Fredericksburg Jehovah’s Witnesses Return to Door-to-Door Ministry After 30-month Pandemic Pause

Jehovah’s Witnesses have resumed their trademark door-to-door ministry after a two-and-a-half-year suspension of the work. The decision to resume on September 1 marked the complete restoration of all pre-pandemic in-person activities for the nearly 1.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses in the 13,000 congregations in the United States. Houses of worship (called Kingdom Halls) were reopened on April 1, witnessing in public places resumed on May 31 and in-person conventions are again being planned for 2023.

“For 30 months I’ve been away from the door-to-door ministry, but that hasn’t decreased my zeal to have in-person conversations about Bible promises,” said Tayler Reed, a Manassas resident who is heading out to local neighborhoods with her family. “I missed making those personal connections. Nothing beats physically interacting with my neighbors and seeing their joy when they learn something new from the Bible.”

The suspension of the public ministry was a proactive response by the organization to keep communities and congregants safe. The move was also unprecedented. Jehovah’s Witnesses had been preaching from house to house without interruption for over 100 years through an economic depression, two world wars and global unrest, but COVID-19 demanded a different response.

“We believe that the early decision to shut down all in-person activities for over two years has saved many lives,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S. spokesperson for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “We’re now ready and eager to reconnect with our neighbors once again–person-to-person, face-to-face. It’s not the only way that we preach, but it has historically been the most effective way to deliver our message of comfort and hope.”

The return to an in-person ministry coincides with a global campaign to offer an interactive Bible study program, available in hundreds of languages and offered at no cost. The course comes as a printed book, online publication or as an embedded feature within the organization’s free mobile application, JW Library. Released in late 2020, the interactive study platform combines text, video, illustrations and digital worksheets to help learners of all ages. “This study program is designed to match the learning style of the 21st-century student,” said Hendriks. “We’re excited to share it with our neighbors as we return to making personal visits.

The pandemic forced Jehovah’s Witnesses to quickly pivot to virtual meetings and conventions while conducting their ministry exclusively through letters, phone calls, and virtual Bible studies. This has led to growth in meeting attendance and the number of congregants, with over 400,000 newly baptized witnesses joining the ranks of 120,000 congregations globally in just the first two years of the pandemic.

For more information about Jehovah’s Witnesses, their history, beliefs and activities, visit their official website, jw.org, with content available in over 1,000 languages.