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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Why do Jehovah's Witnesses preach from house to house?

Also see: "Preaching".)

Jesus told his followers to "make disciples of people of all the nations," and he set the example by "journeying from city to city and from village to village, preaching and declaring the good news of the kingdom of God." -Matthew 28:19, 20; Luke 8:1

The apostle Paul too, taught in public places, in the marketplace, and from house to house. (Acts 20:20) Jehovah's Witnesses follow Jesus' and Paul's examples.

Jesus’ true followers preach that God’s Kingdom is mankind’s only hope. Jesus foretold: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14) Instead of encouraging people to look to human rulers to solve their problems, true followers of Jesus Christ proclaim God’s heavenly Kingdom as the only hope for mankind. (Psalm 146:3) Jesus taught us to pray for that perfect government when he said: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matthew 6:10) God’s Word foretold that this heavenly Kingdom “will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms [now existing], and it itself will stand to times indefinite.” - Daniel 2:44.

The message that the Witnesses proclaim involves the lives of people, so they want to be careful to miss no one. (Zeph. 2:2, 3) Their calls are motivated by love - first for God, also for their neighbor. (Mt. 22:37-39)

Interestingly, a conference of religious leaders in Spain noted this: "Perhaps [the churches] are excessively neglectful about that which precisely constitutes the greatest preoccupation of the Witnesses - the home visit, which comes within the apostolic methodology of the primitive church. While the churches, on not a few occasions, limit themselves to constructing their temples, ringing their bells to attract the people and to preaching inside their places of worship, [the Witnesses] follow the apostolic tactic of going from house to house and of taking advantage of every occasion to witness." - El Catolicismo, Bogotá, Colombia, September 14, 1975, p. 14

Other religions have acknowledged the Christian obligation to preach in public places and from house to house, although this is often left to a limited group of missionaries or clergy to fulfill... not every member.

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