Presenting the Good News—With Magazines
1 No other journals in history have had such an impact for good on the lives of people as have The Watchtower and Awake! Every issue is full of life-giving spiritual food. The results of in-depth research presented with strong Scriptural support impresses the message of truth on our minds and hearts.
2 The Watchtower, through its pages, explains Bible teachings and calls our attention to the fulfillment of Bible prophecies. It encourages all who are spiritually hungry to transform their mind and to put on the new personality. (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:22-24) Awake! alerts its readers to significant happenings in the world. Its striking illustrations depicting the marvels of creation stir interest in the new world and deepen appreciation for the loving Creator.
NOT LIKE SECULAR MAGAZINES
3 Secular magazines do not show people how to enjoy satisfying lives in this world. They offer no hope for the future and fail to teach people how to get everlasting life. Those worldly magazines are designed to promote the things of the world. What a contrast with The Watchtower and Awake!—1 John 2:15-17.
4 No doubt you yourself feel a deep sense of gratitude for every issue of The Watchtower and Awake!—magazines that contain sweet fragrances of truth from “the faithful steward.” (Luke 12:42) What can we do to improve our placement of magazines and thus help more to benefit from our journals?
DOING OUR PART
5 Before we can properly encourage honesthearted ones to read our magazines, we need to know what each journal contains. This calls for us to read each issue before using it in the ministry. Being thoroughly familiar with its contents, we can use the avenues of the house-to-house ministry, street work, and informal witnessing for magazine distribution.
6 Furthermore, by having the current magazines with us while shopping, riding public transportation, at school, at our place of employment, or wherever we go, we will be able to seize appropriate opportunities to witness. A well-chosen introduction from the Reasoning book coupled with a point from one of the articles may arouse a person’s desire to read our magazines.
7 Although our conversations may be brief when offering the magazines, we do not have to limit our discussion to just a minute or so. We want to take time to determine whether the person is really interested in the message and if he will read the magazine. If questions arise, we should always endeavor to answer the inquiries by making full use of our Bible or the Reasoning book. By being ready to defend our faith, we can reap marvelous blessings.—1 Pet. 3:15.
8 If the individual agrees to read the magazines, we can speak about the nature of our work and how these magazines are published twice a month as part of a worldwide Bible educational work. The information on page 2 of The Watchtower or page 4 of Awake! explains this very nicely. Since the contents of the next issue are always listed, we can propound related questions or call attention to the upcoming articles. This may whet the appetite of the person and move him to express a desire to obtain that issue when it comes out. This could be the start of a magazine route.
9 As the end of this system draws near, may we quicken our pace to help honesthearted ones escape from Babylon the Great and come into the truth. (Rev. 18:4) The Watchtower and Awake! play a powerful part in our worldwide Bible educational work. We are thankful that Jehovah has provided them for our use in the ministry. May Jehovah continue to bless our careful and intensive use of these journals!