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Presenting the Good News—By Developing Magazine Routes

¹ Jesus’ famous words “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth” help us appreciate that we need spiritual food not just occasionally but on a regular basis. Consequently, our regularly providing people in the territory with spiritual food is essential to their spiritual development and growth.—Matt. 4:4; 1 Cor. 3:6.

² Some have found that a magazine route helps to develop the interest of sheeplike ones, moving them to feed on God’s Word regularly. This has proved to be very effective in business territories where an extensive witness cannot be given. Where mail service is unreliable and people are reluctant to subscribe, magazine routes have been the answer. There are many good reasons to give serious consideration to developing a magazine route.

HOW TO DEVELOP A MAGAZINE ROUTE

³ First, develop the habit of keeping a good house-to-house record. Write down ALL magazine placements when in door-to-door work. When working business territory, write down the person’s name, the address where he works and, if an office building, the floor, the room number, and so forth.

⁴ The information on your house-to-house record will help you to determine the order in which to make the return visits. This will cut down on needless walking or traveling between calls and will save you time. Your record of placements will also help you to determine the issues and quantity of magazines you will need each time that you make your route calls.

⁵ What else is required for successful magazine-route work? Review your house-to-house record and determine which articles you are going to feature. Think in terms of what will appeal to each householder. For example, if you spoke with a young person, you may want to use the series “Young People Ask . . . .”

⁶ Magazine-route calls should be made every two weeks. Not all calls will develop into route calls. However, some will be glad to see you again. Do not get discouraged if you have only a few names at first. As time goes by, you will eliminate those who do not want to receive the magazines regularly and you will add new ones who show interest.—Eccl. 11:6.

HOW TO PRESENT THE MAGAZINES

⁷ Generally it is best to be brief and call the householder’s attention to one article only. This is especially important in business territory. You may simply say: “I am glad to see you again. The latest Watchtower and Awake! have arrived and I am pleased to bring your copies for the usual contribution. I thought you would be particularly interested in reading this article. [Point to article.] If you have some questions on the information, I will be glad to discuss them with you on my next call.” Cultivating interest in this way may result in a home Bible study.

⁸ How thankful we are that we have such marvelous instruments as The Watchtower and Awake! for helping people become disciples of Christ! May we regularly feed honest-hearted ones the truth of God’s Word by developing magazine routes in our territories.