MARSHALL — Ultimately all Jehovah’s Witnesses want to be known for obeying the Word of God in Matthew 28:19 and 20. They obey the command of Jesus Christ to preach the Kingdom of God to the entire world.

“For that reason, we are not politically oriented,” Overseer Scott Howard said. “We reach out around the world to fellow believers as brothers and sisters in Jehovah’s Kingdom.”

If it is Jehovah’s Kingdom we want people to become citizen’s of, why take political sides, Overseer John Grebel pointed out.

To this end, the members of the Kingdom Hall (not “church”) go out into the surrounding community

“Jesus commands in John 4:24 ‘God is a spirit and those worshipping Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth’,” Grebel quoted the Bible.

“That is the draw for me here, that God’s truth be in any religious service. In Hebrews 10:24-25, the apostle Paul realized the importance of not forsaking any meetings. Today, we see that many do not keep that custom. As the last days are drawing to a close, the scripture says we are to meet together to incite to love and fine works, encouraging one another, all the more so as we see the (Judgement) Day drawing near.”

The Bible discussions at meetings really do encourage members.

“There is a lot of negativity in the world,”Howard said. “Coming here we receive refreshment and a hope for the future coming right from the Bible. One of the truths is Psalm 37:11 where believers enjoy an abundance of peace.”

“Nothing distinguishes Jehovah’s Witnesses more than the time spent in the ministry, preaching house to house and in public places,” Overseer Gordon Edwards said. “In 2016, Jehovah’s Witnesses preached 1,983,763,754 hours.”

In Hebrews 13:15, Edwards added, emphasizes that we preach to glorify God and make His name known (through) public declaration of His name. “That is our goal.”

“This work of preaching is a command incumbent upon every Christian,” Grebel said. “In Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells his disciples to ‘Go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.’ One of the things He commanded was to go and teach what they had been taught. It has been carried down through the centuries.”

“Why?” Grebel asked. “It goes back to John 4:24, ‘You must worship in truth.'”

So the Jehovah’s Witnesses follow Jesus’ example to go from house to house and to speak in public places, proclaiming His word.

All the work of the congregation is done on a volunteer basis, from building the Kingdom Hall to the ministry canvasses, from playing music for their meetings to leading the meetings.

There is no tithing, Howard said. There is a voluntary contribution box in the back of the Kingdom Hall, but there are no offering plates circulating through the meetings.

“Everything is free of charge, Edwards said, “weddings, funerals et cetera. As it says in Matthew 10:10, ‘Freely you have received, freely give.’ ”

The Jehovah’s Witness’s freely give of their time, talents and literature. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society prints several brochures and books that are used in the “publishers” (active members proclaiming God’s word) witness work. One of them is the booklet titled Watch Tower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses also have their own Bible that is printed in 129 languages.

They also have their own website, jw.org, which has more than 800 languages.

“That is more than the United Nations,” Grebel said. “No other website comes remotely close.”

The Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is located along Highway 23 just north of Marshall has long been a mystery, to those who have not taken up the invitation to attend Public Talks, because it has no windows.

Overseers John Grebel, Gordon Edwards and Scott Howard claim there is nothing supernatural about the construction of the church, but for practical reasons it was built without windows because of the security factor. Windowless buildings are harder to break into, Grebel said.

However, the new designs coming out for Kingdom Halls for this country, Grebel said, featuring windows prominently.”

Additionally, the overseers pointed out, the worship building is no longer called a ‘church’.

“They used to call it a ‘church’,” Howard said, “but changed it about 100 years ago. ‘Church’ was associated with all the other religions. It was asked, ‘Do we want to be associated with all the others?’ We believe that finding these Bible truths sets us apart from the other Christians. We don’t want to be lumped together with everyone else.”

“In Matthew 24:14,” Grebel said, “Jesus prophesied that the Good News of the Kingdom will be preached. Our message centers on the Kingdom of God. How appropriate to call it the Kingdom Hall.”

There are 111 active members or publishers as members of the Marshall Kingdom Hall. There are three more overseers besides Grebel, Edwards and Howard.

The overseers and elders do much of the teaching, but often other members will lead the question and answer sessions, even young people who have only just begun to read are encouraged to participate.

The congregation meets several times per week including two Spanish services.

Spanish meetings are held on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m. English meetings are Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m., with the exception of this Sunday as the members plan to be at the 2017 Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Rochester this weekend.