Degree of Effectiveness of JW Letter Writing Form of Witnessing

Disillusioned JW

A newspaper article quotes a JW as saying "Every (letter) I put in the mailbox, I feel, 'Ah, this could reach somebody.'" The article also quotes her as saying "We are accomplishing even more now than we were door-to-door because this way everybody in the house gets a chance to pick up that letter and respond to it. It just feels good." An online version of the article appears at https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/507924-406294-no-knocking-for-jehovahs-witnesses-in-beaverton-due-to-covid-19 and another link is at https://pamplinmedia.com/bvt/15-news/507924-406294-no-knocking-for-jehovahs-witnesses-in-beaverton-due-to-covid-19. I added the bold facing for emphasis in the above quote.

Do you folks think the letter writing form of witnessing reaches more people than the door-to-door form of witnessing? If it does, it might stimulate growth in the JW religion.

road to nowhere

Most letters are not well written. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, penmanship. Straight to the bin.

That said, cold calling doors on Saturday when people are not home is a poor way to do it. So maybe letters are at least as effective

WTWizard

Nice waste of a postage stamp. And paper. And the envelope.

And for what? A letter that is going to end up in the rubbish or recycling bin, with no reply. And, no visit to their jokehovian web site. For sure, they have no way to follow up on the letter. As for following up with a visit, if you are vaccinated, that is just one more reason for me not to get my diabetes shot. On top of all the physical risks of those shots, I do not want to open myself to the possibility of getting hounded by jokehovian witlesses.

JeffT

this way everybody in the house gets a chance to pick up that letter and respond to it.

We got a letter a few days ago. We passed it around and everybody got a chance to laugh at it before I threw it in recycling. Is that what he means?

Phizzy

I think many people will look at those Letters as creepy and rude. Claiming to be someone's "neighbour" when the address of the sender is NOWHERE near you is obviously a Sales Ploy and is deceitful.

I would doubt there ever will be any notable success, perhaps not even any measurable success, for the JW's with this waste of time effort and cash, but the Org does NOT care.

The Org evidently does not want new recruits, it wants to shrink to a core of loyal JW's, but it wants to keep the present members busy so they don't start to drift away. Anything that makes them feel as though they are doing something worthwhile.

smiddy3

Just a thought ? Could the virus be spread by letter writing ? Your handling of the paper your writing on , maybe you need to lick the stamp to post the letter or maybe even licking the envelope to seal it ?

Just maybe it could be another way to spread the virus to a whole household .

I wonder ?

zachias

At a club meeting the matter of getting jw letters came up and was quickly passed by with various comments along the lines of "Bin material"

Disillusioned JW

I see a number of posts on jehovahs-witness.com that say the Covid-19 vaccine causes diabetes, such as the above post by WTWizard, but my research about the vaccine is that it does not cause diabetes. My research even says that people with diabetes should get the vaccine since people with diabetes are at a much higher risk of severe complications if they later get infected with Covid-19. I intend to get my first shot of the vaccine (one by Moderna) before the end of this month.

Regarding the spread of the virus by letter writing, the scientific evidence is that the virus doesn't survive long on paper. Regarding licking stamps, many USA stamps are now the self-sticking kind (they are pealed off a sheet of paper/plastic and then adhered to an envelope).

Phizzy, I am very surprised by your claim of "The Org evidently does not want new recruits, it wants to shrink to a core of loyal JW's ...". I find it very hard to believe that they have no desire for new recruits, however maybe obtaining new recruits is now a low priority for them. But, interestingly I see that the Mormon (both men and women) missionaries are out in public witnessing to people. I asked one for how long did the LDS suspend such preaching/witnessing activity due to Covid-19 and he said for only about two months in the year 2020.

hoser

I think that the watchtower organization lies about a lot more than prophecy.

It is part of their motivation program to publish higher than real numbers to try and make the individual publishers do more by shaming them. It obviously isn’t working that well as they need to keep doing it.

john.prestor

I doubt letters reach more people than the door-to-door "work" did. It's too impersonal and that's something Witnesses used to provide lonely people: community.

Degree of Effectiveness of JW Letter Writing Form of Witnessing

Share this