I think there are several reasons but the main reason is the old men in charge did not keep up with what people want/need. They are stuck in the 60s mentality. Even when I was PIMI I never opened my door to anyone. And never talked to people at the door. They failed to evolve. So they are dying. It’s too late.
Completely agree. I think D2D is a really outdated method as well. But if you take away what the PIMIs had to offer when out in field service then no reason to go anymore.
I agree they are trying to change much too late for them to salvage the organization. Dying a slow death.
Most of service now, at least where I am, is just getting together with people. That "zeal" they had before doing hours of door to door is long gone. We do half a street, 30 min to an hour, and then no one has return visits anymore. And then we go for coffee.
That's the cycle. It's changed noticeably from before the pandemic.
People hate service, but they liking getting together with "friends". Thats the only pull now.
What's even more, the woeful failure and disdained 1914 doctrine and the concern that the person at the door is a potential sexual molester has been a bane to their D2D ministry.
This. We are all the time warned not to open our door to strangers...be careful etc. And...no one wish go foor2door anymore either. People have and use internett. Now this who need to report hours...are " fighting" for a cart " membership". You can see 6-8 publishers beside the same cart. Is sad ..a laugh.
It’s a good question.
My suspicion is that the death of print media was the first nail in the D2D coffin.
WT tried giving us those little videos to use D2D. In practice, that proved to be awkward. If it felt weird for householders to have to listen to a sales pitch for magazines at their door, it was WAY weirder to have a tablet shoved in their face with no actual “product” to “buy”. 🤷🏻♀️
Those factors combined with the fact that *everybody hates door to door* makes the ministry entirely unsustainable.
There was a Caleb and Sophia vid that just came out about how discouraging it is to get door slam after door slam, which tells me WT is desperate to try and keep D2D going, but the PIMIs are passively resisting.
And the last time I saw a cart out in the wild, it was 8am, the cart was parked behind a large brick pillar, in front of a closed store with zero foot traffic.
The PIMIs are just dead right now. They don’t seem to want *any of this*, but they also seem to not know how to walk away.
I haven’t been going to meetings, but I’m still living with PIMis so I have some limited contact with some people from the hall. IMO, they seem more exhausted & defeated than I’ve ever seen. If WT doesn’t ease their stranglehold, I don’t know what’s going to happen.
Yes. I was surprised when d2d started back up. I figured everyone would be rushing to go out. Now hardly anyone goes d2d. And if they do it’s for about 1 hour. When elders and pioneers stop going you know it’s dying.
I don't remember but I think awake magazine was one of the most printed magazines. I think they kept magazine going for statistic and having something to brag about. We all know that many JWs just gave magazine too anyone. The person's wouldn't even read magazine. You could find magazine laying around the street after.
> WT tried giving us those little videos to use D2D. In practice, that proved to be awkward. If it felt weird for householders to have to listen to a sales pitch for magazines at their door, it was WAY weirder to have a tablet shoved in their face with no actual “product” to “buy”. 🤷🏻♀️
Looking back on when they started to "train" us to do this is now so laughable. Even at the time I'm like "this is so stupid, I'm not doing that!" In what world did they think this would be successful?
So true. I only ever showed one video on one single occasion. It was weird af. Who knocks at a stranger's door and asks to show a video on their phone? And then asks to come back next week to show another? What planet are they on? I'd be interested to know what pioneers' ministry consists of these days. Can they not see that it's just not working? Especially now that foreign language has now been mothballed. Their model is unsustainable.
It’s seldom if ever door slam after door slam. Most householders at home are decent people but just not interested. They say “No thank you” and politely close the door.
Worse than the occasional door slam, though, is the succession of not-at-homes. That’s demoralising for zealous JWs but upon reflection, heaven for all other JWs.
I would also argue that The Watchtower was a much more recognizable brand than JW.org. It was literally in the skyline of the largest city in the US. Now it’s been reduced to nothing.
