Time Saving Changes Over the Last 10 Years

[Brother Brother]

We were reflecting in service this morning how many changes we have witnessed over the last decade. We were on rurals and the HH had a long chat so we had a bit of time to talk.

 

We were saying how many of the changes are amazingly more efficient or have taken away work altogether from our hard working brothers.

 

For instance:

1. Not having individual speech counsel points has meant a brother saves 10-30 minutes a week updating a file and downloading the points for those with talks and giving it to the Brothers taking the 'school'.

2. Not having to distribute Kingdom Ministries saves 30 minutes a month, and 30-60 minutes for the COBE or FS Overseers to write names on them etc.

3. Electronic Publications save us hours a month if we tap the scriptures. I remember some used to produce a printout of the scriptures for the WT etc.

4. Electronic Publications save us hours in searching for Scriptures, research or references. We used to have 3 parts a year on the Service Meeting where a family would demonstrate how to use the paper publications index. To prepare a public talk would take hours longer and end up in a stack of reference books...

5. Emailing FS Reports and not reporting individual Bible Studies. We used to fill out a number of individual forms each month.

6. Not having WT subscriptions saves hundreds of hours in Bethel, and in the congregation compiling the orders for said.

7. Self Service Literature means we dont having a brother handing out the magazines, and another doing the Literature. I get they still manage the orders etc but This must save hours every month.

8. Not acting out Convention Dramas must save around 2500-4000 congregations worldwide literally hundreds of hours work of practice, set making etc.

9. Having the presentations on video each week takes the place of the Demonstration during the Announcements saving the preparation time.

 

We were going to revisit the topic out in service if we had a chance next week.

 

So...What changes have you noticed have made the truth more efficient or reduced time in the Congregation?

 

 

[Luigi62]

The only one that comes to mind is the 2 one day circuit assemblies. Saves hours in preparing an extra day of talks, demo and interviews.

Edited January 15, 2020 by Luigi62

[New World Explorer]

We use hourglass app to submit our reports.

Previously I had to chase reports a lot ... now brothers use the app and it's working very well.

Time saving for me personally - substantial.

[Brother Brother]

7 minutes ago, New World Explorer said:

We use hourglass app to submit our reports.

Previously I had to chase reports a lot ... now brothers use the app and it's working very well.

Time saving for me personally - substantial.

We use deckhand...They are very efficient and well designed!

[Luigi62]

32 minutes ago, New World Explorer said:

We use hourglass app to submit our reports.

Previously I had to chase reports a lot ... now brothers use the app and it's working very well.

Time saving for me personally - substantial.

I get an email from my group over seaer, then fill out my report online.

Edited January 15, 2020 by Luigi62

[50gumbys]

We use Ministry Assistant and message reports from the app. So much easier!

[carlos]

What a nice topic!

 

Meetings for service used to last 10 to 15 minutes, if not more. Now they last 5-7 minutes including the arrangements and we quickly leave for the territory.

 

Another thing I noticed, although this doesn't affect the congregation. At Bethel, dressing up was required at the dining room. So Bethelites who worked in physical tasks had to leave sooner, go to their room, have a shower and change clothes before going to the dining room. After the meal they had to go back to their room, change clothes again and go to work. Now that etiquette has been relaxed (at least in the Spanish Bethel, I don't know about others) and you can go to the dining room in your work clothes. This saves them a lot of time every day.

[Antz12]

We use hourglass app to submit our reports.
Previously I had to chase reports a lot ... now brothers use the app and it's working very well.
Time saving for me personally - substantial.

We use hourglass too!!
It’s wonderful


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[careful]

when I was a little girl about a million years ago, I would go with my daddy to the hall once in a while while he had jobs to do.   I would stand up on a chair and there was a big board hanging from the wall with all the peoples report numbers on it.  we would reach up and take off the old numbers and then  put the new numbers on it to reflect the updated congregation report.  it was a big job. now I grab my smartphone and text my report to a brother in my hall.

