{"id":6394,"date":"2022-07-26T22:57:24","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T19:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/?p=6394"},"modified":"2022-07-26T22:57:24","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T19:57:24","slug":"after-2-year-hiatus-jehovahs-witnesses-soon-may-be-knocking-on-your-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/after-2-year-hiatus-jehovahs-witnesses-soon-may-be-knocking-on-your-door\/","title":{"rendered":"After 2-year hiatus, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses soon may be knocking on your door"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThat\u2019s what we do,\u201d says faith\u2019s spokesperson. As for Latter-day Saint missionaries, they have moved away from \u201ctracting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Courtesy photo) Jehovah’s Witnesses have returned to in-person contacting. Here, Eugene and Katrina Hargrove spread the word at Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jehovah’s Witnesses have returned to in-person contacting. Here, Eugene and Katrina Hargrove spread the word at Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park.<\/p>\n

Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses across Utah dusted off their pamphlets last week and reclaimed their stations at prominent street corners as the faith resumed in-person ministering nationwide for the first time in more than two years.<\/p>\n

Citing \u201crespect for life and love of neighbor,\u201d the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, acting in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, officially suspended door-to-door contacting, literature displays in public spaces, and in-person worship services back in March 2020.<\/p>\n

The shift was a dramatic one for a faith that, along with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is known for its extensive missionary efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be a Jehovah\u2019s Witness, you really need to continue to witness,\u201d spokesperson Robert Hendriks explained. \u201cThat\u2019s what we do. That\u2019s why we\u2019re called Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than put evangelizing on hold, believers pivoted to virtual Bible studies, phone calls and letter-writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMillions of letters were sent,\u201d Hendriks said, \u201cperhaps even billions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katrina and Eugene Hargrove were among those legions of letter writers. During the past two years, the Utah couple \u2014 who have been witnessing for 40 years \u2014 said they both felt the distance that comes with communicating over Zoom versus in person. Still, they found moments of meaningful connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many have responded with appreciation, thanking us for thinking about them during this time,\u201d Katrina said. \u201cI\u2019m so excited to be able to see them again in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hargroves cited a love for working in Utah, where they said people are generally respectful of their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people are very comfortable with talking about God,\u201d Eugene said. \u201cSo we find it very easy to talk to people here, and they enjoy hearing a good message out of the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendriks seconded this point, specifically citing Latter-day Saints\u2019 own \u201cunderstanding of how challenging\u201d public proselytizing can be as a boon to the work of Utah\u2019s 8,000 Witnesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LDS folks, they have respect for Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses,\u201d he said. \u201cThey understand a little bit of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Courtesy photo) Jehovah’s Witnesses have returned to in-person contacting. Here, Jackie and Tony Lucas spread the word at Arches National Park.<\/p>\n

Latter-day Saint missionaries also relied heavily on virtual communication during the height of the pandemic, although many returned to face-to-face meetings as vaccines got into arms and health restrictions began to lift.<\/p>\n

Even before COVID-19, Latter-day Saint missionary efforts had been moving away from door-knocking, commonly called tracting, and toward new tactics, including the creation of faith-promoting content online. The pandemic accelerated those efforts, helped along by the younger generation\u2019s web savvy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we think of the internet and social media as an enemy because there can be so much negativity there,\u201d apostle Dieter F. Uchtdorf, the former head of the church\u2019s Missionary Executive Council, said in a message released in June 2020. \u201cHowever, the internet can be a friend to us when we use it correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Walk with Christ via YouTube) A screenshot from a music video shows missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints performing in North Dakota.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say drivers should be surprised when they pass two clean-cut young men in shirts and ties on a bike. As David Weidman, managing director of the church\u2019s Missionary Department, told The Salt Lake Tribune back in 2021, \u201cin-person service, teaching and ministering is still a vital part of what missionaries do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not so much that we deemphasize door-to-door proselytizing,\u201d he said, \u201cbut rather emphasize doing what is most effective in finding those who are searching for answers about life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThat\u2019s what we do,\u201d says faith\u2019s spokesperson. As for Latter-day Saint missionaries, they have moved away from \u201ctracting.\u201d Jehovah’s Witnesses have returned to in-person contacting. Here, Eugene and Katrina Hargrove spread the word at Salt…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-jw-org"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6396,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6394\/revisions\/6396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}