Public Witnessing
Witnessing near or within a public transportation facility allows for a greater mass of a population of people to be reached with the "Good News of God's Kingdom" at any given time. Some may observe Jehovah's Witnesses at a particular bus stop, airport terminal, or a DART train station often utilizing witnessing carts for weeks or months before approaching them with questions or requests for literature.
Seafarers and dock workers on harbor ships where they spend the majority of their lives have expressed gratitude for the efforts shown to reach out to them with Bible truth. By being consistently stationed at the same place and within the same time periods even people with very busy commuting schedules and responsibilities have an opportunity to hear the Kingdom message.
Special Metropolitan Public Witnessing [SMPW]
SMPW is accomplished in a very organized and systematic way. Teams of volunteers are assigned to an approved public location and assigned to a specific shift of coverage. Instructions are provided on everything from witnessing topics, and safety reminders
This type of witnessing work usually involves the use of carts or tables with attractive displays and literature in more than one language that are strategically placed in areas with high pedestrian traffic. Many people walk by, including those who live in secured apartment buildings and persons who are often away from home.
In the enclosed picture, after attending SMPW Training, Stephanie and George participate in SMPW outside of the county courthouse in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Local Public Witnessing at a Dallas Public Library
In some metropolitan areas, libraries designate their meeting rooms, auditoriums, or specific outdoor spaces—such as sidewalks, plazas, or parking lot edges—as public forums. This allows any citizen to sign petitions, distribute literature, or give speeches, regardless of their religion or faith. To the left, a picture shows Stephanie demonstrating how she, George, and other publishers set up a public witnessing table inside a local library with the facility's approval.
Local Public Witnessing at DART [Dallas Area Rapid Transit] Train & Bus Stations
Harbor Witnessing on Ships to International Seafarers
Along with other Brothers, George was assigned and approved to do harbor witnessing at the City of Jacksonville Port in Florida. This provision allows a preaching opportunity to be given to longshoremen and cruise ship employees who speak different languages and come from various parts of the world to work on the ships and the docks.
Special Public Witnessing Event Campaign
Special Public Witnessing Event describes a special public witnessing campaign held during the State Fair of Texas for three weeks during the months of September thru October.
On the initial campaign in 2017, over 5,000 publishers from various Kingdom Halls in the area attended the training sessions held. More than 700 volunteers worked in support departments. Additionally, more than 7,000 pieces of literature was placed during the initial campaign, and there were over 1,300 experiences reported.
Stephanie really enjoyed the opportunity to assist with cleaning, training session check-in support, and other administrative assignments during the initial campaign.
These public witnessing carts that are often used by JWs in their ministry are
all lined up and ready to go!
Dallas Special Public Witnessing
George attends one of the initial special public witnessing event strategy sessions.
Despite their participation in the much needed work behind the scenes, the most satisfying blessing that Stephanie and George received during the special event campaign was from actually working in the ministry at one of the literature carts.
George's assignments covered a range of tasks in the following areas: Initial planning stages and strategy meetings, assisting with the composing of letters and correspondence to the congregations, preparing training session talk outline drafts, and other training materials to be submitted for approval to oversight, onsite support at training sessions, and doing research related projects for committee team members.
Public Witnessing at Dallas / Forth Worth International Airport
The DFW airport is open 24 hours a day. The numbers of employees working at the airport itself is over 60,000.
The airport connects with 204 destinations and the numbers of passengers traveling are over 68 million in a year. It provides a tremendous opportunity to glorify the name of Jehovah.
Stephanie and George public witnessing at Terminal E at the airport
One of the initial DFW public witnessing training sessions
