WITNESSING AROUND THE WORLD IN 1970

62. (a) What qualities are needed by those who preach God’s kingdom? (b) What does the worldwide report show in regard to: lands hearing the Kingdom message and persons exhibiting faith and preaching? (c) To what extent were home Bible studies freely conducted in the past year, and what procedure was followed in such studies? (d) How many new ones have been baptized, and what did that mean for them in their personal lives?

⁶² Jesus said the field is the world. (Matt. 13:38) So Jehovah’s witnesses have the responsibility and are declaring the good news of the Kingdom around the world. It takes stalwart, faithful and determined men and women to keep at this work year after year. Paul wrote Timothy and said: “Pursue righteousness, godly devotion, faith, love, endurance, mildness of temper. Fight the fine fight of the faith, get a firm hold on the everlasting life for which you were called and you offered the fine public declaration in front of many witnesses.” (1 Tim. 6:11, 12) That is good counsel, and Jehovah’s witnesses have “offered the fine public declaration in front of many witnesses.” Can it be proved that they did so in 1970? Let the worldwide report on the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses give the answer. Are these Christian witnesses today doing what Jesus said they should do, namely, be “witnesses of me . . . to the most distant part of the earth”? (Acts 1:8) First let it be noted that the reports show that Jehovah’s witnesses have been active in 206 lands, and this includes all the principal countries of the world. Secondly, no less than 1,483,430 persons engaged in this worldwide witness work during 1970 and they devoted 267,581,120 hours to talking about the Bible from house to house, and included in their message was the good news of God’s kingdom. But much more was done. Persons truly interested in the Bible were helped with free home Bible studies conducted by Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. Many of these were arranged for, and the annual report shows that 1,146,378 weekly home Bible studies were conducted. That means that the teacher is invited into the home and he sits down with the interested ones with Bible opened, and together they study some Bible subject every week for at least one hour for a six-month, or twenty-six-week, period. These Christian witnesses of Jehovah take the time to explain what the Bible has to say and to answer questions. What have the results been through this home Bible study method of preaching in 1970? They have been remarkable. There were 164,193 persons who left their former religious affiliation, changed their way of living, and took their stand on Jehovah’s side, dedicating their lives to the doing of Jehovah’s will. They became disciples of Jesus Christ and, of course, were baptized in water just as Jesus was. These 164,193 recently baptized witnesses of Jehovah are already preaching the good news of God’s kingdom world wide. They have come from all races, peoples and tongues, and they will meet with the Witnesses three times a week and learn more during the five Bible study sessions in 26,524 congregations in all parts of the world. Would you be interested in that kind of weekly program? If you are going to put up a fine fight for the faith you must get involved in Bible teaching work.

64. (a) What are the activities of special pioneers, congregation publishers and regular pioneers as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses? (b) What shows that many are interested in their work?

⁶⁴ Many men and women who are Jehovah’s witnesses feel the urgency of spending all their time in preaching the Kingdom good news, and 13,426 have been assigned to what is called the special pioneer work. That means they spend 150 hours or more every month in preaching the good news in territory where they are needed, and often where there is no congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses. In addition, there were, on the average, 1,295,911 congregation publishers who cannot spend all of their time in the ministry. They really do the greater part of the work in all parts of the earth, because they average anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a month in talking about the Bible’s message. After doing their secular work and home duties they use all the time they can in the preaching of the good news of God’s kingdom. Then there were 75,445 pioneers, who spend about 100 hours a month in this God-assigned work. This makes a grand total of 1,384,782 Witnesses on the average engaging in the ministry every month. This is marvelous, is it not? There are many more people interested in Jehovah’s witnesses and their activity, and they showed it by attending the Memorial of the death of Christ Jesus. This was celebrated on March 22, 1970, and the worldwide attendance was 3,226,168.

65, 66. (a) What part do Bible literature and return visits on interested persons play in the work of Jehovah’s witnesses? (b) What does the worldwide report of the past thirty years show?

⁶⁵ Readers of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines will be interested in knowing that during the past year Jehovah’s witnesses around the world obtained 2,464,196 new subscriptions for these magazines. In addition to that, they distributed 204,758,521 individual copies to interested persons who are not subscribers for these two fine publications.

⁶⁶ The people with whom Jehovah’s witnesses place literature are entitled to have return visits so their questions can be answered if they have any. In this activity Jehovah’s witnesses made return visits during the year to the number of 121,226,605. The reason for all this activity is to build faith and help others to get a firm hold on the everlasting life. Over the years this is what has been done. (For details see the complete chart of activity on pages 26-29.)

WORLDWIDE REPORT

Number of Number of

In the Lands where Jehovah’s witnesses Gilead

year work was done preaching graduates

1940 56 95,327 —

1950 115 373,430 1,086

1960 179 916,332 2,255

1970 206 1,483,430 2,561

[Chart on page 26-29]

1970 SERVICE YEAR REPORT OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES WORLD WIDE

(See bound volume)