Not true.
Since 2014 the kingdom ministry is even more about preaching and field service
Is the preaching work, no longer the number 1 priority?
by ToesUp 72 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Magnum
The preaching & disciplemaking work is still the main focus of everything that I see. Without it, the halls would be empty and the coffers bare.
I don't agree that the halls would be empty without the preaching work. I think it has little to do with the degree to which the halls are filled - at least in educated lands with internet access. I believe that any increase in such places comes from mostly family members, then maybe from witnessing to friends and workmates.
I don't know about lands of lower economic status; maybe the preaching work is reaping some fruitage in such places.
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westiebilly11
judging by the trolley brigade and their passive attitudes...it does seem that the ministry has lost it's impetus...all the years I was in it was always the number one priority...save lives...warn people....the time left is reduced....just as in the times of Noah etc etc...but in recent years/months it seems that they have no clear idea what they're warning people about...the paragraph on page 2 or is it 3 of the magazines seems vaguer and less defined....younger ones loathe the door to door ministry...I know as I've been told that by ones I still talk with (unofficially!)... -
blondie
They need another date to shoot for...1975 created a lot of activity....making studies only 6 months made it seem urgent.
I wonder how many people become jws due to the d2d or alternative activity? Most "increase" is through children and family members.
When we attended a talk was given saying that only one person had come in that wasn't a child of a jw and that person had been df'd.
At baptisms, almost always it was young people, under 18. If jws don't 1) actually have a conversation with people at the door, return to talk more, return to indoctrinate them, there will be few new jws.
But "preaching" and "teaching" will continue to be an apparent focus and the KMs have been revving jws up in how to do all the aspects of making a convert, specific details and examples and pushing elders to show the rank and file how to do it.
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DATA-DOG
"Since 2014", my a**.
Nothing has changed. Just go back and review the CD-Library KMs, it's a never-ending cycle of "soon!" The preaching work is stagnant, as it has been for some time, hence the re-branding efforts.
Outlaw is dead on. The WTBTS simply twists the message they preach. It's ALWAYS been about the ORG, it's just become more blatant. The latest requirement to be "holy" is to STFU and accept whatever the WT says. Of course that's always been a requirement, but it has never been quite as blatant either.
They will always say that the preaching is #1, they will just twist what "preaching" means. My wife thinks she is preaching because she rides around in a car for a couple of hours. She is planting seeds, so she says. Of course she never converts anyone. Most dubs never do either. The preaching work is a joke.
DD
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Magnum
westiebilly11: it does seem that the ministry has lost it's impetus...all the years I was in it was always the number one priority...save lives...warn people....the time left is reduced....just as in the times of Noah etc etc...but in recent years/months it seems that they have no clear idea what they're warning people about.
Yeah, I've been wondering and talking about that a lot lately. When I preached, I was bold and specific and had an extreme sense of urgency, as if lives were in immediate danger. But now, I don't even know what they preach about. I wonder what they tell people now.
I guess Outlaw is basically right; they just promote JW.ORG as did the girl who witnessed to me recently in a parking lot.
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Vidiot
westiebilly11 - "...all the years I was in it was always the number one priority...save lives...warn people....the time left is reduced....just as in the times of Noah etc etc...but in recent years/months it seems that they have no clear idea what they're warning people about..."
If I had to guess...
...I'd say that (among other things) convincing people that the End of the World is immanent is way harder than it used to be, particularly since all the hard statistics that easily refute it are at one's fingertips.
Not to mention that any non-JWs out there who already believe it also - more often than not - tend to act like they're out of their f**king minds...
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out4good4
I have been associated with JW-dom through my wife for the full 30 years of our marriage. In all that time, as much as her and her family cling to whatever the organization says, none, to my knowledge, has NEVER brought a study they've started all the way to baptism.
And the studies the few of them do engage in are complete mental cases typically looking for secondary support systems they can move on to.
This organization is to the point where it is running on inertia so its no surprise, now, that it would appear to be all about caring for and amassing material assets.
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Magnum
Vidiot: ...I'd say that (among other things) convincing people that the End of the World is immanent is way harder than it used to be, particularly since all the hard statistics that easily refute it are at one's fingertips.
I'd say that, too. There's no way I could go around now preaching the way I used to. In fact, as I think back, even though I always had questions/issues, the first real sign of my breaking away from JWdom was the fact that I started listening to myself preaching, and it just started to sound odd and crazy.
out4good4: In all that time, as much as her and her family cling to whatever the organization says, none, to my knowledge, has EVER brought a study they've started all the way to baptism.
I think that is the case with a lot of JWs. My wife never brought a single person in and she regular pioneered for a long time. I have two JW family members who are smart and as good in the ministry as one can be, and neither has brought a single person in in about 30 years of preaching each. My JW mother has never brought anybody to baptism or really even studied with anybody long, and she's been preaching almost 50 years. I only brought in two or three in all my years, and I was adept at preaching.
