Informant, April 1950
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INFORMANT
APRIL, 1950 “Preach the word.”—2 Tim. 4:2. BROOKLYN, N.Y.
“Announcing Messiah’s Presence” Testimony Period Watchtower Campaign Enters Final Month
Pioneering, a Work with a Future
Are You Arranging Your Affairs to Be One?
Memorial Week-End Sets Stage for 100,000 Goal
In 1914, amid world-shaking events, Jehovah God asserted his universal sovereignty and sent forth his Messiah-Son to rule in the midst of his enemies. Christ’s invisible reign means everlasting life to all who believe and obey. But how can they believe unless they first hear? and how can they hear unless his presence is announced? And who is there today announcing Messiah’s presence? You are, if you really believe the signs that prove that Christ is now present and ruling. —Matt. 24: 37, Roth.
Just pause a moment to consider what a unique position and privilege we have in daily telling others that Christ Is present, ruling in the heavens, and how his Kingdom will shortly “satisfy the desire of every living thing”. Of all the world’s millions, Jehovah’s witnesses alone are engaged in this ministry of salvation. One of the best instruments we have to aid us in ministering to “this generation” is the Watchtower magazine. Did not The Watchtoicer help us to see with our eyes of faith that Christ is present and ruling? Logically, then, it is the magazine we should use to assist others likewise to appreciate this all-important truth. Therefore, during April, we will continue to offer the Watchtoicer subscription and a gift of eight booklets on a contribution of one dollar.
As we enter this final month of the Watchtower campaign let us redouble our efforts to meet our individual quota of two subscriptions per publisher for the four months. Reports coming into the office thus far show we are surpassing last year's figures for this same period. Continue your diligent efforts by calling back on last year’s subscribers, whose expiration slips are regularly mailed to each company. Rekindle the spark of interest they once had in The Watchtower, and demonstrate its practical benefits for them. Also, be sure to remember those who subscribed during the early months of the campaign. Visit them. Aid them to understand and study The Watchtower. Help them to realize that The Watchtower is “meat in due season” for them.
Follow Up
Memorial Week-End Activity
The Memorial week-end should give an enthusiastic Impetus to all our April activities, setting the stage for a new peak in publishers. No doubt then many new ones will be assisted Into the field, and also many more will eagerly participate during the remainder of the month, if given the proper encouragement and loving assistance by zealous publishers. Remember not lo neglect these once they start publish
ing, but continue to work with them and assist them until they become regular "announcers”, able to bear their own burdens. As they engage in field service, encourage them to report their activity. Also visit delinquent publishers, infirm and sick ones to obtain their reports of time spent in preaching.
Our goal is 100,000 publishers by convention time, announcing Messiah’s presence. We have already reached the 96,000 mark, so the desired quota is by no means an impossibility. It can be reached if we do not relax in our service. If all publishers are diligent and regularly report the time profitably spent in preaching, both “In season” and “out of season”, a great stride will be made toward reaching a new peak and our goal of 100,000.
Public Meetings Aid in Announcing
Another very effective means of' announcing Messiah’s presence is | through public meetings. The new series should now be under way, and will undoubtedly give renewed force to this feature of service. Brand-new subjects! What striking titles! “It Is High Time to Awake!” “Have Christendom’s Religions Failed?” “Hell Used as a Scare.” What vital, absorbing issues! “The Pathway to Peace,” “Who Is Your God?” “Preserving Godliness amid World Delinquency.” What comfort and assurance! “The Truth Shall Make You Free,” “Surviving Global War.” Yes, what a joy it will be to announce such good news.
True, for these talks to fulfill our expectations, those assigned to deliver them must make proper advance preparation. Their real success, however, will depend on the energetic support of each publisher. The company servant, together with the advertising servant, should ascertain the number of handbills needed for the company and order accordingly. The wide distribution of leaflets plays an Important part in announcing and advertising. Advertise, too, by inviting your back-calls and home Bible studies. Are you doing your part?
Once you have advertised, then attend the public meeting and show genuine interest in the strangers present. Help them to further understand and appreciate the truths they have heard, by discussing with them any question they may have and by arranging to call on them at their homes at some convenient time.
Let us bring this, the twelfth Watchtower campaign, to a climactic close. The prospects are bright. Memorial week-end has set the stage, and by further zealous endeavor, making the most of our opportunities, the way will be opened for new peaks and countless joys and blessings. So forward ! announcing Messiah's presence.
