Visiting Our Home Missionary Field

THE group of Christian congregations that I visit takes me from Portugal to China—or that is how it seems. Yet, my wife, Olive, and I never leave Britain.

We visit the growing number of foreign-language congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses scattered throughout the country. From the island of Jersey, some 12 miles [20 km] off the Normandy coast of France, where we have a Portuguese group, to the town of Sunderland in the north of England, where we visit interested Chinese-speaking people, we share in a thriving, spiritually prosperous, multilingual field. How did we come to have this unusual assignment? And what is happening in our home missionary field? Let me explain.

Olive and I have served some 20 years in the traveling work, visiting a different congregation each week. Our travels have taken us from north to south, east to west, throughout Britain, and latterly to our Christian brothers on the Mediterranean island of Malta, where we experienced outstanding Christian hospitality. (Compare Acts 28:1, 2.) After three years in Malta, we began to wonder where our next assignment would be. We imagined that we would probably visit a rural English area, and we began to adjust our minds to this possibility. What a surprise when we received our assignment to serve this new circuit made up of groups and congregations speaking 23 different languages!

We wondered how we would cope. Apart from our experience in Malta, we had never been involved much with people of a different background and culture. Would we really be able to encourage those who did not understand a great deal of English? How would we communicate without knowing other languages? What about the food and the diverse customs of others? Would we be adaptable enough? Questions like these went through our minds as we prayerfully considered answering this Macedonian call.—Acts 16:9, 10; 1 Corinthians 9:19-22.

Overcoming the Language Barrier

“At first I felt inadequate because I had no knowledge of languages,” explains Olive. “I didn’t see how I could help the sisters. Then I remembered how the couple who first studied the Bible with us encouraged us never to refuse an assignment. They taught us that Jehovah never asks us to do something we can’t do.” So we both willingly accepted the assignment.

On reflection, we see that our lack of knowing another language has helped us treat everybody in exactly the same way. For instance, attending meetings conducted in a different language each week has made us appreciate how brothers felt when they had to sit through English-language meetings while understanding little of what was said. We really have to prepare well for the meetings so that we can grasp the sense of what is presented. Olive always answers one of the questions in the meeting. She prepares the answer in English and has a sister translate it for her, writing out the translation phonetically. She admits that it is with some hesitation that she raises her hand to comment. Sometimes her efforts provoke laughter. But this does not put her off. “I know the brothers appreciate my trying,” she says. “In fact, my answering encourages those more conversant with the language to share in the meeting.”

For me, giving talks is different, too, because I have to allow time for the interpreter after every sentence. It is so easy to lose my train of thought. I find I have to concentrate much more and cut down my material extensively. But I enjoy it.

Our Varied Ministry

In many urban areas of Britain, the people who speak foreign languages are scattered about, two on one street maybe, and then you have to travel some distance to find others. Yet, when you greet them in their own language and see the reaction, you feel it is worthwhile. If the brother I am accompanying presents the Kingdom message in the householder’s own language, the response is often overwhelming delight.

Indeed, the ministry in the foreign-language field is one of the most exciting we have experienced during our 40 years of Kingdom service. The potential for growth is tremendous. There is no doubt that many people learn much more quickly and with deeper appreciation when they are taught in their mother tongue. (Acts 2:8, 14, 41) It is emotionally very moving to see brothers and sisters with tears of joy at the end of a meeting, in some cases for the first time having been able to listen to and understand the whole program.

When preaching from house to house, we endeavor to make at least an introduction in the householder’s language, even though we sometimes get ourselves into a bit of difficulty. For example, a common greeting to a Gujarati household is Kemcho, which simply means “Hello.” Apparently what I said in error one time sounded as if I were advertising a well-known brand of coffee. Nonetheless, at one home the husband and wife smiled when I greeted them in Gujarati. They immediately invited us in and kindly offered us coffee—not because of any mispronunciation. It turned out that they were related to some of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the group we were visiting, and they showed a genuine interest in the truth.

One English-speaking sister frequently left magazines with a Chinese-speaking lady over a period of years. She had occasionally offered the lady a free home Bible study, but this was declined. One day a sister who was learning Chinese accompanied her and offered the book You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth in that language, which the interested householder readily accepted.a Now having the book in her own tongue, she agreed to a Bible study. Those few words spoken in the lady’s own language made all the difference.

Diverse Cultures

We had not realized that in some cultures men do not like their womenfolk going out alone at night. This makes it very difficult for many sisters to attend the meetings held in the evening. Some Asian communities believe that young women who choose not to marry and continue to live at home slight the family. One young sister’s father wanted to poison himself when she refused to marry the man the family had chosen for her. Yes, what such sisters have to put up with is quite remarkable! Still, when you see the effect the truth has on the family’s life and how the sisters’ loyalty to Jehovah impresses the parents, it is truly marvelous.

In sharing in this assignment, we have had to make some changes. Before we started out in the traveling work, my food had to be plain English cooking, but now the spicier the food, the better. We regret the many years we let slip by before we started to enjoy such a varied cuisine—from raw fish to curries.

Bright Prospects

It seems clear that this is the time for the foreign-language field to blossom in many areas. More and more publications are now available in different languages. You can sense Jehovah’s blessing as new congregations are organized. Brothers with a knowledge of other languages come from far afield to help.

An outstanding example has been the response to preaching the Kingdom good news in French. Many French-speaking refugees from Zaire and other African countries have come to Britain in recent years. When the first French-language congregation was formed in London, some 65 Kingdom publishers were associated. A year later the number had jumped to 117, and of these, 48 served full-time as regular pioneers. Before long a second congregation was established to care for the growing interest. Now more attention can be given to the interested ones, 345 of whom attended the 1995 Memorial celebration. Former Gilead graduates who had served in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, and Zaire now use their experience to care for this growing field, and the response is amazing.

On one visit to the French congregation, I went along on a Bible study with a young African woman. When we had to leave, the young woman cried: “Please don’t go. Stay longer.” She just wanted to know more. She reminded me of first-century Lydia.—Acts 16:14, 15.

Our initial work has been to help the small foreign-language groups become congregations. Where the brothers held a weekly Congregation Book Study, we introduced a shortened Theocratic Ministry School for them once a month. This helps them to express themselves well in the field ministry. They then gradually work toward holding all five weekly congregation meetings. Already we have new congregations that speak Chinese (Cantonese), French, Gujarati, Japanese, Portuguese, Punjabi, Tamil, and Welsh.

We have also enjoyed the privilege of attending meetings of brothers who are deaf. Watching the brothers sing with their hands is quite moving. Realizing that in their ministry they speak by means of gestures, I appreciate their sterling efforts to share in Kingdom preaching. There are even signers for those who are both deaf and blind. It seems that Jehovah makes sure that no one is left out.

If we had to make a particular request, it would be the same as that of Jesus: “Beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:38) Many of our brothers are accepting the challenge of learning the language of the ethnic groups in their congregation territory. Although we are not miraculously gifted with the ability to speak different languages, Jehovah is certainly opening up the ministry in this home missionary field—a field that is ripe for harvesting. (John 4:35, 36)—As told by Colin Seymour.

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