Why Tracts Are So Valuable in Our Ministry Today
1 In the January 1, 1991, issue of The Watchtower, page 30, there was an experience entitled “He Found a Tract on the Track.” It told of a railroad maintenance supervisor who found one of our tracts wedged under a rail. He read the tract immediately and then told his son-in-law: “Today I have found the truth!” Both men ordered more literature and studied it. Now, over a hundred of their descendants are active in the truth. This shows what can result from reading just one tract.
2 Making Use of Opportunities: The brothers everywhere are making use of opportunities to place tracts. One Witness youth noted that her schoolteacher was feeling sad because of the death of her mother-in-law. The young sister wrote her teacher a comforting letter and enclosed the tract What Hope for Dead Loved Ones? The teacher wrote a thank-you note and then spoke with our young sister. Now this teacher regularly accepts the magazines from her.
3 Some publishers who were witnessing on a street that led to a cemetery saw people whitewashing graves. The publishers used the opportunity to offer them tracts. The next day was a holiday on which many people visit the cemetery, so the publishers decided to stand at the entrance of the cemetery and offer tracts. Over five hundred tracts were placed, with only three persons refusing them. The next year, publishers returned and distributed more than a thousand tracts, with only six refusals. A number of individuals expressed deep appreciation. One man read the tract as he was leaving, and shortly he returned to speak with the sister who had given it to him. He said: “There is someone I would like to have read this message. May I have another one?”
4 Tracts are a handy size and easy to carry with us wherever we go. When having informal conversations with others, whether strangers or acquaintances, we should strive to make a brief statement that could lead into discussing one of the eight tracts that we now have available. This could be done while talking with neighbors, while shopping or waiting for an appointment, while visiting relatives, or in many other situations.
5 Why Effective: The tracts are appealingly colorful. They are brief. Householders and those we meet in informal situations are not overwhelmed, feeling obligated to do extensive reading. Yet, the message is absorbing and informative. The reader gets a solid Scriptural view of the issue addressed in the tract. After receiving the tract Life in a Peaceful New World and having it reviewed with him, one young man exclaimed: “Never have I heard such encouraging information about the world’s situation!”
6 We want to use these tracts on every appropriate occasion. Many publishers have found them helpful in getting conversations started in house-to-house work. Numerous studies now being conducted were started with a tract. On page 4 of this issue of Our Kingdom Ministry, there are some practical suggestions on how to use tracts effectively. Yes, tracts are small but valuable tools for our ministry.