Door-knocking at 10, baptised at 12.
What age were you when you were counted as a publisher?
by OrphanCrow 35 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Still Totally ADD
Publisher at 6 years old. I remember going door to door by myself all the time. Because I was told this is the only way we could do this. That was 1960. I was 16 when I got baptised in 1970 in St. Pete FL. Still Totally ADD
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OrphanCrow
Thank you for your responses everybody.
I was counted as a publisher around the age of 6, I think (way too long ago!). My sister and brother got baptized at 17.
I am trying to come up with a plausible way of separating minors from adults in the publisher or baptism count of membership.
From my recollection, the minors who were publishers, in the congregation I attended, made up at least 25-30% of the publisher work force. It seemed like anyone who could hand a leaflet to somebody they didn't know could turn in time and family day meant that the whole family packed a lunch and headed out in field service.
I am interested in breaking down the adults and minors for a project I am working on but I have been thinking about how the WTS has always reported their numbers of members in one group - adults and minors together. There is a subtle (maybe not so subtle) message being given to the JWs that an underage person is on the same plane as an adult. The boundary between adult and minor doesn't exist in JW land and this has potent implications for how the child abuse is handled. And, in a way, it contributes to that boundary line being transgressed sexually simply because that line is not defined.
Children are made into small adults and expected to make life and death decisions concerning blood transfusions. It then becomes not such a great leap for an abuser to also treat a child as though they are compliant in the abuser's crime. The child has been recognized by the WTS as having the same standing as adults once they become a publisher and that sends the same message to an abuser.
My interest in this subject concerns the blood ban, but I can see how the lack of a boundary between adult and minor also contributes to the child sex abuse problem.
So....my query at this point is - what would have been the ratio of minors to adults of the publishers in your congregation? 10%? 25% or maybe half?
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LoveUniHateExams
Publisher at 14, baptised at 15.
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Reopened Mind
I converted to this religion in my teens. I didn't go door to door until after I was baptized at 20. I did, however, turn in time of incidental witnessing from the time I was about 18 or 19. I believe I was counted as a publisher then.
When my youngest son was one year old I began pioneering. The secretary suggested that since he accompanied me most of the time it would be interesting if I turned in a time slip for him. I doubt if he was actually counted as a publisher at that time. He gave his first talk at 5 and I know he was an unbaptized publisher by then.
Reopened Mind
ps: Still Totally ADD is my husband
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blondie
Ten, we moved around too much and lived on a military base and my mother was not a regular meeting attender.
16, baptized, pre-1975 age group, pressured by contemporaries that time was running out. Can't hang on your parents Armageddon survival coat tails.
I went d2d with contemporaries, no adults. Couple of scary events with that. But I had read the publications, knew my bible, and was motivated to help people and had a book study conductor that believed in no coffee breaks and get to first door at 9:30 and stay out till 12:30 (I had an abusive non-jw father, no hurry to go home).
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OrphanCrow
Blondie, would you be able to recall how many publishers were minors in comparison to the adults that were?
The more I think about this, and with the feedback so far, it appears that minors would make up a large proportion of not only the publisher count but also of those who are part of the baptism count.
reopenedmind: When my youngest son was one year old I began pioneering. The secretary suggested that since he accompanied me most of the time it would be interesting if I turned in a time slip for him.
That's bizarre
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blondie
In our family only one adult, 2 children
Those with 2 jw parents, usually 2 or more children. Rarely one adult to match to one child and discouraged a gaggle of children with one parent. So 10 to teenage were sent together even alone during the day in "good" neighborhoods.
In one congregation I had someone else's baby in a stroller and a nine year old girl so mom could handle disruptive 6 year old son. It took 5 minutes to explain how I was not their parent but was training them.
Elders rarely worked with own children, took off with other elders or MS and left the women with the children.
So even if there were adults that could go with children, they didn't.
Always about 2 children for every adult.
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Londo111
Publisher at 8, baptized at 15.
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Nathan Natas
Publisher before age 10; baptized at 14.