For Immediate Release
May 18, 2001

Bible teaching and education take center stage at
three-day conventions of Jehovah's Witnesses

Every person on the face of the earth should have a right to an education. Jehovah's Witnesses will highlight opportunities for a unique education to all who attend the "Teachers of God's Word" District Conventions that begin today in the United States and work their way through cities around the globe. From May through September, Jehovah's Witnesses will hold 189 district conventions in 62 cities throughout the United States.

Prominently and repeatedly emphasized in the scheduled program are themes involving teachers, teaching, learning and education. The nearly 1.5 million who attended the conventions held in the United States last year included people of all races and age groups, from infants to the elderly.

The Witnesses plan to use a number of program parts to illustrate that learning from God's Word offers a unique and beneficial opportunity. The process culminates with the satisfaction individuals gain when they share what they have learned with other people.

On Friday, the opening day of each convention, the keynote address delivered at 11:50 a.m. invites everyone to participate in that learning process: "Jesus was not interested in conferring the key of knowledge upon an elite group of Scripture scholars. He told his disciples: 'What I tell you in the darkness, say in the light; and what you hear whispered, preach from the housetops.' Jesus ardently desired to share the knowledge of God with as many people as possible. To him, knowledge of the Scriptures was to be shared, not hidden away."

Saturday morning's program will include the baptism and ordination at 11:50 a.m. A highlight on Sunday morning will be a reenactment of a Bible account featuring a cast of costumed actors. Sunday afternoon the featured lecture "Who Are Teaching All Nations the Truth?" will be delivered in each location by a qualified, experienced minister. It will be followed by closing comments that will bring the three-day accelerated Bible education program to its completion.

Nationwide, the conventions are expected to draw over 1.5 million people and will be held in 15 languages: English and Spanish, as well as American Sign Language, Armenian, Chinese, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

Worldwide, Jehovah's Witnesses number over 6 million and preach their message of hope in 235 lands and islands of the sea. Their administrative center is located in Brooklyn, New York.

Contact: J. R. Brown, telephone: 718 560-5600