[booboo]

5 hours ago, Antz12 said:

We use hourglass too!!
It’s wonderful

Same here!  A great reporting tool.

[Áine]

We don't have to queue anymore to pick up our magazines at the kingdom hall,  that saves hours of everyones time!

[ijsvogel]

No more coffee, tea and lunch is being served at the circuit assemblies and conventions.... 

[Hope]

8 minutes ago, ijsvogel said:

No more coffee, tea and lunch is being served at the circuit assemblies and conventions.... 

I will never not miss this feature. Yes, I know the reasons why... just made lunch times more enjoyable  🤗

[ijsvogel]

1 minute ago, Hope said:

I will never not miss this feature

Me too. I even do miss the long queues for the coffee 

[daydream]

Quote

No more coffee, tea and lunch is being served at the circuit assemblies and conventions.

In the 70's each congregation/congregations will be assigned duties to cook meals for the attendees at the conventions. Those kind that last more than 3 days. It was really fun preparing the food which was done just outside the convention hall. The talks would be broadcasted to the make shift kitchen. Audio only.  I don't think we benefited much from the talks though, what with the chatter going on while preparing the food. One Indian elder had never cooked rice before and he was wondering how much water to add to the  uncooked rice. He thought the ratio of rice and fluid should be 1:1. Fortunately one experienced sister was able to correct him. It's really hard to cook for a few hundred persons and most of the brothers had no experience in food preparation. There was great camaraderie among the kitchen helpers though.

Thankfully, after a few years, the Society abandoned this method of mass cooking because those in the kitchen did not get the full benefit from the convention programs. Those helping in the kitchen were spiritually starved. But the food was so wonderful.

Edited January 16, 2020 by M'Awan

[Old]

On 1/15/2020 at 1:05 AM, carlos said:

What a nice topic!

 

Meetings for service used to last 10 to 15 minutes, if not more. Now they last 5-7 minutes including the arrangements and we quickly leave for the territory.

 

Another thing I noticed, although this doesn't affect the congregation. At Bethel, dressing up was required at the dining room. So Bethelites who worked in physical tasks had to leave sooner, go to their room, have a shower and change clothes before going to the dining room. After the meal they had to go back to their room, change clothes again and go to work. Now that etiquette has been relaxed (at least in the Spanish Bethel, I don't know about others) and you can go to the dining room in your work clothes. This saves them a lot of time every day.

The need for constuction workers to dress for dining was abandoned during the build program at Patterson, when it was noted how many man hours were lost each day for a noon meal. It made sense for construction workers, so it makes sense for factory workers. 

I am not aware when the relaxation of rules took place in other Branches.

[Lee49]

 

 

 carlos - "Meetings for service used to last 10 to 15 minutes, if not more. Now they last 5-7 minutes including the arrangements and we quickly leave for the territory."

 

We are still much slower here in Middle Tennessee, Ya know, the Slow South! Especially us older ones!

[carlos]

4 minutes ago, Lee49 said:

We are still much slower here in Middle Tennessee, Ya know, the Slow South! Especially us older ones!

We don't always succeed to finish in 7 minutes either. But at least we leave for the territory sooner than we used to.

[Qapla]

Discontinuing live music at meetings, Assemblies and Conventions has saved thousands of hours

 

Streaming of the Assemblies and Convention for those who could not attend has saved time that was previously spent making videos/DVDs and taking them around to those who missed the program

 

Builder Assistant for those helping the LDC -  hours and hours of phone calls, missed phone calls and phone tag are no longer needed to arrange workers for a project.

 

Public talks went from 60 minutes to 45 minutes and now are 30 minutes

 

Merging the "Book Study" into the MWM instead of being held on a separate night has save countless hours

Edited January 17, 2020 by Qapla

[Old]

2 hours ago, Lee49 said:

 

 

 carlos - "Meetings for service used to last 10 to 15 minutes, if not more. Now they last 5-7 minutes including the arrangements and we quickly leave for the territory."

