what makes a Kingdom Hall different from a church?

Question

can someone tell me any unique physical features of the KH, or something that might be different from an orthodox church, maybe something about the layout or furniture. i am not interested in discussing what is taught there.

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses call each of their houses of worship a "Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses"; each of the larger ones that seat 1200 to 5000 is called an "Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses".

Witnesses have no biblical objections to the more common English term "church", but they seek to recognize that the biblical term "church" refers exclusively to a congregation of PEOPLE rather than to a structure.

(Romans 16:3-5, NWT) Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila...and greet the congregation that is in their house.
(Romans 16:3-5, KJV) Greet Priscilla and Aquila...Likewise greet the church that is in their house.

(1 Corinthians 16:19, NWT) The congregations of Asia send you their greetings. Aquila and Prisca together with the congregation that is in their house greet you heartily in the Lord.
(1 Corinthians 16:19, KJV) The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

(Colossians 4:15, NWT) Give my greetings to...Nympha and to the congregation at her house.
(Colossians 4:15, NASB) Greet...Nympha and the church that is in her house.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.ca/e/jt/index.htm?article=article_07.htm
http://jw-media.org/people/worship.htm

Answer 2

We build our Kingdom Halls in one or two days, which is called a quick build. The Kingdom Hall where I go to does not have any windows except on both sides of the door. It makes the cost of heating go down and deters robbers from breaking in. It also makes the cost of building a Kindom Hall go down. Some Kingdom Halls have tile in the lobby as well as in the foyer. We do have clocks, to make sure that the brothers and sisters do not go over their time limit when they have talks. On Wednesday night meetings there are two meetings in one, (it may be at a different day or time wherever your local Kindom Hall meetings are), the first meeting is the Theocratic Ministry School and the sceond one after that is the Service Meeting. On Sundays we have visiting Speakers and some of our brothers that come and go to different towns and give a talk and then after that the second part of the meeting is the Watchtower meeting. We have mike handlers that go up and down the isles to hand the brothers and sisters and little ones the mike so they can give spiritual answers to the questions from the Kindom Ministry magazine and the Watchtower. We don't have "youth groups" like other churches do because the little kids also give talks and answer on the KM's and Watchtower magazines. We have literature counters on both side of the lobby. We also have field service as well as meetings so most usually cars will be parked in the parking lot. We also clean our halls.

One more thing that is totally different in Kingdom Halls than from a church is that we do not Tithe at all. We have volunteer contribution boxes in the lobby for anyone to put money in. Nobody is forced to give money at all.

Once a year in March or April we have a special meeting at the Hall where we observe the Memorial of Christ's Death: On Nissan 14 at sundown. For more information on this special meeting go to your local Kingdom Hall or when Witnesses come to your door and hand you the handbil that has information on the Memorial of Christ's Death.


Hope this helps!

Answer 3

we don't have idols or crosses in the Kingdom Halls. we all help to keep the Kingdom Hall clean inside and outside. my Kingdom Hall has windows and it has two clocks inside. the Kingdom Halls are built in three days all by brothers and sisters from different Kingdom Halls and not one person gets paid. we worship Jehovah God not a man, we are a real religion, we are not a cult. anyplace in the world we can go and find a Kingdom Hall. we are in 236 lands worldwide. a cult worships man and live together. we live in our own homes. also we don't pass a plate for money. we do have boxes in the back, if you want to donate money. no one knows how much or how little you give. this is the first Kingdom Hall that has windows.

Answer 4

The Kingdom Halls are all modest in structure & always maintained, outside & in.
KH's always have windows, clocks & usually either have tile in the entryway and carpet in the main auditorium.
There will not only be people at a KH on days of formal worship, but during the week, we gather to meet for going out in the ministry (door-to-door). So, cars will almost always be there.
We always have a counter in the KH's that are for distributing literature to our members & to visiting ones.

Answer 5

I've heard "no windows" before. But "no clocks"?
Sheesh. Where do these rumors come from lol.
When giving Bible based talks, there are many speakers and they have to stick to a timetable. In all the Halls I've ever visited (and there have been MANY) there's usually a clock right across from the podium where the talks are given so everyone can make sure they're not running over time.

Calling our place of worship a Kingdom Hall, separates it from the religions of the world. We focus our preaching message and our hope on Jehovah God's Kingdom.
Other religions call their buildings (forgive the spelling please) a mosque, snynagogues, temples etc.
We're different from churches and other religious buildings also because of our simple style. There are no idols or extravagances in our buildings. Everything is designed in a way to bring attention to our spiritual lessons.

Answer 6

Of course the missionaries would love to come over to her house, but there is a book that her husband may have already that might be of use to her. It's called Preach My Gospel. It's spiral bound, and costs less than $20, I think I got mine for about $12, but I'm not sure. It hasn't been out all that long, is designed for missionaries, but is also a really good tool to help with personal study. It contains all the general guidlines for the discussions that the missionaries give. Also, reading the Doctrine & Covenants might help her with some of the "levels of heaven" concepts. Also the CES website below might help as well, it's a link to CES manuals (CES = Church Educational System)

Answer 7

AM Fields: WE ARE NO CULT!

Ladybugwith7up said her hall has no windows because "It makes the cost of heating go down and deters robbers from breaking in." It also makes the cost of building a Kindom Hall go down.

I don't know where she lives but obviously in her case it was better for the hall not to have windows... In can vary in different areas. For example because weather and the area itself is safe in Costa Rica, Kingdom Hall's have many windows and are left open most of the time. It all depends... many things are taken into consideration.

Answer 8

The name.

Differences from an Orthodox Church;
- Simple and modest
-Easy to maintain
-No idols or statues or stuff
- Light and open, no dark, eerie corners
- Cleaned by the congregation members, no paid staff to clean it.
- The purpose; to promote true worship of Jehovah God and to learn more about his Kingdom.

That's off the top of my head.

EDIT: There are always clocks, where the speaker can see it so that he does not go beyond his alloted time. Everything is well-organised.

Answer 9

I've been to more than one Kingdom Hall with windows...and they all have clocks.

A few differences might be that there is no priest/pastor. They do not pass around a plate for money. Children sit with their parents. There are no crosses or alter or choir.

Answer 10

People who love truth go to the Kingdom Hall.