Verified answer

I personally would never say "We are on a membership drive." We actually aren't trying to raise our numbers. We are looking for people who actually are "seeking" themselves. Some religions have acquired members by giving out goods. For instance, in some Asian countries churches won over people by giving out food. The people were actually just trying to get free food and didn't convert in their heart. We are looking for people that want to know the Bible and live by it. Everyone preaches and everyone shares in duties like cleaning and repairs of the Kingdom Hall, assisting others, etc. And we don't "order" people to go out in service. They do this willingly. If a brother or sister quit going out, we would try to find out if something was wrong and if we could assist them. But we don't force people. It is between them and God. Most JW's do choose to witness. The only time someone gets disciplined is if they commit a serious sin. That could consist of having some of their privileges taken away. E.g., If an Elder was to seriously sin he would be removed as an Elder but not necessarily disfellowshipped. The disfellowshipping principle (taken from the Bible) is only applied if the person is unrepentant.

I have been a Jehovah Witness for 22 years and I never heard of a membership drive. I do not know where you got this information from. we do not punish someone who does not show up at the Kingdom Hall. I miss many meetings because it is bad weather, or I am sick or I just can not make it. there are some that can not go out door to door, they either write letters or they call on the phone. also we talk to people where ever we go, shopping, getting gas or even at resturants when we are eating

I have been around for over fifty years and I have never heard anyone ever use the term "membership drive". In 2010, for instance, we studied the Bible free of charge with an average of 8,058,359 persons a month in 236 lands around the earth. We are looking for Bible students, not members. Maybe individuals will want to become one of Jehovah's Witnesses after they have studied the Bible with us for awhile, but others do not. There is no obligation. The total number baptized the same year was 294,368.

All of Jehovah's Witnesses are volunteers and all our work is done on a volunteer basis. In 2010 we volunteered 1,604,764,248 hours in the Christian ministry alone, fulfilling the prophesy Jesus gave at Matthew 24:14 and the commission he gave us at Matthew 28:19,20. However there are many other aspects of our work that we volunteer our time for also.During the 2003 service year, 2,340 Kingdom Halls were completed around the world .All were built by Jehovah's Witnesses who volunteered their time.When we had a major re-model of the hall I attend not only did the English and Spanish brothers and sisters work together, but some of those who came to help traveled from as far away as 300 miles. We have larger gathering 3 times a year and there is much volunteer work involved in these also. My family, and the rest of our congregation attended our district convention a couple of weeks a go and I believe the peak attendance was about 4600. I have been to some little larger facilities where the attendance was over 7,000. All of that takes a lot of volunteers to help out in various departments. So, yes there are many ways to help out, and all are welcome to attend our meetings, free of charge. There is no collection plate. However a person does not become a witness for Jehovah unless they do witness. We have many schools to train us, and one that is open to almost everyone is held in our hall as one of the meetings every week. We call it "the Theocratic Ministry School".There are 38 chapters in our present School guide book, and Each time a student is assigned a part they might work on a different counsel point. It is a school that we never graduate from, but we continue trying to improve and encourage one another. We try to keep our congregations small so that more can participate during the meetings. So when we grow to a certain size we form a new congregation.

You can find out more at http://www.watchtower.org/

and http://www.jw.org/index.html?option=nBZR

The latter will be the main site after Sept.1. You can download copies of many of our publications, in about 500 languages, I believe. Free of charge.

There are a number pf our brothers and sisters who are either temporarily or chronically ill, and we have the provision for them to be able to listen to the meetings on a conference line. We try to visit these on also from time to time so that we can encourage them. When someone who has missed a lot of meetings does come I try to just be as encouraging and welcoming as I can, and definitely do not say something like "Where have you been.?"

In 35 years having travelled all over the world I have neve heard any JWs use the expression "membership drive". Ever.

To answer your questions

1. No

2. Yes

3. No

1. No. We just have an urgent message to share with others so we go from house to house which is one of the fastest ways to "get around". Plus we follow Jesus example of the ministry so we also go house to house preaching!

2. Well if you are not physically able to go out in the ministry there are other ways to preach such as letter writing, phone witnessing and more.

3. Of course not. Of course like most of anyone we understand if your sick or if a serious situation arises. Even though it is encouraged to come as much as possible you can still get the beneficial spiritual knowledge by calling in and listening on the telephone.(:

I hope this helped/ answered all your questions!!! BYYEE :D