On "Bibleneering"

Did the pioneering arrangement exist in the first century Christian congregation?

No. There were no arrangements for getting 70 hours of service a month for some and 50 hours a month for others. There weren’t arrangements to get 90 hours or 100 hours of service per month either—as modern day witnesses used to do.

So why do we have the pioneering arrangement in the congregation today?

Other congregational arrangements, such as Ministerial Servants, Elders, and missionaries or traveling overseers existed in the first century; pioneering did not.

The answer, I think, is obvious. 

When people commit to a specific sacrifice publicly and before Jehovah, it is more likely that they will follow through. When someone signs a paper saying that they vow to get 30 or 50 hours for a specific month, there is an added amount of proper pressure to complete that goal in comparison to a person that has a general goal of getting a lot of field service hours in a specific month.

It is a good thing that we have the pioneering arrangement.

Pioneering is like the modern-day vow of “Nazariteship.”

Why do we measure pioneering by hours instead of another result? For example, why is pioneering “getting 70 hours a month” instead of “getting 2 people brought into the truth per year” or something that isn’t measured by time? One reason is obvious. Territories and their respective fruitfulness will vary, however, an hour is an hour for you or for me. It is an equal measurement that can be fairly measured. 

Although, service quality is more important than quantity, it often naturally follows that quality of a skill will grow through quantity of time spent practicing it. The more you play a guitar, the better you will get at doing it.

There are other reasons besides the above points that explain why it is great that pioneering is measured in time instead of other units. This question could be interesting to meditate over.

Here’s a question—a strange question:

Why isn’t there such a thing as Bibleneering? 

A Bibleneer is someone that takes a certain amount of hours per month or per year to do a special burst of in depth bible studying.

There are Auxilary Bibleneers that can choose a specific month and vow to give 10 hours total that month to bible reading. 

The Regular Bibleneers do 15 hours a month, or really, 180 hours a year of Bible reading.

There are Special Bibleneers too. They read the bible for 20 hours a month, but they get a small stipend each month from the branch—ok that was really stretching the idea wasn’t it?

Let’s focus on Regular Bibleneering…

If you read thirty minutes a day, you will achieve your goal of 15 hours a month, but it’s best to get ahead for the sunny season! 

Why do we say get ahead for sunny season? 

During the rainy season you will likely have more time to curl up in a blanket at home and read the bible because it feels icky to go out, whereas during the sunny season, you will be out in service a lot and maybe not have as much time to stay home and read.

With Bibleneering, will every day of reading be super productive?

Is every day of field ministry super productive?

No. Sometimes I have great bible studies and I feel really good about my service time. Other times, I’m with my friends in an air-conditioned car and more time is spent in coffee shops than actually talking to people in the territory. However, being out in any form of service is better than not being out at all.

Similarly, with Bibleneering, there will be days where you pull out the Insight book, look up cross references, and deeply meditate on the deep prophecies of Daniel or Matthew. Other days, you flick on the Mp3 and let the measurements of the tabernacle from the second half of Exodus wash over you as you wash the dishes in your kitchen sink—but at least you’re listening to that instead of the silly lyrics in worldly music.

How do I sign up to be a Regular Bibleneer or Auxiliary Bibleneer?

Well, one way is to announce it on Instagram or other social media.

Is this a way to brag, or self-righteously toot your own horn before making a sacrifice as the Pharisees did? If you feel, that way, then of course there is nothing wrong with keeping your “vow” private.

However, we could also consider this:

When you sign up as a Regular Pioneer, it is announced publicly and received with applause of support. The purpose is not to brag.

There are three advantages to announcing pioneering publicly that I can think of off hand and more that perhaps you can think of.

1. Others know to support you in your vow
2. A public declaration adds an extra layer of positive peer pressure to complete your vow
3. The one making the vow can have a reasonable amount of rightful pride that he or she is making the vow

We can think about Daniel who made sure others saw him when he prayed, or how a vow of Nazariteship was definitely public. The motives for Daniel and the Nazarites were different, but in each case pride was not the motivating factor.

The point is, there is nothing wrong with announcing it publicly—it can usually be very helpful.

Everyone’s circumstances are different. Not everyone can read an hour of the bible each day. It would be irresponsible for some to do so!

But can you put aside just 10 hours total time for one month for reading the bible in the same way as some might take 50 hours from one month to Auxiliary pioneer?

Some take several months out of the year to Auxiliary Pioneer.

Maybe Bibleneering isn’t something you can do now. Maybe you can’t because you are already doing a heavy bible reading project like the ’60 day project.’

Hopefully though, you can arrange your circumstances so that you can Bibleneer in the near future.

Can you Bibleneer for the month of January?

#bibleneering