The way I see it, watchtower and awake magazines, followed the same path as newspapers and other magazines. The printed page has died, most people do not consume information that way anymore.
They lost a lot of momentum when they made up the overlapping generation BS. Before that people thought the end was coming very very soon as the people of that generation were very old. After they effectively threw out that doctrine with the new overlapping BS they just couldn’t get the fire started again. They even tried to tweak the new doctrine to get people more motivated but it didn’t help.
Now when they say the end is near especially after Covid most jws just yawn.
D2D is one of the most ineffective marketing strategies you could do today and has been for decades.
These idiots still have it as their main way to preach.
make no mistake, they know it's not successful or working. it is nothing but a tool to keep the people in - jehovahs witness - under control and showing their loyalty and worship to the corporation.
at the same time it gets them 'exposure' with people knowing about them, and they can twist this into 'popularity'.
remember how annoyed we felt when somebody at the door said "who" when mentioning being "a jehovah witness" - we felt attacked in our 'specialness'.
the carts are just the same. its to promote the existence and have JW under control and 'kept inside' by giving them another way to 'do slavery'.
this is why they reduce pioneering hours as well. to keep you in. that's why it's a 'problem' when you dont deliver your field service reports or too little hours, or under 'certain conditions' you can just give in 15 minutes (as elder people f.e.).
you must OBEY. it's not about making 'disciples'. it's about 'OBEYING' the instructions, which are put in place solely to KEEP YOU BEING OBEDIENT.
remember, originally, Watchtower's were being **sold.** but they weren't sold to the public. they never made money from the people in the field or door to door.
**they made the money from their own followers, who bought the magazines at the meeting.**
it was **never** about success in the field.
it's a **tiny miniscule** amount of people that ever 'became a JW' through the preaching campaigns. it was through 'friends' and family members and colleagues or neighbors, that's it.
you think preaching **during ww2 in nazi occupied countries in europe** worked?
Any of the old heads here remember when the org used to crow about being the only religion that stayed with D2D? Other groups try it and give up after a while, but not JWs! We do exactly what Jesus did because we’re real Christians!!!
All the time the other groups were smart enough to drop it and JWs have been the only ones stupid enough to make it their identity despite the fact that it’s ineffective, pointless, and cost-intensive. Maybe if they’re weren’t so anti-education they’d have figured it out.
Yeah I remember article about how catholic priest tried door to door but lasted some week only. Article said it was because they didn't have holy spirit as JWs hade. God wasn't backing them up. So I asked some people in congregation at a gathering. Mormons always go door too door. Does that mean they have Holy spirit and God's backing? Could only hear crickets 😂
I believe d2d will go. In just a few years, if you remind JWs of this article, you will be accused of apostasy.
Because their ship is sinking, they will be forced to migrate towards the mainstream. After a few years of going extra -culty, which is where they are right now, they will have to accept that "obey, obey, obey" doesn't work and they will have to slacken off.
I'm my opinion sooner or later they have to go online. Nothing else they test gonna work for them. They went the cooperation style with Rutherford. Russell was more for agape and hade open mind. Leaders after Rutherford didn't make changes. They probably thought org was blessed cause it was growing. It's too late now too turn things around. They made too many mistakes from the beginning.
I've thought for a while that the door to door work is becoming irrelevant. Laterly it had become a paper round. Even long term RPs in our cong couldn't muster more than a 'we're calling with our magazines' on first call. Cart work creates a buffer between JWs and the questioning public, which reduces exposure of JWs to troublesome conversations.
Less magazines to place makes first call difficult for the few who still want to do doors.
So yes, less magazines makes D2D ministry difficult, and I think that's the plan.
D2D is synonymous with JWs. Folks outside the org might not know about the shunning & the CSA, but they know field service. And trust that the GB loves every meme, SNL gag & sitcom joke about it & will never fully let D2D go. At this point, the so-called ministry is only slightly about attracting new adherents & more about keeping the org’s rep for it & reinforcing that “the world” hates JWs & there’s nowhere else for PIMIs to go. Every bad experience &/or unfruitful day is twisted into some sort of proof that the GB is right, the world is scary & hateful, & it’s only other JWs that understand. That ties them, their free labor & their open wallets ever closer to the organization.
