Remember when?

[Peak Pelka]

Remember a while ago when the CO visited a Congregation among the things that made the week special is that we would have three Congregation meetings with him.

 

He gave the first Service Talk on Tuesday,  Second Service Talk on Thursday and a third & final Service Talk on Sunday in addition  to the Public Talk.

 

He prepared us for the second Service Talk by telling us the reference to be used for the first 10 minutes, or so, of his presentation. Then come Thursday, he would conduct  a question and answer discussion basing on those references. A sort of "Test Your Memory". I was still young but it was fun but it was educative indeed. 

 

I always looked forward to it. It was one of the highlight for the special week for me. I remember I would trouble dad to make sure he helped  me find the main points from the references given.

[Eejay]

34 minutes ago, Peak Pelka said:

Remember a while ago when the CO visited a Congregation

"New Things Learned"

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

A few of our CO's liked to engage the younger ones. They were encouraged to draw a picture and after the Sunday WT he would either get them all up on the platform, or one by one he held up the pics. They liked forward to his visit!

Old (Downunder) Tone

[GoldAussieGirl]

On 7/17/2020 at 2:02 AM, Luisabola said:

So many lovely memories, I was born 87 though so don’t know most of them. Some more recent ones I remember are...

 

The brown (?) meal tokens for lunch at the assemblies? I used to have some as a memento, but I think they’re up in the loft.

 

The bible story book on cassette, me and my sister used to listen to them, and the dramas, at night time before bed.

 

Someone actually playing the piano in the Kingdom Hall for the songs. 
 

Sitting on the steps at Norwich football ground before seats were put in for the convention. We brought lots of blankets!

 

I suppose this may not be for everyone but when I was 13ish we were part of the Italian congregation and because they wasn’t enough brothers, us sisters used to read the paragraphs for the book study and do the roving mics! 
 

I remember the written review very vaguely, but I definitely remember the oral review. I wonder when it changed?
 

The Awake magazine having wordsearches in it to fill up the pages!!

The songs where sometimes it had brackets and you didn’t technically have to sing that part but inevitably there’d be that one brother or sister who would belt it out. (Forward go.... YES GO! fearlessly go....FEARLESSLY GO!!)

 

Oh so many more, nice nostalgic memories.

I remember the tickets, exchanged for money so we werent handling cash at the assemblies / conventions. 
 

I was born in 81 so was only young but I have some fond memories of these and helping prepare food during the program and serve it during breaks 
 

We used to even get hot meals served up on a tray at our assembly hall and then all eat in the dining room too.
 

Such wonderful memories growing up. So grateful to have been raised in the truth 🥰

[dove]

On 7/27/2020 at 4:11 AM, New World Explorer said:

 

 

 

On 7/27/2020 at 12:03 PM, jwhess said:

 

 

 

 

 

On 7/27/2020 at 6:33 AM, Maʹher-shalʹal-hash-baz said:

 

 

On 7/27/2020 at 6:33 AM, Maʹher-shalʹal-hash-baz said:

 

 

Crossword puzzles in the Awake magazine..

Edited July 30, 2020 by Dove

[dove]

33 minutes ago, Dove said:

 

 

 

 

Crossword puzzles in the Awake magazine..

I don't know why those other posts are there but I couldn't delete them..

[jwhess]

19 minutes ago, Dove said:

I don't know why those other posts are there but I couldn't delete them..

It is always nice to be noticed...🙂

[dove]

9 minutes ago, jwhess said:

It is always nice to be noticed...🙂

Yes, honorable mention...😊

[Peak Pelka]

Once the CO had a final say on Baptism candidates as to whether they qualify or not. That happened after the congregation did their part where the three elders would review the three parts then and actually informed the candidate that he qualified.

 

I remember during my baptism the CO conducted that Interview on the Saturday of the Baptism. We spent the the whole morning. The last candidate was interviewed when it was almost time for public declaration. 

 

We were 73 candidates and all 73 of us had to  meet the CO individually. 

 

I missed the morning program with the anxiety of failing fhe review and being disqualified.  Thankfully I made it and I also heard the recorded program by my  brother

[Old]

10 minutes ago, Peak Pelka said:

Once the CO had a final say on Baptism candidates as to whether they qualify or not. That happened after the congregation did their part where the three elders would review the three parts then and actually informed the candidate that he qualified.

 

I remember during my baptism the CO conducted that Interview on the Saturday of the Baptism. We spent the the whole morning. The last candidate was interviewed when it was almost time for public declaration. 

 

We were 73 candidates and all 73 of us had to  meet the CO individually. 

