Assembly or Convention??

[Female Frodo]

Just curious at how this terms are used in our christian gatherings. I used to use them synonimously.

 

Any thoughts?🤔

[Old]

The use of these terms is somewhat interchangeble. At the present we are using conventions for our large gatherings but it hasn't always been so. The largest, the Divine will in 1958 was an assembly. The largest this year is noted as a convention.

 

1906, Souvenir Report From the Conventions of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (Souvenir [Notes from] Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s Conventions) (Asbury Park, N.J., and St. Paul, Minn., U.S.A.) (L. W. Jones):
1907, Souvenir (Notes from) Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s Conventions (Parts I and II) (Indianapolis, Ind., Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Norfolk, Va., U.S.A.) (L. W. Jones):
1908, On!! to Victory—Watch Tower Bible Students Convention (Put-in-Bay, Ohio, U.S.A.) (L. W. Jones):
Put-in-Bay Convention Report (Ohio, U.S.A.) (w1908 9/15):
Souvenir Notes from Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s Convention (Nashville, Tenn., U.S.A.) (L. W. Jones):
Souvenir Notes of Watch Tower Convention at Cincinnati, O. (Souvenir [Notes from] Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s Convention) (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.) (L. W. Jones):
1909, Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (Souvenir Notes From Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society’s Convention) (L. W. Jones):
1910, Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (Tenth Souvenir Convention Report, International Bible Students) (L. W. Jones):
1911, Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (International Bible Students Souvenir Convention Report) (L. W. Jones):
1912, Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (International Bible Students Souvenir Convention Report) (L. W. Jones):
1913, Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (International Bible Students Souvenir Convention Report) (L. W. Jones):
1914, Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (International Bible Students Souvenir Convention Report) (L. W. Jones):
1915, Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (International Bible Students Souvenir Convention Report) (L. W. Jones):
Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (Supplement to the International Bible Students Souvenir Convention Report) (L. W. Jones):
1916, Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (International Bible Students Souvenir Convention Report) (L. W. Jones):
1919, Report of General Convention (Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A.) (w1919 10/1 291-9):
Souvenir Report of the Bible Student’s Convention (Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.A.) (G. A. Glendon, Jr.):
1922, Cedar Point Convention (Ohio, U.S.A.) (w22 11/1):
1927, International Bible Students Convention (Toronto, Ont., Canada) (The Messenger):
Toronto International Convention—Bible Students:
1928, General Convention, International Bible Students Association (Detroit, Mich., U.S.A.) (The Messenger):
1931, International Convention, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.) (The Messenger):
1938, Report of the Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the Northwest (Seattle, Wash., U.S.A.) (g38 7/13 supplement):
worldwide convention, program originating in London, England (The Messenger):
1939, General Convention (New York, N.Y., U.S.A.) (The Messenger):
1940, Theocratic Conventions (worldwide) (The Messenger):
1941, Report of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Assembly (St. Louis, Mo., U.S.A.):
1942, Report of the New World Theocratic Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses (worldwide):
1943, Report of the “Free Nation’s” Theocratic Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses (worldwide) (g43 11/24 supplement):
1944, Report of the United Announcers’ Theocratic Assembly (Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.A.) (g44 10/25 and supplement):
1946, Report of the Glad Nations Theocratic Assembly (Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.) (The Messenger):
1950, Report of the Theocracy’s Increase Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses (New York, N.Y., U.S.A.):
1951, Report of the Clean Worship Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses (London, England):
1953, Report of New World Society Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses (New York, N.Y., U.S.A.):
1958, Report of the Divine Will International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses (New York, N.Y., U.S.A.):
1963, Report on “Everlasting Good News” Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses—Around the World:
1969, “Peace on Earth” International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses (New York, N.Y., U.S.A.) (3 reports):
 

[BLEmom]

In Spanish it’s the same word.  Less confusing. Some people used to get bent out of shape if you used the wrong word in English but I think everyone is too tired now to make a big deal. 

[Qapla]

While, in the past,the term Assembly was used for all Circuit and District gatherings - there has been an "official" distinction used by the US Branch.

 

In English, the Branch uses the term Assembly for Circuit gatherings and Convention for Regional/International gatherings.