Watchtower Article to Be Considered at Service Meetings
Consider, if you will, representative types of work in which you might engage. After each put down the brightest future you might expect to result from devoting all of your ability and energy to It. You may find on your list such things as wealth and ease, social position, security or fame; perhaps even the satisfaction of benefiting humankind to some degree by discovery or invention.
Now record the future prospects that pioneer service holds out to those who diligently strive to succeed therein. These will include “the joy of the Lord”, the full satisfaction of really aiding your fellow creatures to lasting benefits, countless blessings from the hand of a provident Creator both in richness of life and sufficient to meet present physical needs, a new world full of bounties just ahead and, best of all, for those who maintain integrity, everlasting life!
Study your lists and thoughtfully make comparison. Do you honestly feel that the transient rewards of any secular position can in anywise compare with those of the pioneer work? Or, are they as sure of fulfillment? Why, it even seems a waste of time to make the comparison ! Truly, the pioneer work is the work with a future!
The Pioneer Service Is for All
Surely you, like all other conscientious servants of God, have considered more than once these blessings that accompany pioneer service ; but then you have dismissed the prospects from your mind. True, pioneering presents remarkable opportunities for others, but it cannot be for you, you conclude. You have good reasons. Well, list your reasons or excuses. Consider each one. Then know for a certainty that whatever your hindrance may be, there is somebody on the pioneer list who has overcome that same problem. If one can overcome it, doesn’t it seem possible that by placing complete faith in Jehovah you too can overcome it?
Now is the time for each servant of God to carefully and prayerfully consider his own circumstances, and work toward the goal of entering the pioneer service. Many who have already been planning and working toward that end will be able to send for an application immediately and enjoy the added blessings of attending the 1950 convention as a pioneer. But do not let inability to begin before the convention move you to “put off” pioneer service Into the indefinite future. Send for your application anyway, fill it in and return it, letting us know what month you wish to start; whether immediately, or soon after the convention. Then you will be able to begin at the time you have planned, without delay.
Some may wish to sign up for the pioneer work while at the convention. In that case, it would be wise to bring with you the letter of recommendation from the company servant, which must accompany all pioneer applications. Then your application can be considered without unnecessary and time-consuming correspondence.
Vacation Pioneering
A large number of those now enjoying full-time service have been at one time or other vacation pioneers. This in itself proves that vacation pioneering is the best possible way for children to spend their vacation days, for, by busying themselves in Kingdom service, they grow in appreciation of their responsibility to Jehovah and are protected from undue influence by the world. But vacation pioneer service is not restricted to young people alone. Anyone who can remain in the pioneer work for at least two months at any time of the year and who can meet the necessary requirements of having been immersed and a publisher for six months can qualify for vacation pioneering. For the [last two years we have had new [leaks in the number who have enjoyed this service. This summer may we not hope to exceed last year’s 832 vacation pioneers?
“Watchtower” Stresses Pioneering
So important is pioneering now to the welfare of the servants of God and to the expansion of gospelpreaching that The Watchtower has devoted the April 1, 1950, issue to this subject. The second article of this issue, entitled “More and More Pioneers of Good News”, because of its service theme, will be considered at the service meetings instead of at the regular Watchtower study. It will be taken up during the last three service meetings in April, by questions and answers in the same manner in which The Watchtower is customarily studied. Not more than thirty minutes should be spent on each of these studies, which will be apportioned to cover paragraphs 1-10 at the first meeting, paragraphs 11-21 at the second and paragraphs 22-31 at the last.
All publishers should make every effort to be present at each of these service meetings, to benefit from these studies. Careful study of the article beforehand and enthusiastic participation will enhance the value of the material to you.
Remember, then, pioneering isn’t only for somebody else. Pioneering is also for you. Make your decision now to be a pioneer, and plan for the future. Send for an application blank, fill it out, and return it with a letter of recommendation from the company servant. Then, at the time you have decided upon, enter the pioneer service, the work with a lasting future.
Singing the Taunt-Song Against Satan Public Meeting Work to Be Intensified
Offer for May Features Three Bound Books
While men and nations continue to sing this old world’s praises and to extol Its god, Jehovah issues a command to His servants: “You shall raise this taunt-song against the king of Babylon, crying: How the tyrant is hushed!” (Isa. 14:4, Moffatt) This taunt-song was not composed for the benefit of Satan and his irreformable world organization. Rather, it is for the longtime victims of this powerful tyrant, vast numbers of whom doubt that he even exists. For these enslaved ones the lyrics were composed, for they give a note of hope and assurance of liberation.
