Service Meeting Schedule
Week Starting December 8
10 min: Local announcements. Selected Announcements from Our Kingdom Ministry. Using the suggestions on page 8, demonstrate how to present the December 15 Watchtower and the December 22 Awake! In each case, both magazines should be offered as a set, even though only one is featured.
20 min: “True Christian Unity—How?”a When discussing paragraph 5, invite audience to relate personal experiences involving international conventions, theocratic building projects, or disaster relief work that highlight our Christian unity.
15 min: “The Theocratic Ministry School for 2004.” Talk by the school overseer. Include comments on the October 2003 Our Kingdom Ministry insert.
Song 108 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting December 15
10 min: Local announcements. Encourage everyone to view the video Transfusion-Alternative Health Care—Meeting Patient Needs and Rights in preparation for the discussion at the Service Meeting the week of December 29. Discuss the box “Please Call Promptly.” Show an example of the S-70 form if available. Outline special field service arrangements for December 25 and January 1.
15 min: Personal Study—An Act of Worship. A talk based on October 1, 2000, Watchtower, pages 14-15, paragraphs 6-10.
20 min: “Help Those ‘Rightly Disposed.’”b Use the questions that are provided. Review the list of suggestions for making return visits in the box on page 3 of the March 1997 Our Kingdom Ministry.
Song 42 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting December 22
12 min: Local announcements. Accounts report. Using the suggestions on page 8, demonstrate how to present the January 1 Watchtower and the January 8 Awake! Remind everyone of the special Service Meeting next week, during which we will review the Patient Needs and Rights video and discuss and distribute the Advance Medical Directive/Release card and health-care durable power of attorney (DPA) form.
15 min: Local needs.
18 min: “Searching Out Deserving Ones.”c Make local application of the material. When are residents most likely to be at home? What results have been achieved by working in the late afternoon or early evening? What methods can be used to make contact with people who are rarely home?
Song 209 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting December 29
5 min: Local announcements. Encourage all publishers to turn in field service reports for December. Mention literature offer for January.
17 min: “A Video That Highlights an Important Medical Trend.” To be handled by a qualified elder. Read Acts 15:28, 29, and briefly emphasize that the principal reason why Christians refuse blood transfusions is to honor God’s law on the sanctity of blood. Then get right into a discussion of the Patient Needs and Rights video, using the questions that are provided in the article. Conclude by reading the last paragraph.
23 min: Facing Medical Challenges Confidently. Talk by qualified elder, using outline supplied by the branch office. Review key points from the box “Provisions to Help Us Abstain From Blood.”
Song 182 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting January 5
Note: Congregations are not to move their Service Meeting for the week of January 5 to an earlier night unless the circuit overseer is visiting. In every congregation, the convention insert should be considered on the Service Meeting as scheduled. If there is a circuit assembly this week, book study overseers should announce the convention location and dates at their regularly scheduled book studies. A copy of the Recommended Lodging List should be made available by the overseer so that those in attendance can copy the hotel phone numbers for making their reservations. However, copies of this list should not be made for publishers.
5 min: Local announcements.
15 min: Your Labor Is Not in Vain. (1 Cor. 15:58) Audience discussion. Arrange in advance for publishers who have been active for many years to relate details about the work in the early days. How many were associated with the congregation? How much territory was the congregation assigned to work? How did people respond to the Kingdom message? What type of opposition did you encounter? How has the Kingdom work grown in the local area over the years?
25 min: “2004 ‘Walk With God’ District Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” To be handled by the congregation secretary. After considering paragraph 1, read the December 15, 2003, convention assignment letter. When discussing paragraph 3, have all the points in the boxes on page 4 read by volunteers from the audience. Encourage all to make their convention arrangements as soon as possible.
Song 7 and concluding prayer.
[Footnotes]
a Limit introductory comments to less than a minute, and follow with a question-and-answer discussion.
b Limit introductory comments to less than a minute, and follow with a question-and-answer discussion.
c Limit introductory comments to less than a minute, and follow with a question-and-answer discussion.