The End of an Era for the Jehovah's Witnesses

 

...but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

1 Peter 3:15-16 NRSVue

I just read something in the category of "I did not know that." I hadn't realized that Jehovah's Witnesses are not only required to proselytize, they have a quota of how many hours of bearing witness to those they assume are non-believers they must fulfill. 

It's been a long time since a JW or two (they usually work in pairs) has come to the door with a copy of the Watchtower magazine. I see them with their literature stands when I'm cycling along the waterfront and I do say hello as I safely zip by. Do they surreptitiously pull out a notebook after I pass to record a contact? In the past a few parishioners have basically bragged about shutting the door in the faces of these religious door-to-door salesperson which isn't exactly a good news response.

The Associated Press article I saw reported this: 

...their adherents have been required for the past century to make regular reports to their congregation’s leaders on how many hours they put into such ministry.

Those hourly reports were a key metric for a congregation’s spiritual vitality and a factor in deciding who rose to leadership. Former adherents tell of pressure to meet these quotas and guilt when they didn’t. But in a historic shift, that practice ended this month.For the first time since 1920, leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses have removed the hours-reporting requirement for rank-and-file adherents.

“Our ministry involves much more than counting time,” Samuel Herd, a member of the denomination’s Governing Body, said in announcing the policy change to applause at the October annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, a legal entity central to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ work.

So, it took them 100+ plus years to figure this out? I've always tried to be respectful of Witnesses who showed up at our door, and, curiously, when we lived in outport Newfoundland two communities down the shore were predominantly JWs, so they would come around fairly often. Go figure. 

There is more than wonky theology at work with the Jehovah's Witnesses. The control they exercise over members is stifling and when anyone leaves they are ostracized, cut off from their families. This leads to mental illness and suicide. While I believe in religious freedom, there is a cult-like aspect to this movement and although they are often described as a Christian sect, I'm not so sure. 

Full disclosure, I handed out a few tracts on campus in my earnest youth, but I never felt comfortable doing so. Of course, lots of United Church members would rather walk across a bed of burning coals than share their faith story verbally. The usual rational is that we would rather "walk the walk" than "talk the talk", but we might do well to engage in both. 

In these days of video doorbells this would be an even tougher sell!