Announcements and Reminders

April 2021

FOR ELDERS
1. Revised Shepherd Book: We are pleased to inform you that a revised version of the
Shepherd book will soon be posted on jw.org. Please be aware that revisions to the text in
the JWPUB and EPUB versions of Shepherd may affect the location of highlights, notes,
and bookmarks made by the user in the previous version. For example, in the JWPUB
version, where a paragraph has been deleted or a new paragraph has been inserted, any
highlighting, notes, or bookmarks on subsequent paragraphs within the associated chapter
will appear in the wrong paragraph. Listed below is an overview of the significant textual
changes:
Chapter 1
• Par. 2 pt.15: Revised to reflect the single resolved monthly donation to the
worldwide work.
Chapter 9
• Pars. 2-3, 9: Revised to reflect an adjusted procedure for processing regular
pioneer applications.—See announcement for secretaries.
Chapter 14
• Pars. 26-27: Revised to indicate that when an individual associated with the
congregation who has been accused of child sexual abuse (established or
not) moves to another congregation, two elders from the congregation the in-
dividual moves from should immediately call the Legal Department. When the
individual arrives at the new congregation, two elders from that congregation
should also immediately call the Legal Department. Adjusted to indicate that
the above direction also applies to disfellowshipped or disassociated individ-
uals accused of child sexual abuse who are attending meetings.
Chapter 20
• Par. 20: Revised to indicate that when a speaker displays an image, he
should refer to it and use it to teach and that images should not be displayed
merely to add visual interest.
Chapter 21
• Par. 7: Revised to indicate that the cleaning coordinator should consult with
the Kingdom Hall Operating Committee to ensure that adequate cleaning
supplies and simple written instructions are kept on hand.
• Par. 20: Inserted reference to the new Kingdom Hall Agreement (S-46) form,
which may be used as a template.
• Par. 27: Inserted direction regarding how to minimize trip hazards in the
Kingdom Hall.
• Par. 29: Inserted direction regarding not working alone in the Kingdom Hall.
• Par. 30: Inserted direction regarding use of the Risk Incident Report (TO-5).
• Par. 32: Clarified when to contact the Local Design/Construction Department
and when to contact the Branch Risk Management Desk in the Accounting
Department.
Chapter 22
• Par. 9: Revised direction regarding communication between congregations
when a disfellowshipped or disassociated individual moves.

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 Chapter 23
• Par. 15: Inserted direction regarding displaying the Enjoy Life Forever! bro-
chure during public witnessing.
Chapter 25
• Par. 15: Inserted direction regarding inactive publishers who do not want to
be contacted by the congregation.

2. Public Talk No. 70: Since the circuit overseer’s public talk for the second half of the
2022 service year will be a revised version of the current public talk “Make Jehovah Your
Confidence,” that talk should not be given after September 1, 2021.

3. Public Information Desk: The Public Information Desk at the branch is a department
that represents Jehovah’s Witnesses before government authorities, the media, and aca-
demic institutions. Therefore, if any of these entities asks you for information about our ac-
tivities, please have them write to or call this department. On the other hand, if your body
of elders needs to mention something regarding this matter, they may also contact such
department. The contact information is: [email protected]; tel. 55-5133-3048.
Those who call from Central America may use the telephone numbers under the “Contact
Us” section of jw.org (go to Home > About Us > Contact Us and select the country where
you live).

4. New Publications: The 7-bullet point in the announcements to the congregations has a
list of the new publications that can be requested through your congregations’ literature
servant.

FOR COORDINATORS OF THE BODIES OF ELDERS

5. Announcements for Congregations: Please ensure that the announcements for con-
gregations are read at the next midweek meeting.

FOR SECRETARIES
1. Appointments and Deletions of Regular Pioneers: Effective April 5, 2021, the Regular
Pioneers feature will be removed from the “Congregation” tab on jw.org. Once the Congre-
gation Service Committee uses the Review Applications feature to approve a regular pio-
neer application, the branch office will be informed automatically of the appointment. A few
days later, a notification will appear in the Congregation Persons feature indicating that the
appointment has been registered by the branch office. If there is any reason why the ap-
pointment cannot be registered by the branch office, the branch office will communicate with
the elders on the matter. Deletions of regular pioneers should be entered using the Congre-
gation Persons feature. Instructions for Congregation Use of JW.ORG (S-135) will soon be
updated accordingly.

FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY MEETING OVERSEERS

1. Adjusted Student Assignments: The Enjoy Life Forever! brochure will be featured in
the Bible study student assignments beginning in June 2021. Soon after the announce-
ment is read to the congregation, please arrange for the attached list to be provided to all
publishers and others who receive student assignments. Ensure that the Life and Ministry
Meeting chairman and the assigned students for the week are aware of the material that
should be used and the assigned study point from the Teaching brochure. Remind them
that when a video appears in the material, it should be discussed but not played. Encour-
age the students to review the portion of the January 2021 JW Broadcasting program that

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demonstrates how to conduct a Bible study using Enjoy Life Forever! The applicable por-
tion begins approximately 50 minutes into the program.

2. For the midweek meeting during the week of May 24, 2021, please arrange for the pub-
lisher assigned the Bible study to commend the student for his progress and briefly dis-
cuss the value of transitioning to the Enjoy Life Forever! brochure. The teacher should en-
courage the student to review lesson 01 before the next study.

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 Announcements and Reminders
April 2021

FOR CONGREGATIONS
1. Downloading the Enjoy Life Forever! Book: The new Enjoy Life Forever! book will
soon be available in the JW Library app. Even if you have already downloaded the PDF
version of the book, we urge you to download the book in the JW Library app. The app will
allow you to access fully all of the features of this interactive Bible course. As a reminder,
please be sure that you have the latest version of JW Library before you download Enjoy
Life Forever!

2. Adjusted Student Assignments: Now that the Enjoy Life Forever! brochure is availa-
ble, it will be featured in the Bible study student assignments beginning in June 2021.
Since the material to be considered for these assignments does not appear in the Life and
Ministry Meeting Workbook, the elders will provide a list of the adjustments to all publish-
ers and others who receive student assignments. When a video appears in the material, it
should be discussed but not played. When an initial call or a return visit assignment directs
that a publication be offered, the assigned publisher should offer a publication from the
Teaching Toolbox other than the Teach Us book. Further information about how to use the
new brochure and book will appear in the September-October 2021 Life and Ministry
Meeting Workbook.

3. Personal Decisions During the Pandemic: In some parts of the world, governments
have begun to make COVID-19 vaccines available to the public. Whether someone
chooses to be vaccinated is a personal decision. (Gal. 6:5) Thus, it would be loving to re-
spect the personal decision that each individual makes based on his Bible-trained con-
science, instead of pressuring someone to make the same choice that we made.

4. When making decisions about personal activities such as socializing in person, travel-
ing, and so forth, we want to be more cautious than the secular authorities and our neigh-
bors, who are often eager to resume activities for economic reasons.

5. We are prayerfully considering how and when to resume our theocratic activities in a
progressive and safe manner. However, for the time being, the Governing Body’s direction
regarding our organizational activities during the pandemic remains the same. Therefore,
in-person preaching work—door-to-door witnessing, return visits, Bible studies, public wit-
nessing—continues to be suspended. The Kingdom Hall should not be used unless ap-
proved by the branch office. In time, more direction will be provided regarding when vari-
ous aspects of our theocratic activities can be resumed.

6. We kindly remind you of the importance of taking safety precautions at all times. Such
precautions include wearing face coverings, maintaining physical distancing, and washing
hands regularly. If you experience cold or flu-like symptoms, it would be best for you to
stay home and notify your health-care provider.

7. New Publications: We provide you a list of new publications that can be ordered
through your congregation’s literature servant.

NEW PUBLICATIONS
Enjoy Life Forever!—Introductory Bible Lessons, 65445 — English and Spanish
Research Guide for Jehovah's Witnesses—2020 Edition, 5520 — Nahuatl (Guerrero)
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Week Of Current Bible Study Assignment Replacement Assignment Using
Outlined in the Life and Ministry the Enjoy Life Forever! Brochure
Meeting Workbook

June 7 fg lesson 5 ¶1-2 (th study 11) lffi lesson 01 intro and points 1-2 (th
study 15)

June 14 fg lesson 9 ¶6-7 (th study 8) lffi lesson 01 point 3 (th study 8)

June 28 fg lesson 12 ¶4-5 (th study 18) lffi lesson 01 point 4 (th study 14)

July 26 bhs 138 ¶8 (th study 13) lffi lesson 01 point 5 (th study 18)

August 16 lvs 234 ¶21-22 (th study 9) lffi lesson 01 point 6 and Some People
Say (th study 9)

August 23 lvs 226-227 ¶3-5 (th study 13) lffi lesson 01 summary, review, and
goal (th study 3)

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