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“Speaking of Working Together”

Recently Jehovah’s Witnesses in Tiverton, Rhode Island, erected a quickly built Kingdom Hall. Under the above title, a local clergyman reported on his visit to the building site. The substance of it follows.

‘SEVERAL strange reports came to me about a church being built on Fish Road. It was reported that 500 people were building a church in two days. I went to Fish Road to check this story out. There were some 1,500 people there working​—carpenters, plumbers, electricians, lath workers, glaziers, landscapers, plasterers, heating men, bricklayers, cement finishers, and hundreds of laborers and helpers.

‘Open trucks were all over the grounds, three acres [1.2 ha] in all. One sign read “Lost and Found.” If a person lost a tool, he could go to this truck and find it returned. If you arrived in clean clothes and wanted to work, there was a truck with work clothes and hard hats available. A first-aid truck if anyone got hurt or needed medical attention.

‘A large circus tent was set up out back where men and women fed 1,500 people in 15 minutes. I saw women going around with cans of water to dampen down the soil just to keep the dust down, and that’s all they did all day. As boards were nailed in place, painters were on hand to paint the wood. It was a sight few of us had ever seen.

‘General contractors in the area said it couldn’t be done. But it was done, and I went there and saw it with my own eyes. Who were these people? Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the church was a Kingdom Hall. The foundation was done earlier, but the rest of it was built in two days! I didn’t hear a cuss word. No arguments. A very strange group to behold indeed. Very quietly they went about their business. Their hands were where all the action was​—not their mouths!

‘You know one thing we have been concerned about in Unitarian-Universalist circles is why we are not attracting more blacks and more interracial and nationality groups. Here I saw lots of black people and mixed racial groups all working together as a family. The people here were from all over New England and beyond. A mixed racial group mostly of young people with lots of enthusiasm.

‘I have never learned a lot about these people due to poor press and poor word-of-mouth reports, but what I saw was all good. I’ve never cared for those people who come knocking at my door over the years, but be assured I’ll greet them with a lot more respect and admiration.

‘It’s occurred to me that many of us close our minds to ideas and new approaches because of ignorance and prejudgment. I think we all have to sit up and take notice when they pass us by in the race. Ignorance and fear do a job on us long before we’ve started to listen. But especially when they are doing such a good job of growing and generate a lot of enthusiasm.

‘If they had contracted this building out​—cellar and all—​it would have cost about $500,000 or more. I wondered whether we in Unitarian-Universalist circles and in our formal New England ways would ever try anything like this. Think about it​—especially those of you who are lovers of committee meetings and lots of talk. Yes! Think it over!’