Jehovah’s Witnesses end year without knocking
It’s been one year since Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide adjusted their hallmark methods of sharing comfort and hope from the scriptures due to the pandemic, including the efforts of the nine congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in and around Richland Parish.
For many, the change from ringing doorbells and knocking on doors to making phone calls and writing letters expanded and invigorated their ministry.
“Witnesses really miss knocking on doors but are looking for other ways to encourage those in our area,” said Mark Cleveland, who reports a 25 percent increase in the Witnesses’ preaching activity in his region of northern Louisiana. “Many have found joy with their increased activity.”
In March 2020, the some 1.3 million Witnesses in the United States suspended their door-to-door and face-to-face forms of public ministry and moved congregation meetings to videoconferencing.
“It has been a very deliberate decision based on two principles: our respect for life and love of neighbor,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S. spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “But we are still witnesses and, as such, we must testify about our faith. So it was inevitable that we would find a way to continue our work.”
Judy Cowart, a resident of Richland Parish, has mobility problems affecting her ability to go door to door.
“The change in the ministry has been a blessing for me,” she said. “Now being able to write letters and make phone calls three days a week, has allowed me to spend more time doing what I love: sharing with my neighbors the Bible’s message. It has given me more joy.”
Her “go-to” topics are the pandemic and civil unrest.
“I have enjoyed sharing the Bible’s answer to questions such as, ‘Does God care for us?’ and ‘How can we find true happiness?’” she commented. “Sharing the Bible’s answer to these questions brings comfort to me and my neighbors.”
Nearly 51,000 people in the United States last year made a request for a Witness to contact them, either through a local congregation or jw.org, the organization’s official website, according to Hendriks. Since the outbreak, the Witnesses have followed up on these requests via letters and phone calls instead of in-person visits.
“Our love for our neighbors is stronger than ever,” said Hendriks. “In fact, I think we have needed each other more than ever. We are finding that people are perplexed, stressed, and feeling isolated. Our work has helped many regain a sense of footing—even normalcy—at a very unsettled time.”
Harriet Polk has been engaged in the public preaching activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses for over 40 years. She could often spend a full day knocking on doors or standing with a cart displaying Bible-based literature at various locations throughout the city. Then health complications set in. “It slowed down my ministry,” said Polk, 65, of New Orleans.
But during the pandemic, she has regularly participated in virtual ministry groups, making many telephone calls and writing over 300 letters, so far. “I didn’t know what to do at first. But once we got organized, I realized I was able to do much more than before,” she explained.
Polk is eager to return to her public ministry, but even then, she will continue writing letters. “We’ve been able to reach so many more people,” she said. “You never know who is opening up your letter and benefiting from a Scriptural thought.”
In the rural areas of Salina, Kansas, where the wheat and corn fields stretch for acres, the Milbradt family sometimes drives miles from one house to the next to reach their neighbors. Now, instead of buying gasoline to fill up their vehicle for the ministry, they spend money on paper, envelopes, stamps, and crayons.
“We look for ways to add variety to our ministry,” said Zeb Milbradt. He and his wife, Jenny, help their boys—Colton, 8, and Benjamin, 6—write letters to children’s book authors, local police, and hospital workers. Sometimes the boys even include with the letters hand-drawn pictures of the Bible’s promise of a global paradise.
“We’ve been able to get the message to people who we wouldn’t necessarily reach otherwise,” said Jenny Milbradt.
A letter Benjamin sent to nurses at a regional health center included a quote from the Bible’s prophecy at Isaiah 33:24 of a coming time when no one will say, “I am sick.” The center’s marketing secretary replied to Benjamin, informing him that she scanned and emailed his letter to 2,000 employees. It “made so many people smile,” she said.
Witnesses have also made a concerted effort to check on distant friends and family—sometimes texting links to Bible-based articles on jw.org that cover timely topics, such as isolation, depression, and how to beat pandemic fatigue.
“Former Bible students have started studying again,” said Tony Fowler, who helps organize the ministry in the northern portion of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
“Colleagues at work have now started to show interest. Some have started Bible studies with family members who showed very little interest before the pandemic.”
Cleveland noted that many people feel lost in these trying times. “The pandemic has caused them to think about their life and their spirituality,” he said, commenting that many are attending virtual congregation meetings. He added, “Even older ones, some well into their eighties, are engaging in these new forms of the ministry. The efforts made by others has been amazing to observe.”
Fowler and Cleveland both report about a 20 percent increase in online meeting attendance. But perhaps the most significant growth is in an area that cannot be measured by numbers.
“I think we’ve grown as a people,” Fowler said. “We’ve grown in appreciation for other avenues of the ministry, our love for our neighbor, and love for one another. We’re a stronger people because of all of this, and that’s a beautiful thing to see.”
For more information on the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses, visit their website jw.org, with content available in over 1,000 languages.