 

However, there has been no direction that interchanging these terms is "wrong".

 

We need to keep in mind that separating the terms "Assembly" and "Convention" is not the same in all languages.

 

There are many terms used in English that, while technically different, are used interchangeably by many people - here are a few:

• It is not a literature "order" ... it is a "request"
• The literature does not come with an "invoice" ... it is a "packing list"
• We do not "turn in our time" ... we use a "service report"

And then, there is the way native English speakers talk and the way some who use English as a second language speak:

• Americans go "in" service ... in some places people go "on" service

I guess some get rather precise about such terminology - but, we don't really need to be so insistent

Edited June 30, 2019 by Qapla

[Sheep]

5 hours ago, BLEmom said:

In Spanish it’s the same word.

 

4 hours ago, Qapla said:

We need to keep in mind that separating the terms "Assembly" and "Convention" is not the same in all languages.

In French, too, an assembly or a convention are the same word. Maybe in other Latin-based languages too? Portuguese, Italian, Romanian?

[Female Frodo]

Thanks for your input. I of course has English as second language and from the far east we use them there interchangeably, until a brother here in the far west corrected me. 😉

Edited June 30, 2019 by Female Frodo

[Old]

How about German 'kongress'? Sounds to much like 'congress', a assemblege not generally held in high esteem.

[On the huh]

Sometimes it makes it easier to be understood when you use the correct terms.  Example,  recently I was asked about the upcoming assembly.  Now, my next assembly is in October.  My next convention is in July, which is what the inquirer was really asking about.  Or maybe you just need to qualify which assembly you are taking about, and I guess in some languages they do - Regional assembly, assembly with circuit overseer etc. 

 

When I hear the word "convention", it always conjure up the thought of large gatherings.  Maybe its because, to me anyway, they have always been known as conventions and not as assemblies.  Assemblies, to me, are the smaller circuit only gatherings.  I find it is normally the older ones who call conventions assemblies.  And why not.  In that list Jerry provided, some of the largest and longest conventions were called assemblies.

[Thesauron]

A simple way of getting around this conundrum is by utilising the full terms - circuit assembly and regional/special/international convention.

 

Swedish has only one word: ‘sammankomst’, which means ‘gathering’. Now, in the olden day’s we used to call the big conventions ‘konvent’, but these days only longtimers use that expression, even though the last time it was used formally was in 1947 and more informally until the 1980s, if I’m correctly informed.

[Qapla]

Johan,

 

Thanks for mentioning that - it brought back a nice memory.

 

I went to an International one year in South Florida. It was the nearest gathering for us. The name badges said "Assembly".

 

This particular Assembly was one of the stops for a tour from "Scandinavia" (as the Brother I met put it) - we had delegates from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. I got to spend quite a bit of time with one of the Brothers from Sweden - he was actually the Brother in charge of this particular tour group. I used to have a program and a name badge card in Swedish that the Brother gave me.

 

I was only 19 or so at the time (I can't remember the exact year) and I was invited to eat lunch with this Brother each day. I will say, as a single teen guy, I had never seen so many good-looking, blonde-hair, blue-eyed single girls around my age in my life (and I never have again) ... but, alas, I was not looking to get married.

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

A small technical difference for those that like detail:
Currently a 'Convention' is organised from the local Branch under direction from the GB. We used to calls them 'Watchtower Conventions'. Some times missionaries are invited back to their home territory. The Convention and travel expenses are all paid for by the Branch funds.

A Circuit Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses is arranged by the CO, and paid for by circuit funds. The circuit funds will also pay for the Branch Rep to attend.

I do not know when this clear distinction came about, as I see above the terms Convention and Assembly were not so exacting.

Just Older

[Qapla]

I was told back in the mid to late-1970's by a member of the US Branch Convention Committee about the distinction

Edited June 30, 2019 by Qapla

[Dane]

On 6/30/2019 at 6:40 PM, Sheep said:

 

In French, too, an assembly or a convention are the same word. Maybe in other Latin-based languages too? Portuguese, Italian, Romanian?

Here in Italy we use l'assemblea (assembly) for circuit assembly and il congresso (convention) for regional convention to avoid confusion because assembly is just one day assembly while the convention is three days.