Meeting Schedule Adjustments

Beginning with the month of March, the length of public talks in the congregation will be reduced to 45 minutes. This will include the public talks given by circuit overseers when they visit congregations. This adjustment means that the total time for both the public meeting and the Watchtower study of the congregation each week will be two hours, including the songs and prayers. This will allow for a Watchtower study of about one hour.

When the circuit overseer visits he will give a 45-minute public talk, followed by a one-half hour Watchtower study without paragraphs being read, and then he will give his concluding talk. The entire meeting, including the songs and prayers, can be handled in a total of two hours.

Public speakers can continue to use their prepared outlines but will have in mind adjusting their public talks by reducing the amount of material they cover in the future so as to complete their talks in 45 minutes. Occasionally there may be a special public talk that will be 55 minutes or longer in length, which means the overall meeting time will run over two hours.

This arrangement for the regular public talk and Watchtower study, including songs and prayers, to be covered in two hours, will be similar to the service meeting and Theocratic School, which are held for two hours, including songs and prayers.