Witnesses at a distance to spread word

Strict social distancing measures have changed the way the Jehovah Witnesses, a denomination of Christianity, spread the word of God.

Jehovah Witnesses partake in preaching and door-to-door ministry, which is now labelled unsafe in the present pandemic.

However, Australind elder Trevor Davies said the Jehovah community was still reaching out to people in alternative ways — with phone calls and letters replacing face-to-face interactions.

“We actually stopped our door-to-door ministry before the Federal Government put the bans in place,” Mr Davies said.

“We went into isolation because we did not want to add to the burden of the medical staff on the frontline.

“The whole congregation is taking the coronavirus very seriously.”

Mr Davies said Jehovah Witnesses stopped going from house to house and meeting in-person in early March, but had since found other ways to stay connected to each other.

“Our meetings are now held on a video calling app called Zoom,” he said.

“We had about 200 people from the Harvey and Australind Jehovah Witnesses congregation hooked up on Zoom recently.

“It worked really well and we were able to all discuss and stay in touch.

“Our spiritual need is really important, it is who we are.

“We feel spirituality is the key to lasting happiness.”

Mr Davies said the public was welcome to tune in to the Zoom meetings.

Although the electronic forums seemed to be working, Mr Davies said he was missing the face-to-face interactions.

“We are missing it, we are definitely looking forward to bringing back our mobile literature carts and going into the public again, when the government gives us the all-clear,” he said.

Mr Davies believed it was important to “keep calm and show trust” during the pandemic.