Need Greater Path

Need Greaters. Self supported and diligent, it takes determination and trust in Jehovah to fulfill this role successfully. In fact, in Bethel, they refer to Need Greaters as 'Self Supported Missionaries' (See below). Here are some common questions regarding need greating, and my feeble attempt at answering them. :D




What exactly IS a 'Need Greater'?

-A need greater is someone who serves where the need is greater. (Thus, Need Greater) This means serving specifically where there is a high need for kingdom publishers. This can be any language, any land. Japan has a high need for English speaking brothers, many congregations in English only having 15 publishers and a lot of territory! NY has a need for Chinese speaking brothers, as they also have a sizable Chinese population but relatively few Chinese speaking brothers. Alaska has a large territory and few brothers in many areas. Many areas in the U.S.A. have unassigned territory because of a lack of publishers. Fort Portal, Uganda, has 50,000 people in it, but only around 60 publishers! So as you might be able to see, there is NO shortage of need.


Doesn't Need Greating mean foreign assignments?

-Not necessarily. As said above, there are needs in our own home towns and cities. Close and far, the need for the good news to be spread is abundant, and as Jesus said, the harvest is great and the workers are few. Realistically speaking, not everyone can need great in another country. However, maybe different circumstances can be arranged to allow some to serve where the need is greater in their own city, state, country, etc etc. For instance, suppose a young couple lives in a congregation that has 150 publishers, 15 pioneers, 8 elders and 6 Ministerial servants. A town over, there is a congregation that has 25 publishers, 3 elders, and 1 Ministerial Servant. If that couple left to support that congregation and its field ministry, then they would be Need Greaters. It falls into each family's responsibility to look at their own circumstances/service to Jehovah and evaluate what they can or cannot do.


What if I get sent somewhere I don't want to go?

-Wait, what? No no no, Need Greating is different from a Missionary. You see, Missionaries are couples that are sent to Patterson, Bethel in NY to study and learn for 5 months. From there, they are assigned to countries with a particularly high need. But to get to that point, the couple has to willingly fill out a form and send it to the Branch, thereby hoping to be accepted. The Branch supports them by buying their ticket for their assigned country, providing housing, and so on. The missionaries are specifically assigned by Jehovah's earthly organization. Now, for the Need Greaters.

Bethel uses the term 'Self Supported Missionary'. That means to be Need Greaters. The Organization does not support a Need Greater financially, nor does it actually assign them. The Need Greaters go of their own accord, where they choose. However, a Need Greater could ask a Circut Overseer or write the Branch through their congregations Service Committee (Ask your elders) and ask them where the need is great in their country, and thus get suggestions from the Branch. Even then, though, the Branch is not assigning them, but rather it is providing information. A fair warning, don't be one of those Need Greaters that are actually serving where the beach is greater. There is a difference between moving to where the need is greater, and serving where the need is greater. If you plan to Need Great, devote yourself to it fully. The brothers need whatever help can be given, and just think about it: Jehovah could use you to help fill that void! Is there really any better blessing?? Yes, but this is still really high up there. :D


Any Suggestions?

- Don't be afraid of failing, and don't let your heart scare you out of trying Need Greating. Of course, you have to be honest with your limitations as to what you can do physically, what you can adapt to, and what you are able to handle as regards stress, responsibility, finance, and so on. However, how are you ever going to find your limits if you never reach out to find them? And remember that Jehovah knows better than we do what we are capable of and what we would enjoy. If you ask the Branch, don't be afraid of their answer. If they say that they need you in Texas, and you are more of an Alaska fellow, just give it a try. After a few months, the worst thing that can happen is that you go home, and forever have a little Need Greating under your belt. There is a good chance, however, that you will learn to love it, even if it is the last thing you would ever had wanted to do. Remember, Jehovah will never give you something that will harm you spiritually, only build you up.

---- provided by blogger Trevor B. -My Skyward Paths ( I couldn't have written it better myself)




What did you do?
-Well it was Lacie Saunder's fault! Slowly but surely Jessica and I were focusing our lives around spiritual endeavors, i.e. doing unassigned territory, making congregational matters priority, associating with those who clearly put Jehovah first in their lives. Lacie had been serving in Chiapas, Mexico for about five years and we planned a trip with some friend to visit her in 2012. That same year I had injured myself and had been on short term disability for 6 months, but we had already made the plans, I wasn't scheduled to go back to work until 2 days after we returned from the trip so it seemed Jehovah really wanted us to have a spiritually up-building vacation. Jehovah didn't disappoint, it was two weeks of the best time in our lives! We experienced the true global brotherhood in a way that moved our hearts and caused us to reevaluate our lives. I wanted to live there, but I did not say a word to Jessica. