Young People Ask . . .

How Can I Get More out of Christian Meetings?

“A SERIOUS decline in attendance shows the church is failing to capture and hold the attention of its young people.” So said Catholic archbishop Emmett Cardinal Carter. Similar reports are heard around the world.

However, the preceding issue of Awake! showed that thousands of youths are finding the meetings at the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses to be different from dull church services. These meetings provide one with a real opportunity to grow spiritually. Nevertheless, simply attending these meetings does not mean one is really benefiting from them.

For example, one young man attending his first meeting at the Kingdom Hall said that while he liked the people he met there, he “did not understand what was taking place on the platform.” And if meetings are new to you, expressions like “Armageddon,” “great crowd,” and “remnant” may indeed sound as puzzling as a foreign language. Why, the Bible itself acknowledges the difference, comparing God’s truths to “a pure language.”​—Zephaniah 3:9.

Puzzling though this “language” may seem at first, do not be discouraged. Says Janet, age 15, who recently began attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall: “First I thought, ‘What are they talking about?’ But gradually I’m getting familiar with the expressions.” Yes, learning any new language is not easy. One foreign-language course says that a person needs “patience, steadiness in study” to master a new tongue. It even recommends “daily practice.” Similarly, to master the pure language of Bible truth, one must naturally go where it is spoken, to Christian meetings!

Nevertheless, regular meeting attendance is just a beginning. For you to get the most out of meetings, we suggest that you follow three simple steps.

Step One: Prepare

Shortly before Jesus’ death, his disciples asked him: “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the passover?” Jesus told them. So, in obedience, “the disciples did as Jesus ordered them, and they got things ready.” (Matthew 26:17-19) While this was a very special meeting, the same pattern is true for weekly meetings at the Kingdom Hall. To get the most out of them, you also have to “prepare” and ‘get things ready.’ How can you do that?

“I’ve set aside fixed times to study the books we use at the meetings,” says 16-year-old Anita. Adds Malene, age 11: “Before meetings, I ask my mother the meaning of hard words that I read in The Watchtower.” This Bible-based journal is studied regularly in congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Anne, age 13, gets help too. “Each Friday, my father studies half of the Watchtower lesson with me,” she explains. “And then on Saturdays, we study the second half.” The result? They come to the meetings equipped with a mental outline. During the meeting, they are able to fill in the details. “That way,” says Anne, “you’re involved and learning comes easy.”​—Compare Proverbs 14:6.

Preparing can include still more. “I practice the songs that we sing at the meeting,” explains Simeon, age 14. “I play cassette recordings of the songs at home and sing along. Sometimes my younger brother joins me. Then, at the meeting,” he adds, “I can sing at the top of my voice.” (Psalm 105:2) Are there other things he ‘gets ready’? “Yes,” continues Simeon. “The day before the meeting, I put my Bible, songbook, and study book in my bag, so that on the next day all I have to do is pick it up.”

Step Two: Participate!

Twelve-year-old Jesus was not one to be passive when it came to God’s worship. The Bible says that at the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus was found ‘listening, asking questions, giving answers.’ (Luke 2:46, 47) Participation is another key to benefiting from meetings. Doing so requires effort, though.

Take listening, for example. “To listen to a talk is often harder than to give one,” observed one writer. For one thing, we are able to think about four times as fast as the average person can speak. The result? Confesses 11-year-old Joseph: “At times during meetings my mind is wandering​—worrying about my schoolwork.” This happens to all of us at times. So use an age-old method to check this mental wanderlust. First-century Christians often brought pieces of pottery along to their meetings. “As they heard the Scriptures read,” explains the publication Aid to Bible Understanding, “they could copy them in ink on the pottery fragments.”

Today, handy notebooks have replaced pottery fragments, but note-taking still works. Anita says: “I write down the scriptures mentioned during a talk; then I can review the talk at home.” Adds Michael, age 16: “I jot down main points. It keeps my mind on track.” Indeed, note-taking helps you to “pay more than the usual attention to the things heard.”​—Hebrews 2:1.

As mentioned earlier, the young Jesus asked and answered questions. Many youths likewise participate at meetings. In the country of Suriname, for example, a recent survey showed that seven out of every ten young people, ages 12 to 20, attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall share in the weekly question-and-answer sessions.

Like Jesus, they try to give answers that show understanding. They do not merely read answers from the textbooks used but put them in their own words. Some write their answers in a notebook and read the rephrased answer during the meeting. After some practice, they skip the notebook and, to the joy of all present, speak right from the heart. Explains Anil, age 13: “This way others get more out of it, and so do I.”​—Proverbs 15:28.

True, you may feel as did young Anita, who said: “I was afraid to speak up.” But soon you will agree with Michael, who now says: “I love giving answers!” Proverbs 15:23 notes: “A man has rejoicing in the answer of his mouth.”

Step Three: Use What You Learn

The final step is to make sure that what you learn is “at work in you.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13) This means using what you learn. Tammy, a young girl in the United States, explains: “Since I have been going to meetings, I have changed a lot.”

Your classmates may notice this change and begin to ask you about it. This gives you an opportunity to share with them the education you receive at the meetings. Now this takes courage, but it is rewarding. Says Susan, a girl from Canada: “I really enjoy witnessing to my friends at school.” (Proverbs 3:27) Yes, using what you learn at meetings will add to your joy of learning.

One final word of advice: Practice these three steps regularly. Prepare for meetings. Participate. And then use what you learn. If you do, you will enjoy the meetings at the Kingdom Hall to the full. By all means, make meeting attendance your “custom,” as it was Jesus’ custom.​—Luke 4:16.

[Box on page 11]

Schoolwork and Meetings?

“Often I come home loaded down with schoolwork. Then it is tempting to say, ‘I will skip my meeting to do my schoolwork,’” says Anita. At times you may face the same temptation. How, though, are other young Christians handling this?

“I do some of my schoolwork before the meetings and the rest after I come home,” says Wanita. “On those nights,” she adds, “I go to bed later than normal, but I’ve put the meeting first!” (Matthew 6:33) Adds Simeon: “I love to chat after meetings and stay till the last. But when I have schoolwork, I leave right away to do my work.”

‘But will not attending meetings affect my school record?’ you may ask. Yes, but not negatively. In fact, one teacher in Scotland noted that the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses “do well in school . . . because, from an early age, they are taught how to sit and listen and how to apply what they learn.”

[Pictures on page 12, 13]

The key to your enjoying meetings is to prepare and participate, as well as practice what you learn