I’m sure most of us are familiar with them: men, women, even children, neatly dressed, often carrying a briefcase or satchel full of literature. They ring doorbells and politely offer to share the Word of God with the residents who answer.
These are Jehovah’s Witnesses, a worldwide group of dedicated believers: 7.9 million members in 239 lands, making up 114,000 congregations that meet in buildings called Kingdom Halls.
Every baptized member is a “Preacher of the Good News” and can spend up to 70 hours per month voluntarily calling door-to-door, leading neighborhood Bible Studies or performing other types of evangelism while still working a secular job. Love of neighbor impels them to take seriously Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24:124: “This good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Morgan Hill resident Clark Bolivar, who has been a Witness since 1958, points out that the church has adapted its ministry to go beyond the traditional doorstep visits. Usually both parents in a household work now and long commutes have lengthened the workday. Thus, Witnesses often bring sample literature to farmers’ markets to reach people who might like to know more about God. They also often set up in the train station parking lot to offer literature to passing commuters.
The biggest innovation, however, is a state-of-the-art website: JW.org. Here everyone has access to extensive information from the privacy of home.
– Two resources available online are monthly magazines: The Watchtower (45 million paper copies in 220 languages) and Awake (44 million paper copies in 99 languages). These publications contain not only religious information (“Is Satan Real?” “Do You Do What God asks?”), but also articles on topics such as compromise, burnout and diabetes.
– Another resource is a Bible that can be read online: the 2013 version of “New World Translation of Holy Scriptures.” It is conveniently organized to make it easy to choose passages by book and chapter in many languages.
– A section called “Bible Questions Answered” provides MP3 recordings that answer questions such as, “Is God to blame for our suffering?”
– There are white board animations for youngsters, cartoon sequences with oral narration, which give advice on timely topics like standing up to peer pressure.
– Music for Christian worship is a section that allows the playing or downloading of Christian songs for praise. Vocal, orchestral and instrumented recordings, as well as sheet music, are available in multiple languages, including various versions of sign language.
– Audio Bible dramas of lessons based on Bible stories allow visitors to learn about important characters and events in the Scriptures.
– Dramatic Bible readings allow visitors to visualize important Bible passages, listening to recordings with sound effects, original music and commentary.
– Christian videos that build faith can be watched online or downloaded in multiple languages.
– About us contains the answers to many frequently asked questions about Jehovah’s Witnesses, such as “Are Jehovah’s Witnesses Christians?” “Do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in Jesus?” “Why don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrate Christmas or Easter?” Since this is a religious organization that has suffered persecution in the past, it is important to understand its actual beliefs are and why the religion holds them.
Finally, anyone can learn more about the Bible by filling out an online form with contact information. Material about free Bible studies will be made available.