 

I missed the morning program with the anxiety of failing fhe review and being disqualified.  Thankfully I made it and I also heard the recorded program by my  brother

I believe that might have been a local or regional situation. I have not seen that sort of approval required in the US Branch territory. Has any forum member had a similar experience?

[AH173]

31 minutes ago, Peak Pelka said:

Once the CO had a final say on Baptism candidates as to whether they qualify or not. That happened after the congregation did their part where the three elders would review the three parts then and actually informed the candidate that he qualified.

 

I remember during my baptism the CO conducted that Interview on the Saturday of the Baptism. We spent the the whole morning. The last candidate was interviewed when it was almost time for public declaration. 

 

We were 73 candidates and all 73 of us had to  meet the CO individually. 

 

I missed the morning program with the anxiety of failing fhe review and being disqualified.  Thankfully I made it and I also heard the recorded program by my  brother

Nice to know of your experience from I guess Lusaka, Zambia.

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

Yes, honorable mention...

Twice...

Old (Downunder) Tone

[EccentricM]

I remember when you were not allowed to talk or make noise during baptism here, utter silence was required as it was seen as a sacred moment. Only after the baptisms were done could we eat lunch and talk.

 

A few years ago, not too many years, they made an announcment at our assembly to say people can eat and speak during baptisms, and even go to take pictures as it was happening. A lot of people took to it immediatly, but my mom and sister didn't they felt really guilty and refused to talk or eat for a while, lol. My mom was actually offended by it and she saw it as making light of the occasion.

Edited July 30, 2020 by EccentricM

[EccentricM]

@Mclove @Qapla Are you shocked in that we had to stay silent or that we speak freely now? I honestly can't tell because it's all I've known since childhood, so I don't know if it's a norm in other places. 😄

[Qapla]

That was never the case where I live - I can't speak for the rest of the US ... but, I don't think being silent was the norm because - we had admonition from the platform that baptisms are not "sporting events" and should not have "whistling, shouting, fist pumping, etc." when someone we know gets dunked ... and none of those things had been common at our baptisms but they evidently were happening somewhere or the Branch would not have included that in the announcements. Haven't heard anything like that announcement in quite a number of years.

[EccentricM]

5 minutes ago, Qapla said:

That was never the case where I live - I can't speak for the rest of the US ... but, I don't think being silent was the norm because - we had admonition from the platform that baptisms are not "sporting events" and should not have "whistling, shouting, fist pumping, etc." when someone we know gets dunked ... and none of those things had been common at our baptisms but they evidently were happening somewhere or the Branch would not have included that in the announcements. Haven't heard anything like that announcement in quite a number of years.

I see. My baptism was one of our final old school silent baptisms. I may have even been "the" last to experience such a thing here, that was 2012. I think the change may have come about in 2014-2015 time where walking about, eating and going up to the pool during baptism was declared all go.

Edited July 31, 2020 by EccentricM

[AH173]

44 minutes ago, Qapla said:

That was never the case where I live - I can't speak for the rest of the US ... but, I don't think being silent was the norm because - we had admonition from the platform that baptisms are not "sporting events" and should not have "whistling, shouting, fist pumping, etc." when someone we know gets dunked ... and none of those things had been common at our baptisms but they evidently were happening somewhere or the Branch would not have included that in the announcements. Haven't heard anything like that announcement in quite a number of years.

Agreed. After ones got baptised, we just clapped and ate. For northeast Ohio area. 

[Qapla]

That reminds me of another thing I can remember ... well, I can remember the admonition, direction and counsel but not the actual behaviour that caused the counsel.

 

We got direction about "large social gatherings" and people here took that to mean we couldn't have Congregation get-togethers anymore. Many looked at it as having 20-30 people was a "large gathering" and we "can't do that anymore".

 

Then, while working on a Hall, I met a brother from a "large, major" US city. The subject of not having gatherings came up and he told me, pertaining to our gatherings, "Oh, those are not large gatherings ... let me tell you what that counsel was about" - and he proceeded to tell me what had been happening where he was from and in some of the other really large cities.

• There were "social gatherings" with 3,000 to 5,000 people
• They rented meeting halls large enough to have that many people at great expense
• They would have two, three or more paid worldly bands playing music
• There was no control over who was there since the crowd was so large
• Alcohol was not monitored and underage drinking was common

Needless to say, I was aghast - I had never even dreamed that JW's would hold a gathering the size oc a summer convention ... he assured me it had happened. He had been used to help "break them up" and had been on numerous judicial hearings due to these gatherings.

 

So, just like I had never heard of gatherings like this - I had also never heard of people cheering like a sporting event at baptisms - but, just like with the gatherings, if it wasn't happening somewhere - the Branch would not have given the admonition, direction and counsel.

