Question Box

● Is it proper to write to the Society or its branch offices for addresses of persons we can write to as pen pals?

We recommend that publishers who wish to correspond with brothers in other cities and even in foreign countries work such matters out for themselves. Oftentimes many fine friendships have resulted from acquaintances made at assemblies. Then by means of regular correspondence it has been possible to develop a warm, enduring friendship. There is nothing wrong in such personal correspondence. However, addresses for such correspondence purposes must be obtained on an individual basis. All the addresses in the Society’s files and in congregation files are confidential and they cannot be released for personal use.

Some schools encourage correspondence with pen pals as training in certain courses. In some instances younger publishers have witnessed effectively by means of correspondence and have succeeded in stimulating genuine interest in the truth. It is up to each individual, however, to decide if he will participate in such a school-sponsored program of letter writing. Those who do write to worldly persons, however, do well to keep in mind giving a Kingdom witness rather than cultivating an interest in worldly affairs, in view of the warning against “bad associations” given at 1 Corinthians 15:33.