They are becoming kind of media savvy and they are boldy advertising their official website on noticeable boards outside their churches and they are sitting on street corners promoting paper tracts to passers by on bust city streets.

They are getting pr savvy in a way like the Mormon church has been for years now.

Do any of you encounter this besides the usual doorbell or knock?

Yes. They are all over San Francisco financial d8strict street corners, and at Bart stations. They rent storage in one of SF's high rise buildings in the financial district. I see them coming out of that office building with their wheelies loaded with propaganda.

I travel a lot. I've only seen them at Powell BART station.

Have not seen them in other cities.

The ones I saw several days in a row in SF did not get any action from anyone walking past. Must be kind of hard and futile … just like me street contacting above the arctic circle when I was a missionary.

I see them at Montgomery Bart nearly every day. That's my exit station when going to work. I never see them interacting with anyone except their co-workers. I also see them at Powell bart. It has to be a hard sell. But they appear happy and well groomed just like the LDS mishes used to. It's a rare occurrence these days to see the LDS missionaries in the financial district. A decade ago (and prior) there were regular sightings. The JWs are also set up in the East Bay station when I return after work. See them nearly every evening.

Yes, clean cut couple with portable magazine rack spotted on Canal St. (across from the casino) in downtown New Orleans. jW.org plastered on everything. Not any action. Bourbon and St. Louis around 1:00 am would be a better proselytizing location--I just puked my guts up and need to change my life! Le Bonneur des bon tempts!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2016 07:16PM by byuboner.

Each member is obligated to participate, I think. But they have changed it up. Now they just stand with their poster and material for the required amount of time. Then they fold up their kit and move on.

They set up a stand about 8AM every (M-F) morning in front of one of the underground bus tunnel entrances in Seattle and I see them there as late as 5:30PM.

Confirmed.
They have really upped their presence at Amtrak and Greyhound depots. Saw them once in Montgomery County, Maryland at a transit bus transfer center. Told the man, "No thanks, I'm not interested in your cult.". Told me to have a nice day.

The big secret, I think, is those blue square "JW.ORG" logos slapped on every kingdom hall marquee sign and all publications. It visually stands out.

Poor LDS, they still won't allow marquee signs or list SM times (aside from one St. George location) or make their church buildings visually enticing.

The JWs are hastening the work -- the end is near, don't ya know?

They have a stand with leaflets "What The Bible Really Teaches' plus signs telling you how to be with your family forever ( I wonder if they borrowed that one from LDS). This is in Perth, Aus main mall in the city centre. They are there every day, including Sunday.

So far I have yet to see anyone take a leaflet or even talk to the two or three JW's manning the stand.

Yeh, I see them regularly on the Rockingham foreshore. They sit with their magazine rack of info. They never approach anyone, just sit and wait to be approached. I like them better that way:)

I hope they remain on the foreshore at Rocky and don't come door knocking at Cooloongup. I could just imagine the arguments my fervent Evangelical daughter-in-law would give them if they or the mormon mishies were foolish enough to knock on her door.

They have to pay for ALL those materials out of their own pockets.

Sad, sad, sad.

They usually have a set up in front of the library I regularly visit. What I like about them is that they never bother anyone. They never approach anybody. They only talk to you if you engage the conversation first.

Time well wasted; just like the morg.

Why not spend a fraction of that time doing something good in their community?

Okay, so I logged on to the JW website. IMO, It's visually appealing and very professionally designed. The information was concise and the references to biblical teachings appeared to try to resemble most traditional church approaches. There wasn't too much text or explanation given to the various teachings. Someone with limited schooling and/or tech savvy could very easily navigate around and learn about JW beliefs.

After exploring for a while, I noted that my own denomination's national website and logo appear amateurish next to the Witnesses's.

The Boner.

They are at the university where I work a few times a week (nobody ever talks to them) and at the airport I fly out from EVERY time I pass through. Again, nobody ever talking to them.

You have to remember that they have an expectation to proselyte a certain number of hours a week. Whether they talk to anyone or not. It's a numbers game to them.

About a year ago, I was helping a girlfriend to buy a car. We checked one out (something like a 98 Civic) at a run down house in the bad part of town. The young man selling it was nice but we decided it was not worth the price.