 

We are still much slower here in Middle Tennessee, Ya know, the Slow South! Especially us older ones!

But instructions are instructions.

[Hope]

I will also never not miss the Book Study... 😢  Again - I understand why, but it's a real loss, I think, for many.

[Old]

Just now, Hope said:

I will also never not miss the Book Study... 😢  Again - I understand why, but it's a real loss, I think, for many.

I agree, it provided a family type atmosphere that seems to be lacking in the Service Group arrangement. Many an ecouraging converstaion after the study and in our case once a month was goodie night. The material we were studying was far deeper than what we get now.

There were so many life stories that were shared.

One German brother, Gerhard, was born in Russia, his family had to return to Germany when Hitler called all German nationals home. Gerhard was a member of the NAZI youth (He was in denial on this issue, sayins they were just like the Boy Scouts.) After the war was ended, living in Berlin, his father an engineer was a spied for the west. When his East German employers began to get suspicious,  the Americans brought the whole family to the US that is where he first he came across the Truth. I miss Gerhard.

[Cheeks]

We were reflecting in service this morning how many changes we have witnessed over the last decade. We were on rurals and the HH had a long chat so we had a bit of time to talk.
 
We were saying how many of the changes are amazingly more efficient or have taken away work altogether from our hard working brothers.
 
For instance:
1. Not having individual speech counsel points has meant a brother saves 10-30 minutes a week updating a file and downloading the points for those with talks and giving it to the Brothers taking the 'school'.
2. Not having to distribute Kingdom Ministries saves 30 minutes a month, and 30-60 minutes for the COBE or FS Overseers to write names on them etc.
3. Electronic Publications save us hours a month if we tap the scriptures. I remember some used to produce a printout of the scriptures for the WT etc.
4. Electronic Publications save us hours in searching for Scriptures, research or references. We used to have 3 parts a year on the Service Meeting where a family would demonstrate how to use the paper publications index. To prepare a public talk would take hours longer and end up in a stack of reference books...
5. Emailing FS Reports and not reporting individual Bible Studies. We used to fill out a number of individual forms each month.
6. Not having WT subscriptions saves hundreds of hours in Bethel, and in the congregation compiling the orders for said.
7. Self Service Literature means we dont having a brother handing out the magazines, and another doing the Literature. I get they still manage the orders etc but This must save hours every month.
8. Not acting out Convention Dramas must save around 2500-4000 congregations worldwide literally hundreds of hours work of practice, set making etc.
9. Having the presentations on video each week takes the place of the Demonstration during the Announcements saving the preparation time.
 
We were going to revisit the topic out in service if we had a chance next week.
 
So...What changes have you noticed have made the truth more efficient or reduced time in the Congregation?
 
 

When it came time for District Conventions they served food each day and meal tickets had to be purchased. I was young but I remember how much time my Dad spent having to maintain the list of who paid, ensuring everyone rec’d the amount of tickets they ordered, etc. And there were always a few that forgot to order or some other issue.

Another one: 8 day conventions! My parents have told me experiences of them attending and the programs went from 9am to 9pm! Hot meals were provided each day. I cannot even imagine having to do that today.






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[Tortuga]

22 minutes ago, Cheeks said:

My parents have told me experiences of them attending and the programs went from 9am to 9pm!

Closing prayer was another 30 minutes!

[daydream]

@Cheeks    8 day conventions! 

Wow, what a feast.  Almost like what Isa 25: 6 describes : 

Quote

 

 

 

In this mountain Jehovah of armies will make for all the peoples

A banquet of rich dishes,

A banquet of fine wine,

Of rich dishes filled with marrow,

Of fine, filtered wine.

 

I haven't been to a 8 day assembly. At most, 4 days sessions that stretched into the early evening. No dinner was provided.

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by M'Awan