Join the Taunt Singers During May
During the month of May you are invited to join in the chorus of joyful singers. People of good-will everywhere will rejoice at the sound of the melody of truth that will be on the lips of Jehovah’s witnesses. This refreshing message will be brought to the people in the form of the books "Let God. Be True”, "The Kingdom Is at Hand" and “The Truth Shall Make You Free”, all on a contribution of $1.00.
In accordance with our lessons on "Argumentation” and “Presenting the Gospel at the Doors”, found in Theocratic Aid to Kingdom Publishers, many methods of presenting the above books can be developed. For example, in the chapter entitled “Satan the Devil”, In “Let God Be True", it is pointed out that ‘the whole world lies in the power of the evil one’. From this it can be shown that the only hope for mankind lies in the righteous rule of God’s kingdom by Christ Jesus. Literally hundreds more presentations can be found by alert publishers in the three books offered during May.
Will you be one of the thousands of singers of the taunt-song against Satan during May? Are you preparing suitable and varied presentations so that your voice will be effectively added to the growing chorus world-wide? Surely your answer will be a ringing yes! Let your conviction of the truthfulness of the
Memorial Report
Immediately after the public meeting following the Memorial, company servants will please fill out and return the Memorial Report Card sent with the March Informant. This should be done by each company whether any public meeting was held or not, so that the Society will have a complete Memorial report. Isolated groups which hold their own Memorial service because of inability to meet with a company should report the following on a postcard: total Memorial attendance ; total partakers of emblems: total attendance at public meeting on Sunday following Memorial, if any.
New Public Talk for Circuit Servants
Following May 1, 1950, the circuit servants will deliver the new public talk “True Riches—How Obtained?” when they visit the companies in their circuits. All will begin delivering this talk at the same time, even though in some instances the previous talk may not have been given at every company in the circuit. All advertising material should be ordered accordingly. taunt-song be shown by your regularity and zeal in Jehovah’s service. Out of love help others to harmoniously blend their voices with yours.
All Avenues of Service Open
Singers of the taunt-song rejoice that all features of the witness work can be engaged in during May. Set a goal to participate in every type of work arranged for by your local company. This should include house-to-house witnessing, back-call activity and conducting home Bible studies. Magazine Day should not be overlooked, for with the arrival of warmer weather more stress can be placed on this branch of service.
Our theater of song can be extended to include outdoor public meetings in parks, bandstands, vacant lots, private lawns, etc. Appropriately, the Society has arranged new lectures that will edify the brethren as well as the “stranger”. Intensified public meeting activity will automatically cause improvement in other features of service. With such abundant opportunities, are you planning to take advantage of them?
The company servant, together with the stock servant, should check to see that there is sufficient literature available. The territory servant should line up for group witnessing those sections of territory not covered during the winter. In many companies this will include rural and outlying sections where public meetings can be held. Practical service meetings on presenting the offer of the month, calling back on Watchtower subscribers and welcoming new Interest at public meetings should be thoughtfully planned by the company servant.
Everyone consecrated to Jehovah should prepare now, not only to add his own voice to the chorus of singers, but to aid the new and inexperienced publishers as well. Let each one endeavor to assist at least one person to be an active and regular singer of Kingdom truth during May. Thus, by all working together, the anthem will grow in volume to the delight of those of goodwill and to the chagrin of Satan, who will be hushed at Armageddon.
Pioneer Assignment Cards
Assignment cards held by pioneers should always coincide w’ith the territory in which they are working. This is not always the case at present, for different reasons. In some instances the name of the company or unit may have been changed, because of a shift in the location of the company headquarters or the formation of new units. Hence, even though the pioneer is still working in the same general territory or with the same group, his card may not agree with the official name of the unit or company. Other pioneers may have started to work with other companies, overlooking the necessity of being assigned to that territory by the Society.
It is therefore requested that all pioneers immediately check their assignment cards. If the card does not show the name of the company you are now with, please return the card to the Society immediately and request an up-to-date assignment card. Be sure to state where you wish to be assigned to avoid unnecessary correspondence. Circuit servants can assist in this respect by emphasizing this point at the time of the pioneer interview.
Turning in
Reports of All Preaching Activity to Be Made
Jehovah gives his people the opportunity both to manifest love for him and to encourage their brethren by allowing them to report Kingdom service activity. Love for Jehovah is shown by following the example he set, and, since compiled service reports make known the great amount of praise being rendered to Jehovah's name, the results are a real source of encouragement to all.