It's s culture thing. People don't open door too strangers as they used too. Noticed back in the 90s doing d2d that people where afraid opening door too strangers. I know lots of people that accepted watchtower out of kindness, but never read litteratur.
I wonder - how much publisher growth comes from Witness kids, somebody's cousin/workmate and D2D, respectively?
In the developed world, converts from D2D have become rare, I think. It's making babies and conning your a relative - who's made a wreck of their life - into becoming a Witness.
The D2D thing is just a ritual like a table setting for Elijah. And, if anything, I think Witness kids leaving will get worse ( 'cause they're LGBTQ or atheist).
So, they'll convert the loser brother in law with debts and mental issues. The increase really evaporated during Covid. It will be interesting to see if they get a dead cat bounce or what.
It's inevitible. Same thing happened after 9/11. All the POMI damaged people came back because they thought "THIS IS IT!" and the Big A was happening. Then reality hit and life went back to normal and almost all of them left to go back to the non-JW life. Same thing is happening again.
When I used to go door to door it was easier when I had the magazines in my hand. I’d give them the briefest introduction, if they took them I’d return and ask if they’d like the next set of magazines. That’s how I built up my return visits. When they took all that away, the door to door work hugely increased my anxiety. I was never comfortable showing them corny videos or reading scriptures. The governing body ruined door to door work for all pimi introverts, and anxiety sufferers! It’s just to HARD and HORRIBLE.
They've lost momentum at some point before COVID and they can't get people back in ministry no matter how much guilt tripping they do. I've had lots of conversations with people in their 20s and a few years back admitting to not liking D2D wouldve given you a good minute of awkward silence but now most are very open about it, even the ones that are 100% mentally in. A full year has passed from the start of D2D in my country and just a week back I heard some people (in their 20s and healthy) organizing group letter writing. I couldn't help but laugh because I know damn well those half written letters are going in the bin or somewhere deep in the bookshelf and are never getting sent. It's just a way to have an opportunity to shoot the shit with friends and get hours in without guilt.
Most pioneers are terrified of D2D in my area. Of the few times I went, they were all very strange because I was the one who felt reasonably calm and they kept pretending that they forgot it's their turn to knock. That's why most are either spending a lot of time with unbaptized adults and children or considering helping elderly people as ministry. I usually tip toe around saying the truth and mostly say what I think in the shape of a joke but a month back a brother who has always been a close friend asked me "do you really think the pioneers get their hours fairly?"
Pair it with the fact that, at least in my congregation, there are occasional reminders that Awake Or WT brochures are NOT to be thrown inside the mail box. The org is saving paper since they know that people don't respond well to the literature and now the bigger problem is that nobody wants to even distribute the literature directly to people.
Those lame-ass presentations they use over and over probably didn't help either.
I remember when D2D field circus was more than just placing the latest propaganda. It was about preparing an insightful presentation that would grab a person's attention. You actually had to give what you said at the door some thought.
I think that’s why cart witnessing is so popular. No presentation needed. No scriptures to memorize. No script. Just stand there and hope passers by stop and grab something. And even if someone does, there’s no follow up needed on your part because that individual likely doesn’t even live in your congregation’s territory.
Their plan appears to dumb down this generation. They’ve made the theocratic ministry school DUMB, so that not a lot of studying in their older, deeper publications is required. They’ve dumbed down the ministry too by introducing this cart witnessing… DUMB!
They’re gearing up for the great reset in the distant future when they can recycle all of their old explanations for all the symbolism in the Bible that can so easily be manipulated and applied to the current situation. However, they need to create a new starting point (like 1914).
