Some suggest that mission houses shall be converted into movie theaters or to places of assembly where national, social and educational lectures should be given in order to get in contact with people more easily. Others assert that only God’s Word shall be heard in our mission houses and church halls. Who is right?

“When Overland says the Christian and the communist know what they want and are ready to stake their life for it, one sees in events in Eastern Germany proof that such is the case. Not among men of the church, who always prefer to compromise in a difficult situation, but among Jehovah’s witnesses. As Christians who have a message to deliver, Jehovah’s witnesses devote themselves entirely to their cause, cost what it may. They are prepared to take the consequences of their stand for Jehovah and his kingdom.”

The clergyman continues in this newspaper article, saying: “To get in touch with the workers and youth, Jehovah’s witnesses do not need to alter their preaching to include national, social and educational lectures. The message that they bring is so powerful in itself that thinking people cannot do other than listen to it. By his prophet Jehovah God says there will be a famine in the land, ‘not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it.’ (Amos 8:11, 12, AS) The hungry people do not find the word of Jehovah in the religious systems, which give them stones instead of bread, but Jehovah’s witnesses bring the word of Jehovah, as it is found in the Bible, and that is why people listen to them.”

Then this clergyman says, “We do not need worldly methods, but what we need is to get out on the streets and lanes and knock on the doors just like Jehovah’s witnesses. We have become so tolerant, so understanding, . . . that one is prepared to take the Devil by the arm, just to be tolerant. . . . Paul passionately fought against erroneous doctrine in his letters, but I believe had he been living today he would have directed his fire more against the Danish State Church than against Jehovah’s witnesses.”

Yes, Jehovah’s witnesses, approximately 6,000 of them, are very active in Denmark today. Their ranks are constantly increasing. They have no problem to get people to listen. Their problem is to take care of all the people who want to hear.

Ministry in an El Salvador Hospital

Bible instruction has carried Jehovah’s witnesses into strange places in their efforts to reach all people. Take, for example, the case of the Bible study in the general hospital of San Salvador, the capital. It has now been conducted for over a year and the original small group has grown many times. These men, confined to the tuberculosis ward for an unknown length of time, have occupied themselves in the ministry work in spite of the most unfavorable circumstances. Some of the more active convalescents who have become Jehovah’s witnesses conduct regular Bible studies with other interested patients, thus working from bedside to bedside. They spend their out-of-bed time effectively preaching the good news, and they report their activity to the local congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses. This month, April, witnessed the establishment of a theocratic ministry school in the hospital ward. Now they will have the benefit of an effective ministerial training course.