Sometimes a publisher is heard to say, “Why should I report? The Lord knows what I am doing.” To be sure, he does. Each time that we obediently open our lips to praise him he is aware of it, and he is pleased with this acceptable sacrifice. But God also knew’ what “the man with the writer’s inkhorn” had done. Nevertheless, God commanded him to report the matter, and this he obediently did. This example, recorded at Ezekiel 9:11, shows the propriety of reporting after the work is done.
Furthermore, many reports were made by the Creator himself. He recorded in remarkable detail events from creation to the ultimate destruction of wickedness, and coming Kingdom blessings for those who now obey. His report is a loving provision for the comfort of all who love him.
Our present-day reports are also a source of great joy. Thereby we have seen the thrilling expansion in
Public Meeting Preparation
As pointed out elsewhere in this Informant, arrangements should soon be under way for public meetings out-of-doors and in outlying sections; so begin now to obtain suitable locations for your summer public lecture series.
A printed letter of Instructions and pertinent printed legal decisions to aid those who require advice in applying for use of public parks are available upon request. A similar letter and decisions are also available to aid you in securing use of school auditoriums. Write to the Society's Legal Office at 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn 2, N. Y.
UNITED STATES QUOTA FOR 1950
91,254 Publishers
Monthly Field Service Report
February Report
Av.
Pubs. Hrs.
Sp’l Pios. 288
Gen. Pios. 4,720
Co. Pubs 90,993
Total Pubs. 96,001
Public Meetings Held:
Av. Av.
B-C Bi.St.
57.9
33.5
3.4
5,986
Midway Subscription Report
During January and February, United States publishers obtained 88.842 new Watchtoicer and Awake! subscriptions. This is well above the 82,648 obtained during the same period last year and only 1,158 subscriptions below half the campaign quota of 180.000. Continue the good work! Remember, April is our big month, by Jehovah's grace!
Marvelous Expansion Continues with February Peak!
Total Pubs.
Total Pubs.
Increase over Prev. Yr.
Total Pubs.
Increase over Prev. Yr.
Dec. ’47
69,487
Dec. ’48
77,934
8,447
Dec. ’49
95,086
17,152
Jan. ’48
66,589
Jan. ’49
78,971
12,382
Jan. ’50
95,292
16,321
Feb. ’48
66,840
Feb. ’49
80,075
13,235
Feb. ’50
96,001
15,926
Four publisher peaks, three in a row, close first half of service year! Chart above reveals remarkable winter-month expansion over past three years. Now only 4,000 publishers needed to pass the 100,000 hoped-for peak in the
the Report
number of publishers and in the work accomplished. Have you not enjoyed the reports that appear annually In the Yearbook? And are you not overjoyed to learn of the new publisher peaks, such as the one reported in this Informant? How true the words of the wise man, “A good report maketh the bones fat” 1 Such increases are known only because individuals reported ; so the Society requests all brethren to regularly report all Kingdom service.
Time can be counted not only for conventional preaching from house to house, on back-calls and Bible studies, in magazine work, etc., but also for all incidental preaching. Much time is spent witnessing to neighbors, salesmen and friends during lunch, on busses, over the telephone, etc. Time spent in any of these ways should be reported.
To keep accurate count of these few minutes of witnessing, publishers might carry a small notebook or card on which to jot them down as they preach. When an hour or more is accumulated, at the end of the month it should be totaled and reported. Shut-ins who must do all their witnessing at home should be aided in reporting.
Jehovah God has graciously provided a way for all who love him to enjoy a part in singing his praises in these last days. Let all diligent servants of Jehovah do well the preaching work he has assigned them and then promptly turn in their report.
Bethel Applications
Recently a number of brothers were Invited to come to Bethel and Kingdom Farm because they had filed applications some time ago. But now their circumstances are changed, so they found it impossible to accept the invitation.
In order to keep the Bethel application file up to date, all Bethel applications now on hand at Brooklyn will be canceled as of April 1. Those who have had applications on file for some time and who wish to keep their names on file must make new applications. Those who have not previously applied for Bethel service may do so now, if they wish.
Single men and women between the ages of 18 and 35 may qualify for Bethel service. They must be in good health and seriously interested in permanent full-time service. Another requirement is that each person must have been consecrated and active in the service for a full year. Pioneers and company publishers may apply.
Send requests for application blanks to: President’s Office, 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn 2, New York.
When blanks are filled out and returned to the President’s Office, they will be put on file for consideration when openings occur for additional servants at Bethel.
Publications Now in Stock
“Equipped for Every Good Work"
—Danish
“The Prince of Peace” —Danisli