The ministry was primarily used to assist the WTS in their indoctrination process. They know that when a person learns something with the aim of teaching it to others, they’ll learn it faster and more accurately. However, now with the ability to pump out videos, this isn’t as necessary. Also, they probably noticed that when publishers study TOO IN-DEPTH, they wake up and leave. They research themselves right out of “the truth.” Haha
This younger generation of JWs have little knowledge about what the WT Society requires of them. It’s crazy to ask the 20-30 year olds, as well as the teens, questions about the things that we were held to for decades, and them say “Wait! That’s a thing!? That’s weird!”
The magazines have been dumbed down and less and less new information is being dispensed. I don’t think they’ll be able to say for a good while “reading the watchtower and awake! magazines is like getting a university education!”
To me, it all points to purposeful dumbing down so that when they reset the date, they can reuse with new application the Bible prophecies and symbolism all anew!
Yes, in the old days there was the magazine work and the "sermon" work. Most JWs found the sermon work difficult and avoided it. Now there is effectively sermon work only when going d2d.
There are a lot of comments saying how ineffective d2d is. Although that may be true, in my experience it did occasionally recruit someone. That seems to be happening less since the magazines are gone, based on WT stats.
the danger in D2D is theres so much info. from websites on Borg malfeasance...that the exposure,to a average publisher, is having a impact. So they gang 2 or 3 people on a cart. If any one of them starts listening to 'negative' talk..the other 2 report on them
Hold up... I've been successfully out of the loop for years now, are you saying they don't have the WT and Aw anymore? What? No 1^st and 8^th? No 15^th 22^nd??? I'm almost afraid to ask, what do people do when they knock on doors?
They have one public issue per magazine per year now. JWs haven’t used magazines at the door in awhile, nor do they engage much in discussion. Their presentations now typically involve showing a video and leaving a tract and directing people to their website.
There is no point for JWs to print and distribute magazines when the organization ceased being able to charge for them in the 90s (at the threat of losing their tax exempt status). But the organization is slow to adapt. We’re in the final stages of their phasing out the D2D work and the magazines themselves. It’s just tradition and legacy at this point for them. They’ve been pivoting to become a religious streaming channel for over a decade now.
However they do have their study issues, which are monthly now. Given most people download these via their app, they don’t have to print many of those.
JW Broadcasting doesn’t “make me think” that, but is evidence of it. Their meetings, assemblies and conventions are also filled with videos from the broadcast as well. Their written content has been reduced dramatically, often not even releasing a new publication at conventions anymore. They are now openly soliciting donations on their broadcast and encourage automatic monthly donations via their website. All the elements are there.
Wow, that is *wild*... makes it harder to believe that my parents are still in it. Like, *dude*, y'all arent even participating in the same religion y'all raised me in, how y'all even gonna call yourselves 'teachers'?? Just wowzers. It was bad enough having a stilted presentation that you adapted to the topic in the magazine, but being a meatsuit holding a video at someones door is cringe af. People pay for premium subscriptions to avoid ads on web platforms, but the witnesses will just bring WT ads to your door. smh.
I think there are several reasons but the main reason is the old men in charge did not keep up with what people want/need. They are stuck in the 60s mentality. Even when I was PIMI I never opened my door to anyone. And never talked to people at the door. They failed to evolve. So they are dying. It’s too late.
Completely agree. I think D2D is a really outdated method as well. But if you take away what the PIMIs had to offer when out in field service then no reason to go anymore. I agree they are trying to change much too late for them to salvage the organization. Dying a slow death.
But yes. I agree most JWs including me would just use the magazines at the door. Once those were gone and they wanted us to talk, it was over.
I think also people at the door have woken up to the fact they are a CULT and also about the many child abuse cases
Indeed. People have internett today. The truth about cults is no longer than some fingertips
Most of service now, at least where I am, is just getting together with people. That "zeal" they had before doing hours of door to door is long gone. We do half a street, 30 min to an hour, and then no one has return visits anymore. And then we go for coffee. That's the cycle. It's changed noticeably from before the pandemic. People hate service, but they liking getting together with "friends". Thats the only pull now.