 

So, even though a baptism is a happy event and, at the same time, a dignified event - from what @EccentricM described and what we were told ... we need to make sure we do not go from one extreme to the other

 

 

 

Now - as to another remembrance - do you remember using the records to play the music at the meetings? They were before tapes and CD's

 

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Qapla

[Peak Pelka]

12 hours ago, Old said:

I believe that might have been a local or regional situation. I have not seen that sort of approval required in the US Branch territory. Has any forum member had a similar experience?

Its also interesting to note that it was a local arrangement. That was happening in 1993 and ended somewhere 1995.

 

The idea of keeping silent during Baptisms has not been experienced here. What I have noticed has been that in the past we never held baptisms at the convention site we would always travel to some river or pool.

 

During Baptisms there was a group of other publishers who would follow at random but these would sing while Baptism is performed. Now that we do Baptisms on site we just applaud

[jwhess]

Do you remember Guy Pierce's "twist"?

 

Many of us remember Guy Pierce of the Governing Body.  He died in March 2014.  During the 2013 Annual Meeting (when our new bible was released), he was the chairman.  Everybody was trying to open the new Bible but the edges were "gilded" (really "silvered"?).  So the pages stuck together.  He came to the platform and explained that if you held the Bible in both hands and then twisted it first one way and then back again it would release the pages.

 

Brother Lett was the next speaker and he told the audience that he was not going to tell them to "twist the scriptures" like Br. Pierce.

 

Guy Pierce came from a Mormon family and they disliked him a lot.  He went home once and one of the family said, "Here is the black sheep of the family."  Guy said, "You got the animal right, I don't care about the color."...❤️

[jwhess]

42 minutes ago, jwhess said:

Do you remember Guy Pierce's "twist"?

 

Many of us remember Guy Pierce of the Governing Body.  He died in March 2014.  During the 2013 Annual Meeting (when our new bible was released), he was the chairman.  Everybody was trying to open the new Bible but the edges were "gilded" (really "silvered"?).  So the pages stuck together.  He came to the platform and explained that if you held the Bible in both hands and then twisted it first one way and then back again it would release the pages.

 

Brother Lett was the next speaker and he told the audience that he was not going to tell them to "twist the scriptures" like Br. Pierce.

 

Guy Pierce came from a Mormon family and they disliked him a lot.  He went home once and one of the family said, "Here is the black sheep of the family."  Guy said, "You got the animal right, I don't care about the color."...❤️

Sorry, I was interrupted and I forgot the pictures.

[AH173]

1 hour ago, jwhess said:

Do you remember Guy Pierce's "twist"?

 

Many of us remember Guy Pierce of the Governing Body. 

 So the pages stuck together.  He came to the platform and explained that if you held the Bible in both hands and then twisted it first one way and then back again it would release the pages

Just don't use this for a tablet! 

Please let there be no tablet Twisting. 

 

[My little flower]

TEN years ago: We had one version of The Watchtower for both the public and the congregation. 32 pages, it came out twice a month. Awake! had 32 pages, of general interest to both Witnesses and the public. We had 5 meetings a week, one of which was often in a private home. The Service Meeting always began with announcements about meetings for service and cleaning the Hall. Local Needs parts were almost always strong counsel about something some in the congregation were doing wrong. We had a 2-day circuit assembly and a 1-day special assembly day each year. No jw.org. (It existed, but it wasn’t designed to be seen by the public.) 10 years ago, for the first time, we invited all to the Memorial. For the first time, we had a special campaign to invite all to the summer convention. For the first time in decades we had a special campaign to quickly distribute a Kingdom News tract to all in the territory. No 30-hour arrangement for auxiliary pioneering. Most correspondence with the Society was done on printed forms. No SKE (School for Kingdom Evangelizers) FIVE years ago: Watchtower Library CD was only available to baptized publishers. No Watchtower Online Library. No JW Library. No videos at the hall. Only sisters had householders in the Theocratic Ministry School. Their ‘realistic’ return visit settings often addressed subjects such as, ‘What can we learn from Habakkuk?’ No specific Public Witnessing program. No video downloads. (Videos had to be ordered on DVD via the literature counter.) Few of us had tablets, and they were not permitted on the platform. No videos in the ministry. No Caleb and Sophia. No Remote Translation Offices. We carried a booklet with multiple languages printed in it. No JW Language. Various RBCs around the U.S. operated independently, building kingdom halls with locally provided funds. Little emphasis was placed on local maintenance of kingdom halls. ("Armageddon's coming, we don't need to build the Taj Mahal," was the attitude.) No JW Broadcasting. Few of us got to see morning worship comments from Bethel, Annual Meetings, or Gilead Graduations. What will it be like five years from now?

