Time Saving Changes Over the Last 10 Years

[Brother Brother]

8 hours ago, Qapla said:

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

Great observations! Well done 

[50gumbys]

I remember attending a convention in Montreal (early 80's I think). 

This was a first for me.

I was blown away by the fact that people were served lunch quickly and no one complained.

There were around 70,000 pople there. 

I am so happy I have that memory to revisit any time.

 

I personally appreciate these old provisions.

[Ms. Piffle]

16 hours ago, 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.

So Agree. I miss the Book Study but like you,  understand the why.  This arrangement made it easier for some new ones to first comment at the meetings also.  

[carlos]

1 hour ago, Bubbles said:

So Agree. I miss the Book Study but like you,  understand the why.  This arrangement made it easier for some new ones to first comment at the meetings also.  

I have very fond memories from the Book Study. But when it was merged with the midweek meeting, what a relief that was for us. At the time we didn't have a car so we spent an hour and a half in public transportation to get to the study, then an hour and a half back. Three hours of travel for one hour of meeting.

[Good-O]

@Brother Brother

1. Not having individual speech counsel ...........

 

...wish I had kept one of my old ones that turned almost yellow with age.  I really like the new changes.  I often tell others, esp new ones, that if a sister went overtime on your demo you got 'dinged' off the stage. LOL....I got dinged off many times.  When a new sister heard that ding the first time she was shocked!  I can still see her face and expression. Wish she was still coming to the KH - she'd enjoy the new changes.  

 

So who misses the Written Review?  In the 50s a few of us teenage sisters used to help the MSO 'grade' the papers.  Then those changes....the KH got real 'empty' on written review night lots of times.  

 

And, on those 8 day conventions it would always rain about 4 pm so my sister and I, with the 4 little ones, would automatically whip out the umbrellas.  Our two husbands always managed to be out of the seats for the rain.  Wonder how they knew to leave....LOL.. 

 

What nice memories to remember.  

 

 

[Brother Brother]

54 minutes ago, carlos said:

I have very fond memories from the Book Study. But when it was merged with the midweek meeting, what a relief that was for us. At the time we didn't have a car so we spent an hour and a half in public transportation to get to the study, then an hour and a half back. Three hours of travel for one hour of meeting.

That's an amazing effort...

Was that the closest CBS? That's a stella effort!

We used to live in the inner city and would sometimes pick up 3 or 4 carloads of people for both meetings.

Also, dont forget, that a night before the CBS we used to spend preparing for the CBS.

This included looking up all the scriptures in a paper bible (a codex!) writing them in the margin, doing research using the WT Index, (another codex) and WT and G volumes...

And on coffee night, as enjoyable as it was, it was another hour or two added to the evening out.

What I miss is the great training ground for readers, commenting, MSs learning to teach and conduct a Q&A discussion, and an informal setting for interested ones to come for the first time.

It was a great thing, but the chariot moves on...

All the changes show Jehovah's Organisation is progressive, not stuck in traditions and truly cares for his people.

 

[Qapla]

I hadn't really noticed that the title of this thread specified "the last 10 years" ... I think some of the things I listed were more than 10 years ago  

[carlos]

2 hours ago, Brother Brother said:

Was that the closest CBS? That's a stella effort!

No, there were closer congregations, but that was the only Romanian congregation in the city. We are in the foreign language field.

It's true that it was a big effort but Jehovah always found ways to outgive us.

We are still in that congregation but now by car it's only a half hour drive.

[Brother Brother]

23 minutes ago, Qapla said:

I hadn't really noticed that the title of this thread specified "the last 10 years" ... I think some of the things I listed were more than 10 years ago  

That was just an arbitrary timeframe that we felt was when the changes really started accelerating...since the website got into full swing and really since April 27, 2008.

 

It was groundbreaking that every congregation got a letter from the Governing Body that week.

 

It felt very similar to the First Century when the letters were straight from the Governing Body.

 

So I guess it's really 12 years that the chariot really accelerated with the adjustments.

 

It's been the most wonderful time to be in the truth...

20 minutes ago, carlos said:

No, there were closer congregations, but that was the only Romanian congregation in the city. We are in the foreign language field.

It's true that it was a big effort but Jehovah always found ways to outgive us.

We are still in that congregation but now by car it's only a half hour drive.

Still it's an amazing record of faith...well done

[Luigi62]

5 hours ago, carlos said:

 Three hours of travel for one hour of meeting.

That's one reasons why they merged the CBS with the rest of the meeting.