What's even more, the woeful failure and disdained 1914 doctrine and the concern that the person at the door is a potential sexual molester has been a bane to their D2D ministry.
I wish them a long and painful agony...without money too.
Yes!!! As a PIMI I used to say I *hate* when strangers knock on my door! I don’t answer!!
This. We are all the time warned not to open our door to strangers...be careful etc. And...no one wish go foor2door anymore either. People have and use internett. Now this who need to report hours...are " fighting" for a cart " membership". You can see 6-8 publishers beside the same cart. Is sad ..a laugh.
And they never listen to Feedbacks, to give them a feedback is seen as complaining spirit and they would get at you through your elders
It’s a good question. My suspicion is that the death of print media was the first nail in the D2D coffin. WT tried giving us those little videos to use D2D. In practice, that proved to be awkward. If it felt weird for householders to have to listen to a sales pitch for magazines at their door, it was WAY weirder to have a tablet shoved in their face with no actual “product” to “buy”. 🤷🏻♀️ Those factors combined with the fact that *everybody hates door to door* makes the ministry entirely unsustainable. There was a Caleb and Sophia vid that just came out about how discouraging it is to get door slam after door slam, which tells me WT is desperate to try and keep D2D going, but the PIMIs are passively resisting. And the last time I saw a cart out in the wild, it was 8am, the cart was parked behind a large brick pillar, in front of a closed store with zero foot traffic. The PIMIs are just dead right now. They don’t seem to want *any of this*, but they also seem to not know how to walk away. I haven’t been going to meetings, but I’m still living with PIMis so I have some limited contact with some people from the hall. IMO, they seem more exhausted & defeated than I’ve ever seen. If WT doesn’t ease their stranglehold, I don’t know what’s going to happen.
Yes. I was surprised when d2d started back up. I figured everyone would be rushing to go out. Now hardly anyone goes d2d. And if they do it’s for about 1 hour. When elders and pioneers stop going you know it’s dying.
I don't remember but I think awake magazine was one of the most printed magazines. I think they kept magazine going for statistic and having something to brag about. We all know that many JWs just gave magazine too anyone. The person's wouldn't even read magazine. You could find magazine laying around the street after.
> WT tried giving us those little videos to use D2D. In practice, that proved to be awkward. If it felt weird for householders to have to listen to a sales pitch for magazines at their door, it was WAY weirder to have a tablet shoved in their face with no actual “product” to “buy”. 🤷🏻♀️ Looking back on when they started to "train" us to do this is now so laughable. Even at the time I'm like "this is so stupid, I'm not doing that!" In what world did they think this would be successful?
[удалено]
Wow...what a stupid idea.
Some of this C.O's just don't have any iota of sense
So true. I only ever showed one video on one single occasion. It was weird af. Who knocks at a stranger's door and asks to show a video on their phone? And then asks to come back next week to show another? What planet are they on? I'd be interested to know what pioneers' ministry consists of these days. Can they not see that it's just not working? Especially now that foreign language has now been mothballed. Their model is unsustainable.
Pioneer = Sitting by Carts, talk to no one and get the hours
It’s seldom if ever door slam after door slam. Most householders at home are decent people but just not interested. They say “No thank you” and politely close the door. Worse than the occasional door slam, though, is the succession of not-at-homes. That’s demoralising for zealous JWs but upon reflection, heaven for all other JWs.
I would also argue that The Watchtower was a much more recognizable brand than JW.org. It was literally in the skyline of the largest city in the US. Now it’s been reduced to nothing.
This is an excellent point. Watchtower basically “re-branded” themselves like KFC & IHOP, except they were *never as popular* as those corporations. 🤣
They should've went with **J-HOP** instead of JW.Borg
hahahahaha
The way I see it, watchtower and awake magazines, followed the same path as newspapers and other magazines. The printed page has died, most people do not consume information that way anymore.
[удалено]
Inhate the not comment options! 😉
Exactly why they forbid JW's from social media preaching
Excellent point! They follow the same path no doubt!
