Service Meeting Schedule
Week Starting May 10
10 min: Local announcements. Selected Announcements from Our Kingdom Ministry. If the suggestions on page 4 are practical for your congregation territory, use them to demonstrate how to present the May 15 Watchtower and the May 22 Awake! Other presentations may be used. In each case, demonstrate a different way to handle the conversation stopper “I have my own religion.”—See Reasoning book, pages 18-19.
15 min: Have You Approached Your Employer? Talk and audience discussion by an elder, based on the article “Will You Be There?” in the January 2000 Our Kingdom Ministry, page 1. Include comments on the Ministry School book, page 67.
20 min: “Widen Out.”a Include comments on the Worship God book, page 150, paragraph 14.
Song 18 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting May 17
10 min: Local announcements.
15 min: “Show Your Thankfulness.”b As time permits, invite audience to comment on the cited scriptures. When discussing paragraph 3, have one or two who recently served as auxiliary pioneers comment on the blessings they experienced from doing so.
20 min: We Care About One Another. (1 Cor. 12:25, 26) Talk and audience discussion based on Our Ministry book, pages 157-9, under the subheading “Concern for One Another.” Although Jehovah’s people live in all parts of the earth, we are closely united. All of us should pray for our brothers every day. We are also quick to provide material aid when urgent needs exist. Read and discuss key scriptures, and include one or two experiences drawn from our publications.
Song 100 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting May 24
12 min: Local announcements. Accounts report. Demonstrate how to present the June 1 Watchtower and the June 8 Awake! Adapt each presentation to appeal to someone of a local religion.
15 min: “Music That Refreshes.” Talk and audience discussion. Include comments on the 2002 Yearbook, page 175, and the February 1, 1997, Watchtower, page 27, paragraphs 1-2.
18 min: Be Prepared to Witness Informally. Talk and audience discussion based on the June 2003 Our Kingdom Ministry, page 3. Arrange in advance for a few to relate experiences they have had when witnessing informally. Briefly demonstrate how the tract Would You Like to Know More About the Bible? and the booklet Good News for All Nations can be used when witnessing informally.
Song 211 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting May 31
8 min: Local announcements. Remind publishers to turn in field service reports for May.
17 min: Life—A Gift to Be Cherished. Audience discussion based on the Reasoning book, pages 25-6. Include comments on the May 22, 1993, Awake! pages 10-11. How would you explain Jehovah’s view of abortion to a person who feels that a woman has a right to decide on matters affecting her own body? Relate the experience in the January 1, 2000, Watchtower, page 4, paragraphs 4-5.
20 min: “Offering Learn From the Great Teacher.” During June we will be offering this publication. Point out the features described on page 7, paragraphs 1-3, of the book. Entertain comments from audience on what they appreciate about it. Review the suggested presentations. Highlight how to feature the pictures when offering the book. Have a youth demonstrate the first presentation, and an adult one of the others. If a different approach would be more effective in the local territory, this may be discussed and demonstrated in place of one of the latter presentations.
Song 24 and concluding prayer.
Week Starting June 7
10 min: Local announcements. Discuss main points of “A Means to Help Them.” Name some of the languages that are encountered in the local territory.
15 min: Local needs.
20 min: Use Effective Illustrations in Your Teaching. Talk and audience discussion based on the September 1, 2002, Watchtower, pages 22-4. What four factors make an illustration effective? Why is it advantageous to keep illustrations simple? Where can we find good illustrations? Examine some of the examples in the box on page 23, and discuss what makes each illustration effective.
Song 133 and concluding prayer.
[Footnotes]
a Limit introductory comments to less than a minute, and follow with a question-and-answer discussion.
b Limit introductory comments to less than a minute, and follow with a question-and-answer discussion.