By Larry Rosenbaum
As I was walking through our neighborhood, I encountered a Jehovah’s Witness man with his two children going door to door. They come through our neighborhood about once a month. I have seen mothers bringing their infants in baby carriages. I learned from a former Jehovah’s Witness (J.W.) that the average active J.W. witnesses about 4 hours a week. At that rate, it takes about 16 years to gain one convert. Also, they spend many hours at their church meetings practicing how to witness, using role-playing to go over various questions they might be asked, and learning how to respond.
Every time I see them, I marvel at their dedication to a false cause. Christians often say they have no time to witness, because they must spend time with their families, church activities, and work. But J.W.’s also work. They spend time with their families and participate in all the activities at the Kingdom Hall. Yet they all spend time going door to door spreading their message. Why can’t we Christians, who know the truth, do as much?
Christians often say witnessing is ineffective because we don’t lead someone to Christ every time we go out. Yet the J.W.’s will patiently go door to door, facing one rejection after another, for 3200 hours to get one convert! Many Christians will not inconvenience themselves for even one hourto witness to an unsaved person.
The only explanation I have is that Satan opposes our witnessing, but not theirs. Satan has given us a variety of excuses not to witness, and we have believed him. Two thousand years ago, our Lord Jesus Christ said that “the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers.”
At SOS Ministries, we see that our responsibility is to encourage and train Christians to become more involved in evangelism — on the streets, to friends and relatives, at work, on the foreign mission field, and in praying for the work of evangelism. We also want to help those who are called to be evangelists to become more effective in their personal ministries and in equipping the church to witness.