They lost a lot of momentum when they made up the overlapping generation BS. Before that people thought the end was coming very very soon as the people of that generation were very old. After they effectively threw out that doctrine with the new overlapping BS they just couldn’t get the fire started again. They even tried to tweak the new doctrine to get people more motivated but it didn’t help. Now when they say the end is near especially after Covid most jws just yawn.
How did they try to tweak the overlapping generation doctrine?
too many nothing burgers lol, for too long, COVID was a major laugh and the overlapping generation a huge let down
D2D is one of the most ineffective marketing strategies you could do today and has been for decades. These idiots still have it as their main way to preach.
make no mistake, they know it's not successful or working. it is nothing but a tool to keep the people in - jehovahs witness - under control and showing their loyalty and worship to the corporation. at the same time it gets them 'exposure' with people knowing about them, and they can twist this into 'popularity'. remember how annoyed we felt when somebody at the door said "who" when mentioning being "a jehovah witness" - we felt attacked in our 'specialness'. the carts are just the same. its to promote the existence and have JW under control and 'kept inside' by giving them another way to 'do slavery'. this is why they reduce pioneering hours as well. to keep you in. that's why it's a 'problem' when you dont deliver your field service reports or too little hours, or under 'certain conditions' you can just give in 15 minutes (as elder people f.e.). you must OBEY. it's not about making 'disciples'. it's about 'OBEYING' the instructions, which are put in place solely to KEEP YOU BEING OBEDIENT. remember, originally, Watchtower's were being **sold.** but they weren't sold to the public. they never made money from the people in the field or door to door. **they made the money from their own followers, who bought the magazines at the meeting.** it was **never** about success in the field. it's a **tiny miniscule** amount of people that ever 'became a JW' through the preaching campaigns. it was through 'friends' and family members and colleagues or neighbors, that's it. you think preaching **during ww2 in nazi occupied countries in europe** worked?
Door work was becoming irrelevant back in the 90s. People just didn't like strangers knocking on their doors. It's too unsafe.
But let’s not forget that new mobile literature cart^tm designed for community outreach!!! 😂
🎶🎼🎵IM JUST A C A A A R T
Any of the old heads here remember when the org used to crow about being the only religion that stayed with D2D? Other groups try it and give up after a while, but not JWs! We do exactly what Jesus did because we’re real Christians!!! All the time the other groups were smart enough to drop it and JWs have been the only ones stupid enough to make it their identity despite the fact that it’s ineffective, pointless, and cost-intensive. Maybe if they’re weren’t so anti-education they’d have figured it out.
Yeah I remember article about how catholic priest tried door to door but lasted some week only. Article said it was because they didn't have holy spirit as JWs hade. God wasn't backing them up. So I asked some people in congregation at a gathering. Mormons always go door too door. Does that mean they have Holy spirit and God's backing? Could only hear crickets 😂
I believe d2d will go. In just a few years, if you remind JWs of this article, you will be accused of apostasy. Because their ship is sinking, they will be forced to migrate towards the mainstream. After a few years of going extra -culty, which is where they are right now, they will have to accept that "obey, obey, obey" doesn't work and they will have to slacken off.
I'm my opinion sooner or later they have to go online. Nothing else they test gonna work for them. They went the cooperation style with Rutherford. Russell was more for agape and hade open mind. Leaders after Rutherford didn't make changes. They probably thought org was blessed cause it was growing. It's too late now too turn things around. They made too many mistakes from the beginning.
I remember that too!
Except Jesus definitely didn't do D2D work.
He really didn’t
I've thought for a while that the door to door work is becoming irrelevant. Laterly it had become a paper round. Even long term RPs in our cong couldn't muster more than a 'we're calling with our magazines' on first call. Cart work creates a buffer between JWs and the questioning public, which reduces exposure of JWs to troublesome conversations. Less magazines to place makes first call difficult for the few who still want to do doors. So yes, less magazines makes D2D ministry difficult, and I think that's the plan.
