Growing Up As A Jehovah’s Witness

When you’re a kid, there’s nothing better than waking up early on Saturday and watching your favorite cartoons (Mine were Pokémon & Yu-Gi-Oh!). Instead of doing that, though, I’d wake up at 5:30 AM, put on a suit, and get ready to spend the day knocking on doors. My childhood was different than most, and today, I’m going to share my experience growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Growing up, my parents took me to a place called the Kingdom Hall. The Kingdom Hall is Jehovah’s Witnesses term for church, and we gathered there for worship. We went there multiple times a week, depending on our availability. Weekly studies were also held at the houses of congregation members.

Religious Schedule

On Tuesday – One hour meeting at night                              

On Thursday – Two hour meeting at night

On  Saturday – Street work and Door to Door in the morning 

On Sunday – Two hour meeting in the morning

We attended the Kingdom Hall twice a week for our meetings, which consisted of bible readings and sermons. My enjoyment of these meetings depended on the quality of the speakers. If they were charismatic, I had no problem listening, but sitting through their talks was torture if they were boring. I occasionally brought my CD player and secretly listened to music to help pass the time.

I started giving my own talks at the Kingdom Hall when I got older. I’d read a passage from the Bible or give a short presentation on religious material. I was initially scared to speak publicly, but overcame my fears after doing it a few times. After I finished my talk, the congregation gave me a round of applause, which felt great and helped my confidence.

Once a week we met at a congregation member’s house to study a Jehovah’s Witness publication. Everyone took turns reading the material, and we discussed the questions listed at the end of each chapter. I enjoyed these smaller meetings and found the books informative and well written.

The day I dreaded most was Saturday because that was when we did “Street Work” and “Door to Door.” I’ll give you a breakdown of both.

Street Work

On Saturday morning, we woke up early to hit the streets and pass out pamphlets. We visited bus stops and laundromats and spoke with people about their religious beliefs. If our conversation went well, we invited them to our kingdom hall to learn more.

Door to Door

After street work, we usually stopped for donuts and went to someone’s house for a brief study session. Then we drove to a nearby neighborhood and walked up and down the street, knocking on doors. If someone opened the door and spoke to us, we pulled out our magazines and gave a brief presentation. If they were interested and wanted to learn more, we scheduled a follow-up visit or invited them to the Kingdom Hall to experience a meeting firsthand.

Most of the time, though, people acted like they weren’t home or slammed the door in our faces. It wasn’t a fun way to spend the day, and I was always afraid I’d knock on the door of someone I knew from school. I don’t think I ever did, but I was constantly paranoid that one of my classmates would answer the door and see me in a suit holding a magazine.

The most challenging part of growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness was living under the restrictions of the religion.

The first thing I remember not being able to do was say the Pledge of Allegiance at school. While everyone else in class stood up and saluted the flag, my family instructed me to stay seated. When kids asked why I didn’t salute the flag, I’d say, ‘I’m a Jehovah’s Witness,’ and shrug my shoulders. I felt awkward and out of place.

Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t celebrate holidays, so I never experienced Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or even birthdays. That means I didn’t celebrate them at home or participate in holiday activities at school.

The one holiday I wished I could celebrate growing up was Halloween.

In elementary school, my friends would wear the spookiest costumes they could find. When everyone showed up on Halloween dressed up, I was one of the few kids wearing regular clothes. When everyone went trick-or-treating at night, my family would be at home with the lights turned off. If people still knocked on our door, we ignored them until they got the hint and walked away.

My family never celebrated Thanksgiving, but we did have the famous Thanksgiving Dinner a few weeks before or after the holiday date. So, while I never got to officially celebrate the holiday, I at least got to experience the turkey meal.

When it came to birthdays, I never celebrated mine or my friends. I’d see other people get their own cakes, parties, and gifts, but I never experienced it myself. When I became an adult, my family members who weren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses started buying me gifts on my birthday and Christmas, but it wasn’t the same experience.

Another restriction was who I could spend time with outside of school. I wasn’t allowed to hang out with people outside the Jehovah’s Witness religion, which meant I couldn’t spend time with my friends. My Mom preferred that I make friends with other kids from our local Kingdom Hall. I didn’t have anything against those kids, but like any normal kid, I wanted to be around my friends.

When it came to enforcing the rules, my Dad was more lenient than my Mom. My Dad would let me play mature-rated video games, while My Mom only allowed E-rated games in the house. With my Mom, everything had to be PG or family friendly. She took everything taught at the Kingdom Hall seriously and was what I would call an “extremist.”

One of the things I frequently fought with my Mom over was music. Anything that didn’t sound like a church choir was banned from the house. I always had to hide my music, and if it was discovered, it was promptly thrown away. When my Dad took me to the bookstore, which also sold music, I’d sneak off and rebuy my CDs. Looking back, I can understand why my parents didn’t want me listening to explicit music, but at the time, it felt overly restrictive.

As I got older, my Dad stopped attending meetings, and my parents got divorced. When I was a teenager, I moved in with my Dad and started living a freer lifestyle. In high school, I began to rebel, go to parties, do drugs, drink, and basically do whatever I wanted. I also stopped going to religious meetings. Over the years, I got into a lot of trouble, but I was tired of living such a restricted lifestyle and just wanted to fit in with my peers.

After I inevitably wrecked my life, I changed my ways, but I never returned to religion. My childhood experiences left me so bitter that I have no desire to go back. Over time, though, I’ve become grateful for some of the lessons and skills I picked up at the Kingdom Hall. It wasn’t all bad, and I met a lot of great people who genuinely cared about me.

To this day, my Mom still tries to convert me to a Jehovah’s Witness. She frequently invites me to meetings and sends members of the congregation to my house to speak with me. I’m always nice to them, but politely decline their invitations to the Kingdom Hall. After everything I experienced growing up, I’d rather focus on my own relationship with God and cut out the middleman.