Why do churches need to use the local media to notify their members that services have been canceled?

Question

In this weekend's Kansas City snow storm, I noted a long list of churches scrolling across my TV screen showing all the churches who would not be holding services due to the heavy snow. The only religion I didn't see was Jehovah's Witnesses.

I know that the JWs has a system in place whereby in the event of a cancellation, or a disaster, elders make sure every member can be notified within an hour. In the event of a disaster, like Katrina, they have to report to the Overseer, who has to report to the Circuit Servant, who reports to the District Servant, that everyone has been accounted for.

Why can't all churches do this? It is simple to do, just have the church elders call the members they are assigned to shepard. Why rely on such an unreliable system as posting the names of the churches on the TV News? What would they do in the event of a disaster?

I would think that even with a large church, they would have enough elders so that each is only responsible for 10-20 people, made up of families and singles. So, they would only be making about 5-10 calls. For a large church of say 3000 attendees, that would mean only needing about 150 elders. That should be simple for any church of dedicated followers.

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses have the true religion. They are Christian (of course), but they are unique for their rejection of paganisms, use of God's personal name, and global preaching by every active adherent. No other religious organization can claim such purity of worship.

These facts about Jehovah's Witnesses are perhaps relevant to this question. The more one compares this Christian religion with others, the more remarkable it is shown to be.

1. Jehovah's Witnesses have no paid clergy. Yet they remain tightly organized with more than 6.5 million active Jehovah's Witness preachers (about 16 million associate themselves with the religion). Even fulltime preachers and workers at their branch offices are unpaid volunteers.

2. There is no elite class among Jehovah's Witnesses. Even the few 'anointed' among them enjoy no special privileges in their congregations on earth. An anointed person (one of those relative few with a heavenly hope) is not elevated above his fellow congregants in any way, and he may not even qualify for appointment as a simple 'deacon' or elder. There are no titles; EVERYONE is addressed as 'brother' or 'sister'.

3. No person benefits economically from the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Even the 8 to 20 men who serve on their Governing Body receive simply room, board, medical care, and reimbursement for certain personal expenses according to the exact same provision as every other branch volunteer.

4. About a hundred men have served on Jehovah's Witnesses' Governing Body committee during the past 125 years or so. The vast majority of them have spent the vast majority of their adult lives volunteering for their organization's purposes, and the vast majority have died faithfully and near-pennilessly while still under their legal 'vow of poverty'.

5. Amazingly, Jehovah's Witnesses did not splinter as a sect from some other religion. Instead, a truly tiny but sincere group of bible students studied only the Scriptures to determine the will of God. Thus their religion remains absolutely independent of and not carrying the sins of Christendom's history, yet carries the authority of Christ's teachings.

6. Despite the distortions of anti-Witnesses, throughout their modern history Jehovah's Witnesses have refused to claim divine inspiration or infallibility for their teachings. They have pointed to the bible (and not any particular translation) as the only inspired infallible means of knowing God's thoughts. For over 125 years, their teachings have been presented as merely the results of sincere bible research by imperfect but godly humans.


Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/jt/article_07.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20040601/article_02.htm
http://jw-media.org/people/who.htm
http://jw-media.org/people/statistics.htm

Answer 2

Every individual or family that attends a church is not on the roster. What if someone doesn't have a phone or misses a call and doesn't have an answering mahine? What if someone is at the store when the "elders" call? I guess you think these "elders" should just keep calling and calling and calling until someone answers the phone because we all know they dont have better things they could be doing. If it bothers you that they broadcast it on the news you can change the station.

If you still think elders should be calling people how about you get the rosters of all the churches in your area and you can call everyone to notify them that church has been cancelled. Doesnt sound like such a great idea now does it?

Answer 3

What you are talking about is practical Christianity! Why can't the churches call their members and have an organised list of people to call? It is a very simple answer and that is because most churches when it comes to something like this, are lazy and find it much easier to contact the local media.
Now, of course there is nothing wrong with the local media posting church closings!

Answer 4

That would work in big Churches. I attend a Church that has no elders, or deacons. Besides the media is a faster more efficient way of getting the word out. There is one flaw that I notice with your system. What would happen if their was a natural disaster and all power and phones were out? Your system would only work if EVERYONE in your congregation had a cell phone.

Answer 5

Why don't the school systems and all the businesses do that as well? Why not call all the parents of every child & tell them school is canceled? Why does the President of each company not call every employee to tell them personally not to come in? You don't seem to have a problem with schools & businesses using the media, why the churches?

Answer 6

What you said about the contact system doesn't sound so uncomplicated... If there is a disaster then most people are watching the news 24/7, so what BETTER way to let your people know than to put it on the TV, not that most of us are complete idiots anyways and would try and go to church during a hurricane, but who knows...

Answer 7

it is surprisingly unhappy that a church might cancel religious amenities by way of fact it conflicted with trick or treating. Are those an identical church homes that cancelled Sunday amenities by way of fact Christmas befell on a Sunday? final 12 months, Christmas fell on a Monday and Catholics went to Mass on Sunday and Monday. in certainty, each Catholic Church has a Mass on a daily basis of the 12 months.

Answer 8

One reason might be that "mainstream" Christian churches would tend to have more casual attendees that tight-knit JW, LDS, etc. congregations. It just wouldn't be possible to have the phone # of everyone who makes it to church whenever they feel like it. There are people who "shop" for a church they like and thus attend any number of churches before they settle with one they like.

Answer 9

I was so disappointed Easter when I was visiting a church out of town where I was staying for a while and I went and they had all gone to another church for Easter. they had a sign up.but no one told me in advance.and i was there the previous Sunday.
I went to another church and the preacher talked about how kids need to be beaten and to look out in the parking lot in case someone was breaking in cars, and I got up and Left. he thought it was be cause he was black,and told me so as I left. i told him I came for some enlightenment. maybe even some joy that it was Easter..not this low class trashy talk..he asked me why I was leaving and I told him the truth.
Yes they need to inform people when things change in the church routine.

Answer 10

>>Why can't all churches do this? It is simple to do, just have the church elders call the members they are assigned to shepard.<<

I'm Catholic, and the Catholic churches around here have tens of thousands of members -- each.