Jehovah's Witnesses: what do you report?

Question

What kind of statistics do you gather for your ministry, and why? Do you gain rewards of some sort for them?

Hess: So, in keeping with the scriptures, one big prayer-report to Jesus at the end of the year? The disciples didn't give those figures to anyone else...

Martha_a: We do the same work Jesus did when he walked the earth...
- I'm understanding more from Hess' answer, but same argument. If the CCJW is acting on faith the way it should, numbers shouldn't be necessary. You're siding with Christendom on this practice, are you sure you want to do that?

Answer 1

For all the Witnesses who give an example of a "report" in the Bible, please notice that not one person in the Bible reported the "hours" they spent witnessing about Jesus. So yes, some reports are necessary and good - but you cannot use the Bible as support for reporting "hours" spent witnessing. Reporting the number who were baptized - now THAT's in the Bible.

Why is keeping track of an individual's "hours" necessary if it isn't necessary to keep track of an individual's monetary donations? If finances can be handled just fine without knowing exactly how much each person donates in $, then why can't witnessing be carried on effectively without knowing how many "hours" each Witness is donating?

In my brief experience when I studied with the Witnesses, it seemed to me that it's a "sales incentive" used by the Board of Governers (or whatever the name is), to shame people into witnessing, so they won't be embarrassed by not having "hours" to report.

Answer 2

Well, among other things, we report time spent, money spent, buildings built, ones who publicly declare themselves Christians through Baptism, etc.

One reason to do this is it is encouraging to hear about the progress of others.

Also it makes sense. Consider, we build Kingdom Halls for meeting together. Before doing so we follow the Bible principle of "counting the cost" and see if it is practicle financially and spiritually. For this information it helps to know how many are interested in a certain area. That way we don't randomly place Halls but do so logically.

Frequently throughout the Bible we read of accounts where the Exact number is given. How could this have been recorded unless they took the time to count.

Easiest example probably is about Noah, 8 souls were saved.

Answer 3

We report the time we spend out preaching, the number of bible studies conducted and how many publications we place with ones. The only reward we get for doing these things is 1) blessings from Jehovah God, 2) the up building of our faith and 3) the wonderful feeling of knowing that we've given people sincere and honest truth, hope and promises for the future.

Answer 4

We report the number of hours (or even less for those who may not be able to get out) we spend preaching God's Word each month. This is what you see in the January 1 issue of the Watchtower every year.

It helps to show how the work is growing worldwide. We do not get any rewards for reporting, it just helps to create a more accurate record.

All preaching done by Jehovah's Witnesses is done voluntarily, free of charge and at the discretion of each individual Witness.

Answer 5

Read the book of Acts, especially the first 8 chapters.

How did they know how many were baptized?

Paul refers many times to the different reports made about the different congregations, and he addressed those items in his letters to them.

Why do we know about the different families that crossed the Red Sea, or who left Egypt?

The bible is full of reports, Jehovah is a God of order, not disorder.

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There are many good reasons for turning in your reports.

1st it helps the organization know which and how much certain literature needs to be printed.

Which languages need more literature.

Which area of the world need more missionaries.

One's report is a small indicator of a person's spiritual well being.

Do we gain any rewards?

All rewards come from Jehovah.

Happy is that slave who upon Christ's return finds him doing the work.

Christ says, Good and faithful slave, enter into the joy of your Master.

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Answer 6

The Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses does not actually require any individual Witness to report his ministry each month (or at all), although such reports are certainly requested. The Scriptural pattern is actually quite easy to demonstrate:

(Mark 6:7,11,12,30) [Jesus] summoned the twelve, and he initiated sending them out two by two... [Jesus said] wherever a place will not receive you nor hear you, on going out from there shake off the dirt that is beneath your feet for a witness to them.” So they set out and preached in order that people might repent... And the apostles gathered together before Jesus and reported to him all the things they had done

(Luke 9:1,2,10) [Jesus] called the twelve together... And so he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God... And when the apostles returned they recounted to him what things they had done.


A typical modern report includes the numbers of hours, return visits, bible studies conducted, and publications. A single total of each for the month is listed.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_14.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/dg/index.htm?article=article_11.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/ti/index.htm?article=article_09.htm

Answer 7

I'm an ex-witness, and they don't earn any "brownie points" or anything else of value. They are sincerely out there to preach. They make no money on the books, and don't get paid for their time. They keep a record of what they do, but as far as I remember, it's just for personal use.

Gotta give 'em credit for that!


Edit: Yes, I've been shot at! As a 13-year-old-girl, working with my 14-year-old friend, a so-called CHRISTIAN shot at us coming up the driveway.....before a word was spoken. I'm sure it was just rice or rock-salt, but it's hardly something a CHRISTIAN should be doing to two little girls.

Answer 8

We are blessed by Jehovah for our rewards. We keep track of our time. We aren't required to get any amount of time each month unless we ask to do it as a goal I guess you could say. I hope this helps. Also, more hours preaching does noit mean we have a better chance at anything. We all do the best we can do.

Answer 9

We do statisics to keep tract of our growth just like any other religious affliations. We do not gain any monetary gain from our service or time. We do the same work Jesus did when he walked the earth... We do gain satisfaction as people are learning the truth about our grand creator Jehoavh and of his son Jesus.

Answer 10

Jehovah's Witnesses collect statistics on:

The number of persons who are baptised each year
Those who take the bread & wine each year (the 'remnant')
How many hours are spent going from door to door each year
How many NWT Bibles, Watchtower & Awake magazines and books are 'distributed' world wide each year
Revenues

Statistics are published annually in their Year Book.

Why do they gather all these statistics? Do they gain rewards of some sort for them? Beats me! Jesus never instructed his followers to record the number of hours they spent each week
preaching the gospel message. Anyway, there's no need because salvation cannot be earned by spending more and more time going from door to door or attending meetings. Salvation is a gift, from God. Salvation is all of God. It has nothing whatsoever to do with recording statistics.

Sadly, Jehovah's Witnesses (the rank and file who are not anointed with the Holy Spirit, who have been told that they do not have a heavenly hope) are not in the new covenant and the blood of Christ does not cover them. They have no assurance of salvation, and even if they survive Armageddon, they still have to earn salvation. I suspect this is why they feel compelled to keep all these records, to impress God on the final day of judgement. Poor things. How they have been mislead.

Edit: An ex-witness said they don't make any money on the books. Really? When I was a witness the magazines and books were sold - and there was a profit margin for the 'publisher' - that's the JW who goes from door to door. Don't you know the Watch Tower Society is registered as a PUBLISHING COMPANY? That they have huge revenues? Where do you think that comes from?