 

Source:

Bro Bill Underwood

Written three years ago.

[Old]

15 hours ago, Qapla said:

That reminds me of another thing I can remember ... well, I can remember the admonition, direction and counsel but not the actual behaviour that caused the counsel.

 

We got direction about "large social gatherings" and people here took that to mean we couldn't have Congregation get-togethers anymore. Many looked at it as having 20-30 people was a "large gathering" and we "can't do that anymore".

 

Then, while working on a Hall, I met a brother from a "large, major" US city. The subject of not having gatherings came up and he told me, pertaining to our gatherings, "Oh, those are not large gatherings ... let me tell you what that counsel was about" - and he proceeded to tell me what had been happening where he was from and in some of the other really large cities.

• There were "social gatherings" with 3,000 to 5,000 people
• They rented meeting halls large enough to have that many people at great expense
• They would have two, three or more paid worldly bands playing music
• There was no control over who was there since the crowd was so large
• Alcohol was not monitored and underage drinking was common

Needless to say, I was aghast - I had never even dreamed that JW's would hold a gathering the size oc a summer convention ... he assured me it had happened. He had been used to help "break them up" and had been on numerous judicial hearings due to these gatherings.

 

...

 

 

I remember that time well. We had a congregation servant that made an announcement from the service meeting platform that he had heard of large anniverary partythat had gotten out of hand and no Christian should attend such a large gathering. The reality was that the celebration was by written invitation only. Only about twenty older families in the congregation received invitations. The party was sponsored by the daughter who was studying, the brother and sister-in-law of the Witness family in whose honor it was given. It was held in a small rural Grange Hall.

After that announcement  NOBODY CAME. 😥

 

My wife and I had moved some 300 miles from that congregation before this development, not in a small part because of the authoritarion attitude of this paricular congregation servant. We had acknowledged the invitation, they were among our favorite friends, we were on our way in a borrowed pickup truck, (we were still in the process of moving.) A blew a tire about an hour short of our goal. Way out in the boonies with a flat spare and no jack, it took a couple of to get back on the road again, by this time noticably late. When we came to the the party location, the parking lot was virtually empty and I being filthy from the tire change insisted we just move on.  My wife wanted to stop. I was still mad over my father-in-law's junky pickup, I insisted we just drive on, (how is that for an authitorian attitude.)

I have never been more disgusted with myself than when we got to my parents house and heard the congregation as a whole did not attend because of the CS's announcement. I was there and didn't attend because I was short of temper and  my hands were dirty. 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Old

[Peak Pelka]

2 hours ago, My little flower said:

TEN years ago: We had one version of The Watchtower for both the public and the congregation. 32 pages, it came out twice a month. Awake! had 32 pages, of general interest to both Witnesses and the public. We had 5 meetings a week, one of which was often in a private home. The Service Meeting always began with announcements about meetings for service and cleaning the Hall. Local Needs parts were almost always strong counsel about something some in the congregation were doing wrong. We had a 2-day circuit assembly and a 1-day special assembly day each year. No jw.org. (It existed, but it wasn’t designed to be seen by the public.) 10 years ago, for the first time, we invited all to the Memorial. For the first time, we had a special campaign to invite all to the summer convention. For the first time in decades we had a special campaign to quickly distribute a Kingdom News tract to all in the territory. No 30-hour arrangement for auxiliary pioneering. Most correspondence with the Society was done on printed forms. No SKE (School for Kingdom Evangelizers) FIVE years ago: Watchtower Library CD was only available to baptized publishers. No Watchtower Online Library. No JW Library. No videos at the hall. Only sisters had householders in the Theocratic Ministry School. Their ‘realistic’ return visit settings often addressed subjects such as, ‘What can we learn from Habakkuk?’ No specific Public Witnessing program. No video downloads. (Videos had to be ordered on DVD via the literature counter.) Few of us had tablets, and they were not permitted on the platform. No videos in the ministry. No Caleb and Sophia. No Remote Translation Offices. We carried a booklet with multiple languages printed in it. No JW Language. Various RBCs around the U.S. operated independently, building kingdom halls with locally provided funds. Little emphasis was placed on local maintenance of kingdom halls. ("Armageddon's coming, we don't need to build the Taj Mahal," was the attitude.) No JW Broadcasting. Few of us got to see morning worship comments from Bethel, Annual Meetings, or Gilead Graduations. What will it be like five years from now?

 

Source:

Bro Bill Underwood

Written three years ago.

We can only expect so much since simplicity is the norm. 

 

Some six months ago no zoom meetings.