Why Are the Jehovahs Witnesses So Persistent and Keep Coming Back Time and Time Again
Information technology's been more than a yr now since Jehovah's Witnesses accept gone knocking on people's doors, and co-ordinate to representatives for the faith group, even subsequently the coronavirus pandemic ends, they may not resume going door to door — a longstanding tradition and act of perseverance for which the community is widely known.
In March 2020, when much of the country went into lockdown to preclude the spread of the coronavirus, the church closed all public meetings at its 13,000 congregations in the U.South., including i,097 congregations in Southern California serving 150,000 members in 30 dissimilar languages.
"Nosotros close downward all public ministry, including going door to door, likewise equally in-habitation Bible studies for the get-go time e'er in our church building'due south history," said Robert Hendriks, national spokesman for Jehovah'southward Witnesses. "This was the start time e'er in the history of our church that we stopped all kinds of public engagement."
No more than door-knocking?
The church building also canceled 5,600 conventions in 240 countries, something it didn't do during the Castilian Influenza pandemic in 1918, which infected most 500 million people worldwide and killed 50 million, Hendriks said.
"Nosotros just wanted to make sure that our meetings, ministries and conventions did non crusade the spread of this deadly affliction," he added. "It's unfathomable for us as a people or organisation to exist held responsible for the deaths of others. It's irreconcilable with our Christian values and what we preach."
Despite that knowledge, stopping the door-to-door ministry was a "disorienting event" for practitioners of the faith because evangelism is an inextricable part of their core belief system, Hendricks said.
"People like me grew up knocking on doors and I've done that since I was sometime enough to walk," Hendriks said. Merely, he added, "we found we could be effective using other forms of ministry like letter-writing and telephone calls. Spirituality is not about a edifice or being with ane another in person. It can still thrive when we're connected virtually or otherwise. We're withal connecting emotionally, socially and spiritually."
The pandemic may go out a permanent mark on Jehovah's Witnesses by catastrophe door-to-door ministry, even after restrictions ease, he said.
"It's just hard to say if or when that can happen over again," Hendriks said. "There'southward no question that coming together people face up to face is the most powerful fashion to attain hearts. But there are many unknowns. Nosotros don't know how resilient the virus is, how information technology could mutate and whether we'll reach herd immunity. Even if the danger of community spread is gone, when volition someone be comfy with someone else knocking on their door again?"
The fine art of letter-writing
Reaching people through handwritten letters and phone calls seems "different," fifty-fifty intimidating at first, said Whittier resident Kevin Mahard.
"Information technology's different from speaking in person and reading someone'due south body language from which yous tin get a sense of them and they can run into how 18-carat you lot are," he said. "Merely then, with door-knocking, sometimes people wouldn't reply the door. You lot'd see cars in the driveway, but no one would open the door."
Now Mahard, his wife, Jennifer, and 10-year-old daughter, Jillian, write messages to their neighbors. He says this approach seems effective.
"People seem to read hand-written letters addressed to them," he said. "It's like when I got a postcard from my grandma. It is personal and lets them know that I'm a neighbour with genuine concern for them."
They find their neighbors by going online and looking at public records for addresses and phone numbers of people and families in their ZIP lawmaking to whom they can reach out.
Lisa Dark-brown of Anaheim said that this pivot during the pandemic has introduced her sons, Nathan, xiv, and Noah, 10, to the long-lost fine art of letter-writing. Her sons get on Zoom with others in their congregation, and write the letters together, she said.
"They have to focus on their penmanship and make sure it'south legible," Brown said. "They have to identify themselves, their age and the purpose of the letter."
They pick from templates that offer unlike topics such as hope, comfort, dealing with sickness, the pandemic and the loss of a loved ane, and connect those topics with a Scripture verse that would bring comfort to someone reading the letter of the alphabet, Chocolate-brown explained, adding that older recipients appreciate the letters even more than considering they are personal and uncommon these days.
Nathan Brown said writing has helped him develop patience.
"Information technology also helps me bond with others," he said. "When we're with our friends (on Zoom) writing letters, information technology gives u.s. comfort knowing that nosotros're not the only ones being restricted."
Aforementioned message, new delivery
Other faith groups such equally The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-24-hour interval Saints, as well known for their missionary outreach, take stopped knocking on doors and resorted to social media and videoconferencing as a way to communicate with their neighbors.
"Our social media activity has increased tenfold," said Marshall McKinnon, president of the church's San Bernardino Mission. "For the last year, we've non approached anyone in person. Over the last month or and so, with restrictions relaxing, some of our members have started approaching people in public locations like parks, but with masks on and socially distanced."
With the pandemic, the church has too placed a potent accent on acts of customs service such equally volunteering in food banks or helping neighbors, he said.
"The pandemic has certainly helped us realize how we can be more than effective with social media," McKinnon said. "Door-knocking might be out the door."
Though she misses the face-to-face communication that comes from door-knocking, Lisa Brown said she doesn't dwell on what she can't do or what she may non be able to do in the future because those thoughts can be negative and overwhelming.
"I endeavour not to think likewise far ahead," she said. "I just try to think of today. It's hard not to run into people in person. But we're all the same trying to bring love and comfort in ways that we can. Thinking of today keeps the focus on the benefits and blessings we have right at present instead of home on what we don't accept."
Ontario resident Hannah Maisel who attends the Mountain View Hindi-speaking congregation in Riverside said she finds writing letters and making phone calls in a language she is withal learning "enjoyable." She'due south also been writing letters of condolement to Indian families, many of whom are dealing with the trauma of seeing the coronavirus pandemic ravage the nation.
"It just breaks my center to encounter what's happening in India," Maisel said.
If the Jehovah'southward Witnesses cease knocking on doors, that doesn't mean they terminate delivering their message, she said.
"I experience like nosotros attain more than people now considering we don't have to deal with gated communities and barking dogs," Maisel said. "I'd honey to see the door-to-door ministry building come back. But if it doesn't, I'm happy to do what I need to do."
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Source: https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/08/will-the-pandemic-spell-the-end-of-door-knocking-for-jehovahs-witnesses/
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