As we were leaving, he told us he was JW and that he felt it was his duty to say, "It's unwise and sinful for an unmarried couple to be alone together like you are." Well, she's a 32 year old Asian and I'm a 46 year old white guy...no idea how he didn't know we weren't married (no rings?)

I just chuckled to myself. First, because my gaydar went off really high--he was as effeminate as you can imagine--and I felt like saying, "Yes, and Yahweh would not be pleased with your desires or lifestyle" but I really don't care what sexual preferences anyone has.

I also thought of a whole lot of other things I could say ("So when is the world going to end this time?" or "It's OK because I'm an angel who seduced her" (look it up.)

The truth is that I really didn't care. I didn't want to give him more than 1 minute of proselyting to count in his weekly total. I just went home and had sex with that girl :)

the JW's have been a daily presence outside my train station (Liverpool street, London) for about 18 months. I pass them several times a day as I work very close to the station.

the only times I have ever seen anyone talk to them, the conversation is generally along the lines of ".... and can I get to oxford street on the central line? "

She knows all about it and recently wrote a very interesting post on the subject.

IDK Why LDS doesn't post mtng times; maybe still paranoid

The JW's have set up a stand in our town centre here in the UK.
I've seen them there regularly but they just sit there and don't approach anybody.
The amusing thing is the only people I've ever seen talking to them is the missionaries, which I've seen several times.

I have never had JWs at my doorbell, but then I live in Morocco and we have a doorman. However, in my native Europe they used to be known to go from door to door and preach on market day. But they have changed. They now hang out on more upmarket corners (near subway and railway stations, high street shopping, and flower markets) and instead of preaching manically at the top of their lungs, they "hang around" leisurely, and engage people in a friendly informal chat. But most noticeably, they put up moveable posters with JW.ORG in big font, even though I've only seen them in places where no-one speaks English. I've seen them in Palma de Mallorca, Paris and Antwerp, yet few people there would know the link between "JW" and Getuigen van Jehova/Testigos de Jehova. So either they bank on tricking people into visiting their website without knowing what the site is about, or they want to make their brand more uniform around the world.

So you tricked me into visiting JW.org. Quite smooth, bit like the TSCC site.

Found this gem on there in regards to a Mormon convert to JW

"And church prophets say that when “the Kingdom of God will bear rule, the flag of the United States will proudly flutter unsullied on the flag staff of liberty and equal rights.”

There was no reference but I think that's a BY quote.

I am in St Petersburg for the grand prix race with my son. Yes the JW's are on the streets with their literature stands.

In Northern AZ USA today I got decent to answer the door only to find myself irritated that I had taken the effort, for there stood the JDs with an invitation to an oh-so-special Bibbly talk "Are you on the road to everlasting life?" Some how I suspect the answer is "No".

With the exception of a few shut-ins or other people who might be vulnerable to their message, the number of people they piss off going door to door vs the number they convert must be pretty high.

In order to get their monthly 10 or 20 hours of service in, (rather than go door to door which i am sure the members must hate,) JDs have taken to setting up a small poster board and sitting in lawn chairs in the park across from the local High School. Sure beats knocking doors.

I haven't seen any JWs on the street corner where we are in Murcia Province, Spain, but we did get a visit on our doorstep from them this morning. This was the third time in the last couple of years. Interestingly none of them have been Spanish and the area we live in consists mostly of northern Europeans at this time of year. I can only presume that they don't think it is worthwhile to target the Spanish.

I have actually seen Mormon missionaries in a couple of the towns while out and about but I have no idea how many members there are and whether they are mostly Spanish or ex-pats.

There are on several street corners near Cypress/Cerritos, CA... And also under the pier in Huntington Beach.

I thought they gave up going door-to-door - but just this week I found their flier on my kitchen counter. My MIL is staying with us and she must have opened the door!

I was approached by JWs this morning at the gas station.
It was distinctly weird.
Bunch of people (at an Arco) getting gas, and two older men in suits going around handing out "Awake!" leaflets.
I didn't take one.

We got an actual letter in the mail today addressed to "last name or current resident". So, they are tracting through the mail.