October 4, 2015

TO ALL CONGREGATIONS

Re: New Provisions Announced atAnnual Meeting

Dear Brothers:

At the annual meeting of the WatchTower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania held on October 3, 2015, severalnew provisions were announced.

Teach Us Book: The first provisionis a new 224-page publication entitled What Can the Bible Teach Us? It is basedon the book What Does the Bible Really Teach? The Teach Us book does notreplace the Bible Teach book. Rather, it will be useful when studying withindividuals who need to have the truth presented in a simpler manner. Besideshaving simplified text, the Teach Us book has the following additionalfeatures:

· At the end of every chapter is atwo-page summary rather than a review box. These summaries can also be used toconduct Bible studies.

· At the end of the book, endnotes areprovided rather than an appendix. The endnotes correlate closely with theglossary of the revised New World Translation. The endnotes clarify someexpressions that we as Jehovah’s Witnesses use in our everyday conversation butthat may not be familiar to the public.

· Some of the text and illustrationsused in the Bible Teach book have been adjusted.

The Teach Us book will no doubt be auseful tool that can be used to help people gain a basic understanding of Bibletruth, similar to the way the Bible Teach book is used. The Teach Us book isthe same size as the Bible Teach book and is similar in appearance but has aslightly altered cover design to differentiate the two publications. Printedcopies of the Teach Us book in more than 200 languages will be made availableto congregations as the books become available. Electronic copies are now availablein selected languages on jw.org and in the JW Library app. Sign-languageeditions will be made available for download and on physical discs. Web-onlyaudio recordings will also be made available for download in due course. Pleasenote that in due course the Teach Us book will be available for download inelectronic Braille format. Requests may now be submitted for copies in embossedBraille format.

Revised Organized Book: We are alsopleased to inform you that a revised edition of the book Organized to DoJehovah’s Will has been produced. Electronic copies are now available inselected languages on jw.org and in the JW Library app. Before you can accessthe book in JW Library, you must first download the latest version of theapplication. The following disclaimer will appear on the screen: “This book isan internal publication, provided solely for use by congregations of Jehovah’sWitnesses, and is not intended for public distribution.” Because of the costinvolved in producing printed publications, it is preferred that whereverpossible, publishers make full use of electronic copies rather than requestingprinted copies. However, a printed copy of the Organized book will be requestedfor any publisher who desires to receive one. The group overseers will begin tocheck with each publisher after the meeting to determine if printed copies aredesired. Please note

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that the revised Organized book isalso available for download in electronic Braille format and for request inembossed Braille format.

New World Translation (studyedition): For the next announcement, please watch the following video. [Show5:30 minute video.]

Electronic copies of the studyedition of the book of Matthew are now available in English on jw.org. In thefuture, they will be available in the JW Library app.

Public edition of The Watchtower andAwake!: Beginning in January 2016, the magazines for the public will bepublished bimonthly, that is, every two months. We will offer one magazine tothe public each month, alternating between The Watchtower and Awake! DuringJanuary, we will offer The Watchtower. During February, we will featuresubjects in Awake!, and so on. This arrangement will allow us to focus on theappealing information in each magazine for the entire month. In addition, anissue date will no longer be printed on the cover. Instead, the magazines willbe identified by a number followed by the year. Why is this helpful? We oftenwould like to offer older magazines because the message is just what thehouseholder needs. However, the date on the cover may give the impression thatthe information is out-of-date. That will no longer be an obstacle. We areconfident that you will offer the life-giving information in the magazines withrenewed enthusiasm.

Our Christian Life and MinistryMeeting: Beginning the week of January 4, 2016, congregations will have a newmidweek meeting called Our Christian Life and Ministry. This one meeting willreplace the three separate meetings currently being held, namely, theCongregation Bible Study, the Theocratic Ministry School, and the ServiceMeeting.

In connection with this change, OurKingdom Ministry is being replaced by a new four-color, eight-page monthlypublication entitled Our Christian Life and Ministry—Meeting Workbook (mwb).This publication is intended for Jehovah’s Witnesses and for those whoregularly attend our meetings. It outlines the weekly meeting schedule andfeatures artwork designed to make your personal reading of the Bible moremeaningful. It is a workbook that prompts you to make personal notes. No doubtyou will enjoy reviewing the January 2016 issue of the Life and MinistryMeeting Workbook when you download an electronic copy from jw.org or the JWLibrary app or receive a printed copy through the congregation. Since theworkbook will not include a section for announcements, congregations will beinformed of monthly literature offers by means of letters from the branchoffice.

Each Life and Ministry Meeting willbegin with an opening song and prayer followed by comments from the Life andMinistry Meeting chairman. His opening comments of no more than three minuteswill generate anticipation for the program to follow. Thereafter, the chairmanwill introduce the first section of the meeting, called Treasures From God’sWord. The first part in this section will be a ten-minute talk based on theweekly Bible reading and artwork from the work- book. When the scheduled weeklyBible reading begins a new Bible book, a brief video introducing the book willbe shown at the start of this part. The second part in this section, entitledDigging for Spiritual Gems, will be an eight-minute question-and-answerconsideration based on the weekly Bible reading. Questions for considerationduring this part are found in the workbook, and the audience will answer thesebased on their research. The Treasures From God’s Word section will concludewith a brother reading an assigned portion of the weekly Bible reading.

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The next section of the Life andMinistry Meeting is entitled Apply Yourself to the Field Ministry and is 15minutes in length. Three student presentations assigned to brothers or sisterswill help us develop our ability to teach on an initial call, on a returnvisit, and on a Bible study. During the first week of every month, in place ofthe three student presentations, videos of model presentations will be shownand discussed to help us prepare for the ministry that month. The printededition of the workbook is designed so that you may write your own presentationon the front page. We encourage each of you to take full advantage of the ApplyYourself to the Field Ministry section of the meeting. Doing so will help youto become a more effective preacher and teacher of the good news.—2 Cor. 3:5; 2Tim. 4:5.

The final section of the Life andMinistry Meeting is entitled Living as Christians. This section begins with asong. The next 15 minutes of this section will consist of one or two partsdesigned to help us apply God’s Word. Then there will be a 30-minute CongregationBible Study. Thereafter, up to three minutes may be used by the chairman toreview the meeting and preview material to be considered the following week.Any necessary announcements may also be made at this point. Expressions ofpraise to Jehovah in song and prayer will conclude the meeting.

The entire meeting will be 1 hourand 45 minutes in length. A video has been prepared to help you to becomefamiliar with the format of the Life and Ministry Meeting. It is now availableon JW Broadcasting in English. Please watch it if you are able to do so. Thisvideo will help you to become familiar with the format of the Life and MinistryMeeting. Also, please be alert to provide assistance to any publishers who mayneed help to download our videos and electronic copies of our publications.

We are confident that you will beeager to prepare for and participate in this new meeting. It is our prayer thatthe variety of teaching methods used will enable all to benefit from theongoing education that comes from our Grand Instructor, Jehovah. (Isa. 30:20)We send our warm Christian love.

Your brothers,