[Old]

4 hours ago, Luigi62 said:

That's one reasons why they merged the CBS with the rest of the meeting.

I missed that, did you read it somewhere?

[ChocoBro]

Ok what this thread proves is there are no more excuses. Daily Bible reading is a must. Duly noted.

[Luigi62]

21 hours ago, Old said:

I missed that, did you read it somewhere?

Mentioned in these 2 morning worships

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtMorningWorship/pub-jwbmw_201608_1_VIDEO

 

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtMorningWorship/pub-jwbmw_201608_2_VIDEO

[daydream]

On 1/18/2020 at 8:12 AM, Qapla said:

I hadn't really noticed that the title of this thread specified "the last 10 years" ... I think some of the things I listed were more than 10 years ago  

I too missed the time frame specified by OP. Perhaps we need to start a new thread for things that are longer than 10 years. It would be interesting to read some of the stuff the old timers among us, might want to share with those who are 'new' in the truth. 

Loved this topic.

[Qapla]

29 minutes ago, M'Awan said:

Perhaps we need to start a new thread

 

How about a new thread for "Thread Titles Misread ..."

Edited January 19, 2020 by Qapla

[Old]

 

2 hours ago, Qapla said:

 

How about a new thread for "Thread Titles Misread ..."

Or maybe one entitled "I never read the rest of this thread but I think..."

[Brother Brother]

3 hours ago, M'Awan said:

I too missed the time frame specified by OP. Perhaps we need to start a new thread for things that are longer than 10 years. It would be interesting to read some of the stuff the old timers among us, might want to share with those who are 'new' in the truth. 

Loved this topic.

The OP just wanted to say that the timeframe was just arbitrary. It's basically since the renaissance of the truth...in the last 10-15 or so years...

To be fair the chariot has changed the modality of the truth every 15-20 years, or so.

So, I can't really go back but let's say (very roughly)-

 

1950s-60s (not really sure) - Let God Be True x2

1960-70s - Truth Book

1980s - Live Forever and Subscriptions etc

1990-00s - Knowledge Book and Look Brochure

2005-2015 What Does the Bible Really Teach

2015-Now Simplified Bible Teach, Good News, Then Conversations Initiative.

 

Looking at the above, The Live Forever Book often took 2 years to complete with some students, and then with the Russian and EE/Polish initiatives in the 1990s it went to 6 months, your time starts now.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by Brother Brother

[Brother Brother]

3 hours ago, Luigi62 said:

Mentioned in these 2 morning worships

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtMorningWorship/pub-jwbmw_201608_1_VIDEO

 

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtMorningWorship/pub-jwbmw_201608_2_VIDEO

Well done, thanks for the heads up

[Vido]

On 1/13/2020 at 8:14 AM, Brother Brother said:

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?

Truly love this topic....gives real context to the changes that had been taking place right before our eyes:

[Darren G]

Think of how much time, money and petrol( good for the environment😉) would be saved if we had the assemblies and conventions streamed to our kingdom halls 😇

 

Im a little biased as we used to have to travel only 9 miles to our circuit assembly but now its 130 miles.....and 130 back 😪 

 

We get up at 5am to get ready for the day ahead so i end up feeling very tired most of the day and its hard to pay attention especially after lunch !

 

Ours got changed because we were spending around £5000 hiring a worldy hall so when we used our nearest Assembly hall thinking it saved loads of money we were all left aghast when the accounts person told us costs incurred with our assembly was £8000 😲

 

Im sure theres a good explanation but the costs never get explained which i think might be helpful so the brothers dont wonder why it seems to be more expensive using a hall we own than using a much nearer worldly hall ?

Edited January 20, 2020 by Darren G

[Darren G]

On 1/17/2020 at 4:27 AM, Bro Richard said:

Closing prayer was another 30 minutes!

We had a brother giving the public talk and his closing prayer was so long as we opened our eyes after the prayer a brother said "it was kind of him to give us 2 public talks" 😂

 

Now that i have 2 dodgy knees i pray to Jehovah that the closing speaker at conventions manages to complete it under 2 minutes instead of thanking everyone and his dog  😉

[Loopy]

25 minutes ago, Darren G said:

Now that i have 2 dodgy knees i pray to Jehovah that the closing speaker at conventions manages to complete it under 2 minutes instead of thanking everyone and his dog  😉

 

😁 Or not give a 3 day convention review during prayer.😁 

 

My knees could never “stand” for that. 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

 

😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉

[Thesauron]

Translation work is now quicker since the brothers have started to work in teams of three.