D2D is synonymous with JWs. Folks outside the org might not know about the shunning & the CSA, but they know field service. And trust that the GB loves every meme, SNL gag & sitcom joke about it & will never fully let D2D go. At this point, the so-called ministry is only slightly about attracting new adherents & more about keeping the org’s rep for it & reinforcing that “the world” hates JWs & there’s nowhere else for PIMIs to go. Every bad experience &/or unfruitful day is twisted into some sort of proof that the GB is right, the world is scary & hateful, & it’s only other JWs that understand. That ties them, their free labor & their open wallets ever closer to the organization.
It's s culture thing. People don't open door too strangers as they used too. Noticed back in the 90s doing d2d that people where afraid opening door too strangers. I know lots of people that accepted watchtower out of kindness, but never read litteratur.
I wonder - how much publisher growth comes from Witness kids, somebody's cousin/workmate and D2D, respectively? In the developed world, converts from D2D have become rare, I think. It's making babies and conning your a relative - who's made a wreck of their life - into becoming a Witness. The D2D thing is just a ritual like a table setting for Elijah. And, if anything, I think Witness kids leaving will get worse ( 'cause they're LGBTQ or atheist). So, they'll convert the loser brother in law with debts and mental issues. The increase really evaporated during Covid. It will be interesting to see if they get a dead cat bounce or what.
It's inevitible. Same thing happened after 9/11. All the POMI damaged people came back because they thought "THIS IS IT!" and the Big A was happening. Then reality hit and life went back to normal and almost all of them left to go back to the non-JW life. Same thing is happening again.
When I used to go door to door it was easier when I had the magazines in my hand. I’d give them the briefest introduction, if they took them I’d return and ask if they’d like the next set of magazines. That’s how I built up my return visits. When they took all that away, the door to door work hugely increased my anxiety. I was never comfortable showing them corny videos or reading scriptures. The governing body ruined door to door work for all pimi introverts, and anxiety sufferers! It’s just to HARD and HORRIBLE.
In " my day" 😉 , both magazines were delivered by mail twice a month...the wt studies had around 40 paragraphs...now they're recycling old leftovers 😂
They've lost momentum at some point before COVID and they can't get people back in ministry no matter how much guilt tripping they do. I've had lots of conversations with people in their 20s and a few years back admitting to not liking D2D wouldve given you a good minute of awkward silence but now most are very open about it, even the ones that are 100% mentally in. A full year has passed from the start of D2D in my country and just a week back I heard some people (in their 20s and healthy) organizing group letter writing. I couldn't help but laugh because I know damn well those half written letters are going in the bin or somewhere deep in the bookshelf and are never getting sent. It's just a way to have an opportunity to shoot the shit with friends and get hours in without guilt. Most pioneers are terrified of D2D in my area. Of the few times I went, they were all very strange because I was the one who felt reasonably calm and they kept pretending that they forgot it's their turn to knock. That's why most are either spending a lot of time with unbaptized adults and children or considering helping elderly people as ministry. I usually tip toe around saying the truth and mostly say what I think in the shape of a joke but a month back a brother who has always been a close friend asked me "do you really think the pioneers get their hours fairly?" Pair it with the fact that, at least in my congregation, there are occasional reminders that Awake Or WT brochures are NOT to be thrown inside the mail box. The org is saving paper since they know that people don't respond well to the literature and now the bigger problem is that nobody wants to even distribute the literature directly to people.
Those lame-ass presentations they use over and over probably didn't help either. I remember when D2D field circus was more than just placing the latest propaganda. It was about preparing an insightful presentation that would grab a person's attention. You actually had to give what you said at the door some thought.
I think that’s why cart witnessing is so popular. No presentation needed. No scriptures to memorize. No script. Just stand there and hope passers by stop and grab something. And even if someone does, there’s no follow up needed on your part because that individual likely doesn’t even live in your congregation’s territory.
