Service Meetings for June
Week Starting June 2
8 min: Local announcements. Selected Announcements from Our Kingdom Ministry. Comment on March field service report for the country and for the local congregation.
15 min: “Do Your Utmost.” Questions and answers.—See also April 15, 1993, Watchtower, pages 28-30.
22 min: “Knowledge From God Answers Many Questions.” Chairman discusses article with two or three publishers, including a youth. Comment on paragraph 1, stressing why the Knowledge book is so effective in helping us answer questions. Demonstrate a practice session, and suggest improvements after each presentation.
Song 200 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting June 9
10 min: Local announcements. Accounts report.
15 min: Summertime Reminders. Talk and audience discussion. Most of us plan extra activities during summer months, and these may include vacationing, visiting relatives, or enjoying recreation. How can we organize things so that theocratic activities are not neglected? Discuss the following: (1) Attending all three days of the district convention. (2) Maintaining regular attendance at the meetings, whether at home or away. (3) Arranging to have a regular share in the ministry, and if away from home, sending field service reports to the congregation. (4) Taking along a supply of literature for informal witnessing when traveling. (5) Doing more evening witnessing during the longer daylight hours. (6) Enrolling as an auxiliary pioneer for one or more months of the summer. (7) Elders keeping congregation activities well organized and making sure that each one’s assigned duties are cared for when someone is absent.
20 min: Teaching Others—An Urgent Need. Talk by an elder. Review the 1996 worldwide service report on page 33 of the 1997 Yearbook. The intensified effort to witness to people wherever they can be found is bearing fruit. The urgent need now is to follow up placements and teach people the truth. When we contact them in public places, tactfully request their name and address so that a return visit can be made. We need to do more than just plant Kingdom seed; we must also water it. (1 Cor. 3:6-8) When seed is sown in fine soil, good teaching can help the person to get the sense of it. (Matt. 13:23) We ought to share as fully and skillfully as possible in the teaching work. (Heb. 5:12a) Incorporate points from the June 1996 Our Kingdom Ministry insert, paragraphs 25-6. Emphasize endeavoring to start studies in either the Require brochure or the Knowledge book.
Song 204 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting June 16
10 min: Local announcements. Suggest talking points in current magazines.
15 min: Local needs.
20 min: Identifying Your Religion as True or False. An elder leads a discussion with two or three capable publishers, based on the December 22, 1989, Awake!, page 18. Many apparently sincere people are being called on repeatedly. However, they have never accepted a Bible study. Discuss how points in this Awake! article could be used to make them aware of the need to act in harmony with accurate knowledge. Refer to key points in the Knowledge book, chapter 5: “Whose Worship Does God Accept?” Read paragraph 20. Return visits can be made on such individuals to encourage them kindly and tactfully to accept a study and to attend meetings.
Song 201 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting June 23
10 min: Local announcements. Outline special field service arrangements for July 4.
15 min: What Are They Saying About Us? A talk based on the information found in the Watch Tower Publications Index 1986-1995, pages 341-3. Select outstanding “Statements by Others” about Jehovah’s Witnesses—our conduct and our work. Show how others have been favorably impressed by what they see in us. Explain why this should motivate us always to conduct ourselves properly and to persevere in our work. Point out how to use such favorable comments when talking to acquaintances and interested persons who want to know more about us.
20 min: “Parents—Train Your Children to Preach.” Questions and answers. Include the direction in the Our Ministry book, pages 99-100, under the subheading “Helping Young People.”
Song 211 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting June 30
10 min: Local announcements. Remind all to turn in field service reports for June.
20 min: “Youths—What Are Your Spiritual Goals?” Two fathers discuss the article together. They consider how to help their children appreciate why it is essential to set theocratic goals, which will bring spiritual blessings, rather than to pursue materialistic interests.—See also Our Ministry book, pages 116-18.
15 min: Preparing for July Literature Offer. Pick out one or two brochures that have been well received in the local territory, and review some of the outstanding points about each. Suggest ways that these could be incorporated into a presentation. Remind all to mention the donation arrangement, to keep a record of placements, and to return and cultivate the interest.
Song 109 and concluding prayer.