Jehovah’s Witnesses welcome return of in-person worship services

When their Fort Smith Kingdom Hall closed its doors due to covid-19, the Hurst family, Sheila (left), Ezra, Eric and Levi, began worshipping with other Jehovah’s Witnesses via Zoom. After two years of virtual services, the nation’s Kingdom Halls are finally reopening.
(Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
When their Fort Smith Kingdom Hall closed its doors due to covid-19, the Hurst family, Sheila (left), Ezra, Eric and Levi, began worshipping with other Jehovah’s Witnesses via Zoom. After two years of virtual services, the nation’s Kingdom Halls are finally reopening. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)

After worshipping remotely for more than two years, Jehovah's Witnesses across the United States will begin gathering again at Kingdom Halls next week to study the Bible and meet with fellow believers.

Door-to-door witnessing will remain suspended until further notice.

"Everybody is pleased, really excited, to be going back," said Richard Lawrence, an elder from Fayetteville.

His congregation is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Sunday; the Lawrence family won't be stragglers.

"We'll be there early, I'm sure," he said.

With services about to resume, congregants gave the building a thorough cleaning, and they've posted signs reminding people to cough into their elbows instead of the palms of their hands.

"We recommend everybody wear a mask ... but it's not an edict, it's not a mandate," he said. "If somebody shows up and they're not wearing a mask, we're not turning them away."

In the Little Rock area, in-person services won't resume until later in the week. Rather than meeting in Kingdom Halls over the weekend, capital city Witnesses will participate in a previously scheduled remote assembly.

Brady Day of Little Rock said he's looking forward to his congregation's Tuesday night Bible study.

"It's been a little bit difficult, not being able to see my brothers and sisters and give them a hug," he said.

Nationwide, the Jehovah's Witnesses have 13,000 congregations and 1.3 million members, officials say.

Arkansas has 134 congregations and 11,340 Witnesses, with meetings held in English, Spanish, Marshallese and American Sign Language.

Jehovah's Witnesses suspended in-person worship services nationwide on March 20, 2020.

Since then, they have gathered online to study the Scriptures.

With a pandemic raging and people dying, Kingdom Halls were shuttered "out of respect for life," Day said.

"Our whole family knows it's been necessary, just to be safe, and [we're] glad we can actually meet together now," he said.

Unable to meet in person, a number of religious organizations embraced social media alternatives, including Facebook Live and YouTube.

The Witnesses opted to use Zoom.

By late March or early April, all but a handful of the organization's U.S. congregations had made the digital transition.

Robert Hendricks, the Witnesses' U.S. spokesman, said Zoom's interactive capabilities were essential.

"We not only want our congregants to hear us, we want to hear them because our meetings are generally discussion based," he said.

Moving forward, Witnesses will be able to attend services in person or participate via Zoom, Hendricks said.

They'll continue to share their faith, as well, in ways that minimize the risk of covid transmission.

The virus forced Witnesses to adapt, but it did not silence their public witness, Hendricks said.

"Witnesses, just in the United States, spend more than 400 million hours collectively, sending letters, making phone calls, doing virtual Bible studies, and virtual visits," he said. "It has been an immense collective effort that has reached tens of millions of people with a comforting message in this difficult time."

Because of covid-19, the Witnesses were unable to gather in 2020 or 2021 to observe the Last Supper, which Witnesses call the Memorial of Jesus' Death or the Lord's Evening Meal.

The event was instead commemorated in individual homes. The organization encouraged its members to obtain their own red wine and to bake their own unleavened bread using wheat flour and water.

"No preservatives, no salt, no seasoning," said Nicole Willis, a Witness from Alexander. "My boys and I, we did it as a family. It's very simple, actually."

This year, the Witnesses will be able to commemorate Christ's death communally.

Upcoming Events