. My old cong had only one person join over a 10 year period, and he was a nut that was soon right out the door. They covered their small territory about once every 5-6 years, and some territories never got covered at all. They were mean and everyone knew it.

Most JWs will continue to fudge their time to get WTC off their backs, and the numbers will get worse, resulting in a lowering of the bar. I wonder if PIMIs will ever figure out that they are being managed by a business?

FedUpJW

Because all that counts is that you signed up and your name was announced. It was and is all for show.

And THAT is it in a nut-shell.

With that lower hour requirement,,,they will make it sound like there will no longer be an excuse ''not to pioneer''.

And they will forget about the principle in Mark 12: 41-43 in their rush to condamn anyone who does not pious-sneer!

LongHairGal

THOMAS MORE:

Interesting that you say the last person to join your congregation was somebody you would classify as someone ‘with serious issues’.

In maybe the previous decade+ or so that is pretty much who was brought into the congregations. I assume it was to fill the empty seats in the halls.

The problem I have with this is because I suspect some people were enticed by the talk of a ‘brotherhood’. They might have also been told ‘they would be taken care of’. This is crap. Incidentally, I remember a sister telling this to me when I was new - but since I worked and supported myself it didn’t apply. I think JWs who study with people and tell them ‘they will be taken care of’ - are telling a big fat lie.

The religion has absolutely No social programs to take care of anybody. What ends up happening is that they carefully target responsible people in the hall for money to give to these useless people. So, somebody like me who got criticized for working could count on some idiot coming up to me with an envelope asking for money. If I were stupid enough to still be there I guarantee this would happen!.. This is one of the main reasons why I am Glad I left ages ago.

SnakesInTheTower

dropoffyourkeylee
Wow, they are just watering it down to nothing.

Kinda like what's coming out tonight as I prep for my colonoscopy in the morning, watered down, no substance, kinda stinks, and is rather inconvenient to having any kind of life. LOL.

Snakes (Rich, of the "former regular pioneer" Sheep Class)

TonusOH

ThomasMore: 2. Competive hierarchy that keeps the rank & file engaged

I think this is a big part of it, and I think they are also reaching a breaking point. The requirement that everyone go door-to-door and the encouragement for some to do X hours each month must be dragging the growth to enough of a degree that they keep finding ways to make the preaching work less onerous. But it's one of the ways to keep people busy and building up enough of a time investment so that they see it as a sunk cost.

So, if you weaken the requirements too much, the rank and file might lose enough focus to start wondering why they are doing it at all. But if you keep the reins tight, some will wear down or resist. It's a tricky balance, and I'm not sure there is a level where it works without some fallout. Or, they will keep pushing things to one end or the other, thus losing people faster each time. One can only hope.

enoughisenough

watch this video....spoiler-less pioneers with more hours comparison to more pioneers with less hours...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-aMecnuOR4

Hellothere

Saw video again with Sanders. I took speaking and acting classes. There's the topic of gestures. When you meet a friend outside and talk to him. You gonna be relax and gestures are mostly done with one arm at a time. Saw video with Sanders. Most gesture we're done with both hands same time. In speaking classes it's called "double gesturing". It's mostly done by speaker when his nervous or lying. Politicians do it often when they lying. If you are regularly speaking at venues and do double gestures whole time, it's probably cause your lying 😁

Pioneer Hours Update

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