• Preaching Publicly and From House to House
    Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom

    • Zealous Colporteurs Take the Lead

      The first call for dedicated men and women who could use a substantial amount of their time in this service went out in April 1881. They would offer householders and businessmen a small book explaining Bible truths and a subscription for the Watch Tower. Their objective was to search out those who were truth-hungry and share enlightenment with them. For a time they tried saying just enough to stimulate interest, leaving at each home a packet containing literature for the householder to examine, and then returning in a few days. Some householders would return the literature; others might want to purchase it; frequently there would be opportunities for conversation. Regarding their objective, the Watch Tower stated: “It is not the selling of the packets, nor the taking of subscriptions, but the spread of the truth, by getting people to read.”

      The number who shared in this colporteur evangelism was relatively small. During the first 30 years, their ranks varied from a few up to 600 or so. These colporteurs were pioneers in the true sense of the word, opening up new territory. Anna Andersen was one who persevered in this service for decades, usually traveling on a bicycle, and she personally reached nearly every town in Norway with the good news. Other colporteurs traveled abroad and were the first to take the message to such lands as Finland, Barbados, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Burma (now Myanmar). There were also some who were not free to move to other areas but who served as colporteur evangelists in their home territory.

      The work by the colporteurs was outstanding. One who was serving on the west coast of the United States wrote in 1898 that during the previous 33 months, he had traveled 8,000 miles [12,800 km] with his horse and rig, witnessed in 72 towns, made 18,000 calls, placed 4,500 books, taken 125 subscriptions, given away 40,000 tracts, and seen 40 people not only accept the message but also start sharing it with others. A husband-and-wife team serving in Australia succeeded in placing 20,000 books in the hands of interested persons during a period of just two and a half years.

      Were numerous placements the exception rather than the rule? Well, the report for 1909 shows that about 625 colporteurs (the total on the list at that time) received from the Society 626,981 bound books to place with the public (an average of more than a thousand for each colporteur), in addition to a large amount of free literature. They often could not carry enough books from house to house, so they would take orders and then return later to make deliveries.

      Nevertheless, some objected: “This is not preaching!” But, in fact, as Brother Russell explained, it was preaching of a most effective sort. Instead of hearing just one sermon, people were receiving many sermons in printed form and thus could enjoy them again and again and could check their contents in their own Bible. This was evangelism that took into account the fact that general education had equipped people to read. The book The New Creation pointed out: “The fact that these evangelists are working on lines adapted to our day instead of upon the lines adapted to the past, is no more an argument against this work than is the fact that they travel by steam and electric power instead of on foot or on camels. The evangelization is through the presentation of the Truth . . . , the Word of God.”