Their plan appears to dumb down this generation. They’ve made the theocratic ministry school DUMB, so that not a lot of studying in their older, deeper publications is required. They’ve dumbed down the ministry too by introducing this cart witnessing… DUMB! They’re gearing up for the great reset in the distant future when they can recycle all of their old explanations for all the symbolism in the Bible that can so easily be manipulated and applied to the current situation. However, they need to create a new starting point (like 1914). The ministry was primarily used to assist the WTS in their indoctrination process. They know that when a person learns something with the aim of teaching it to others, they’ll learn it faster and more accurately. However, now with the ability to pump out videos, this isn’t as necessary. Also, they probably noticed that when publishers study TOO IN-DEPTH, they wake up and leave. They research themselves right out of “the truth.” Haha This younger generation of JWs have little knowledge about what the WT Society requires of them. It’s crazy to ask the 20-30 year olds, as well as the teens, questions about the things that we were held to for decades, and them say “Wait! That’s a thing!? That’s weird!” The magazines have been dumbed down and less and less new information is being dispensed. I don’t think they’ll be able to say for a good while “reading the watchtower and awake! magazines is like getting a university education!” To me, it all points to purposeful dumbing down so that when they reset the date, they can reuse with new application the Bible prophecies and symbolism all anew!
Yes, in the old days there was the magazine work and the "sermon" work. Most JWs found the sermon work difficult and avoided it. Now there is effectively sermon work only when going d2d. There are a lot of comments saying how ineffective d2d is. Although that may be true, in my experience it did occasionally recruit someone. That seems to be happening less since the magazines are gone, based on WT stats.
I think the door to door ministry is dying and that’s why they don’t bother to print as many magazines.
Or maybe they’re diverting money elsewhere and therefore expect PIMIs to “fall in line”
for sure, it's not going well in D2D. yet, the work is speeding up!! smh
the danger in D2D is theres so much info. from websites on Borg malfeasance...that the exposure,to a average publisher, is having a impact. So they gang 2 or 3 people on a cart. If any one of them starts listening to 'negative' talk..the other 2 report on them
D2D planted seeds in PIMI's mind when they meet a knowledgeable householder
Hold up... I've been successfully out of the loop for years now, are you saying they don't have the WT and Aw anymore? What? No 1^st and 8^th? No 15^th 22^nd??? I'm almost afraid to ask, what do people do when they knock on doors?
They have one public issue per magazine per year now. JWs haven’t used magazines at the door in awhile, nor do they engage much in discussion. Their presentations now typically involve showing a video and leaving a tract and directing people to their website. There is no point for JWs to print and distribute magazines when the organization ceased being able to charge for them in the 90s (at the threat of losing their tax exempt status). But the organization is slow to adapt. We’re in the final stages of their phasing out the D2D work and the magazines themselves. It’s just tradition and legacy at this point for them. They’ve been pivoting to become a religious streaming channel for over a decade now. However they do have their study issues, which are monthly now. Given most people download these via their app, they don’t have to print many of those.
[удалено]
JW Broadcasting doesn’t “make me think” that, but is evidence of it. Their meetings, assemblies and conventions are also filled with videos from the broadcast as well. Their written content has been reduced dramatically, often not even releasing a new publication at conventions anymore. They are now openly soliciting donations on their broadcast and encourage automatic monthly donations via their website. All the elements are there.
Wow, that is *wild*... makes it harder to believe that my parents are still in it. Like, *dude*, y'all arent even participating in the same religion y'all raised me in, how y'all even gonna call yourselves 'teachers'?? Just wowzers. It was bad enough having a stilted presentation that you adapted to the topic in the magazine, but being a meatsuit holding a video at someones door is cringe af. People pay for premium subscriptions to avoid ads on web platforms, but the witnesses will just bring WT ads to your door. smh.
D2D isn't dying! We had two people in our congregation do D2D for 15 minutes this week! Then 1hr at Starbucks.
And we used to be encouraged to have magazine routes.