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How Are Your Congregational Manners?

¹ A person with good manners is a pleasure to be with; in fact, our good manners contribute considerably to the happiness of those with whom we associate. The Scriptural principle underlying good manners was stated by Jesus when he said: “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them.​—Matt. 7:12.

² But what do we mean when we speak of congregational manners? We mean the manners we have and show toward our brothers when congregated together. For example, always being on time for the meetings demonstrates good manners. When we are late we can be quite a distraction to our brothers who are listening to the program and to the brother speaking introductory words for our benefit.

³ If we have the privilege of taking part in a demonstration or giving a talk, there are a number of things we can do to show consideration for our brothers. If microphone equipment is used in our Kingdom Hall, we can be careful always to speak directly into the microphone so that all can hear us clearly and easily. In a demonstration we should be careful always to face our brothers in the audience as much as possible so that they can see plainly what we are demonstrating and benefit from our facial expression and gestures. When we know that we will be having some part on the program, it is a considerate thing to arrive early and usually it is good to take a seat near the aisle toward the front of the Kingdom Hall. This conserves time and avoids the distraction we cause our brothers when we have to walk past them out of the row where we are seated and then to the front of the hall. This is also very helpful to our Ministry School servant, for he will know we are present, we can give him our counsel sheet ahead of time, and he can begin his counsel to us without lengthy hesitation while we are returning to our seat. And being careful to keep our assigned part on the meeting within its allotted time shows kindness to the brothers who have worked hard on the meeting parts that will follow ours.

⁴ We who are servants can, in a further way, show ourselves to have good congregational manners. That is by being in our seats, listening attentively, at each meeting. As servants we have a number of duties that are best handled at the Kingdom Hall, but it is better that we come a little earlier or remain a little longer at the hall to care for these responsibilities than to take time during the meeting to handle them. If we make this our habit, we will never distract our brothers during a meeting, we will be taking good care of our personal spiritual needs, and we will in this way be a fine example.

⁵ Every effort is made each week to conclude the meetings on time. At the end of each meeting everybody has an opportunity to express himself in song and to join in prayer to Jehovah. All of us do well to stay at our seats during this important period of praise and share in worship of Jehovah together.