Family comes first for fast-growing Jehovah’s Witnesses

[rbrown1205]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/family-comes-first-for-fast-growing-jehovahs-witnesses/2012/07/03/gJQAhFLOLW_story.html

Family comes first for fast-growing Jehovah’s Witnesses

By Kay Campbell| Religion News Service, Published: July 3

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — When it comes time for family study hour at Chad and Charlotte Tate’s home in Huntsville, Ala., Evan, 18 months, is quick to grab her Bible and climb onto her seat at the table.

As Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Tates believe it’s never too early to help children begin learning the Bible.

“That’s one of the things we really like about Jehovah’s Witnesses,” said Chad Tate, smiling as he watched his son, Tucker, 12, help boost his sister onto the table’s bench. “We worship together and we study together as a family.”

The small size of Kingdom Hall congregations, which are kept to around 100 members, emphasis on witnessing, and lack of paid clergy have helped Jehovah’s Witnesses become one of the fastest growing faiths in the world.

Jehovah’s Witnesses now have more than 1.1 million U.S. members and are one of the country’s fastest-growing denominations, with personal evangelism required of all members.

There are more than 150 worship centers called Kingdom Halls in Alabama, with a combined membership of more than 15,000. And no matter where Witnesses walk into a Kingdom Hall, anywhere in the world, they can know the study will be the same there as at home, since each congregation follows the same study schedule.

“It makes everyone feel close-knit, like a family,” Charlotte Tate said.

[Bro.David Drake DeLaurento]

We're getting good publicity in the past week. Praise Jehovah.....

I can feel the apostates sneering and gnashing their teeth...