What Are the Jehovah's Witnesses Like?

“As faith grows in your heart, you will find it hard to keep what you have learned to yourself.” –A Jehovah’s Witnesses publication

What is Easter with the Jehovah’s Witnesses like? I wouldn’t know, because it’s not open to the public.

I had been looking forward to going to a Jehovah’s Witnesses’ service for a long time, but had been unable to figure out how. They are the only denomination that doesn’t post their worship times outside their churches (they call the buildings Kingdom Halls). They also do not post their worship times on their websites. I got handed a brochure once in the supermarket parking lot, and it also lacked any specific information about when or how to join them for a service. Frustrated and perplexed, I put them on hold, waiting for them to come to my door. Which they did, last week.

I did not have the courage to invite them in and tell them I am an unbeliever who is interested in a theological debate. Perhaps next time. But I did accept their “invitation” to join them for a “memorial of Jesus’s death.” It was held on what other Christians call Palm Sunday, one week before Easter.

Another blog entry will follow about the theology of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Today’s is dedicated to the closed-door nature of their organization. It’s ironic that for a group so famous for their evangelism, they are so difficult to visit. I showed up at the worship service indicated on my “invitation.” Dressed in my only suit, I entered a small building packed with perhaps 100 people. A few people greeted me, but mostly I went in uninterrupted. It looked like most of the seats had been reserved with coats and Bibles and things, so I looked a bit confused trying to find a place to sit. A young man about my age asked me if I was visiting and said I could sit next to him. Thanking him, I asked if there was a program or bulletin. Nope, only a songbook. Every other church I’ve been to has a bulletin which announces weekly events, names of church leaders, etc. Many have specific information just for visitors. The service had none of that information either. There were no announcements about the weekly youth group meeting, the Bible study session or mid-week prayer time. It was just a welcoming, the sermon (more on that later), contemplation of the bread and wine, a word for the visitors, and that’s it.

It all started to come together for me when the man next to me asked me what religion I was when I told him I was visiting. I said not really anything. He said, “Just, sort of Christian?” and I said, “No, not really anything. I just decided to come out of curiosity when the people came to my door.” He said, “That’s fine, this service is open to the public.”

Open to the public? What an odd thing to say. It implies that some meetings are not open to the public. My suspicions were reinforced when they had a “special announcement” towards the end for visitors. The speaker said that any visitors were invited back to another service in two weeks’ time to explore Biblical teachings. Two weeks? That means that on Easter, no visitors were allowed. How odd is it that a religious group would have some services open to the public and others only for those in the fold? Certainly it’s their right, but it’s strange, especially for a group so dedicated to attracting converts.

Their means of getting those converts is often referred to or mocked in the media. There’s a Seinfeld episode (“The Opposite”) in which Elaine gets kicked out of her apartment, and one of the reasons is that she buzzed Jehovah’s Witnesses into the building and it took hours to get them out. The door-to-door method seems intrusive, out-of-date, and ineffective. Yet, they persist with it. They must get 100 people who ignore or reject them for every one idiot like me who shows up. But their method relies on face time, which can be powerful. Their bread and butter is the individual Bible study session. I had 3 separate people offer to join me for a Bible study session between my chair and the door as I was leaving. Once you’ve expressed some interest, it seems they press you with a personal but very regimented system of teaching to draw you in. It must work, because they claim somewhere between 7 million and 18 million believers. Their official website, www.watchtower.org, has a prominent link on the homepage for an individual study session. More on the watchtower later as well.

Here’s another strange thing: the 3 people who offered to study the Bible with me were all young white men in their 20s or 30s. This was in a congregation comprised of all ages and colors. It was as though I were targeted by certain members because of my demographics. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I got the strong sense that there is heavy training involved in how to evangelize, because all 3 people said nearly the same thing, and matching demographics struck me as one of the tactics.

Upon leaving the service, I was, as always, full of mixed feelings. The people all seemed nice and normal, like any other churchgoing people I’ve encountered. I had no reason to criticize them any more than I’d criticize any set of believers. I didn’t want to come into this week with a prejudice, that I had to find something to mock in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. But I cannot get around the uncomfortable feeling of secrecy and cultishness that I left with. I’m sure their kindness and openness is genuine in their eyes. But it is in part false. It must be false if it is shaped by a centralized system, which indoctrinates and controls the thought of its members even more strongly than most other religious organizations. A more detailed blog entry about the content of the service and their beliefs will follow soon…