Presenting the Good News—By Making Good Use of the Telephone
1 The commission given to God’s anointed ones and shared by the “other sheep” is to preach the “good news” for the purpose of a witness and to “make disciples.” (Matt. 24:14; 28:19, 20) Sometimes, though, our efforts may be blocked somewhat by persons living in restricted places, such as retirement centers, apartment buildings or on military reservations where one may not go freely from door to door. Another problem is to find people at home, even though repeated efforts may be made to reach them. Sometimes bad weather conditions or health problems may prevent a person personally from getting out to make the calls that he wants to make. In all such situations you may find the telephone the help you need to overcome the problem.
2 In one midwestern state there is a restricted military community of about 20,000 persons within the territory of the congregation. The brothers were concerned about how they would preach the good news to those living there, so they decided to try using the telephone. They designated a page of the telephone book as a “territory” and the publisher holding this “territory” made telephone calls to all those persons, endeavoring to give a witness to each one. The results were excellent. Within a little over a month, although covering only part of the territory, they had placed 17 books, four subscriptions and 133 magazines, also made 100 return visits, started eight Bible studies and found one inactive sister.
3 When one sister called, she was informed by the householder that she was very busy, but when told, “I’m one of Jehovah’s witnesses,” she asked the sister to come to her home. As a result of a mix-up in appointments the householder was not there when the sister called, so she telephoned the Kingdom Hall and, in contacting the sister, informed her that just before the original call she had been praying to Jehovah to help her to get in contact with his people again, as someone had studied with her when she had been in Germany.
4 In large cities where often both husband and wife work and the weekends are used to “get away from it all,” the only time such persons may be contacted personally is in the evening, when a house call might not be appreciated, but a call on the telephone at a reasonable time in the evening would be acceptable. Have you tried this?
5 In making telephone calls, be warm, friendly and tactful. One might say: “Good evening. I’m one of Jehovah’s witnesses and we have been making an effort to contact all the people in the community, offering them a free home Bible study. If you have a moment I would like to explain what benefits you and your family could derive from such a study.” Then, according to the response, a further witness could be given and arrangements made for a personal visit. A word of caution, though, is in order. Be mindful to keep your call brief and exercise much discernment and kindness, just as you would in a door-to-door call.
6 It would be well to keep in mind, too, that when telephone calls are made to interested persons and some interest is shown, then any subsequent contacts of the individual by telephone or in person for the purpose of giving a witness could be counted as return visits. Some who are elderly and sickly have found that they can use the telephone to initiate interest and then have the interested person come to their home for a Bible study.
7 In addition to our using the telephone to preach the good news to others, it can be used effectively to call others within the congregation who may be ill or who need encouragement, especially if a limited time schedule will not allow a personal visit to be made. These calls, too, may be brief, but if they are filled with spiritual encouragement, they may be just what is needed to build up one who may be momentarily depressed. Personal calls, whether on the public or on those within the congregation and who need encouragement, are still the best way to help people, but it is always good to take advantage of whatever alternative provisions are available to us to help others—such as the telephone.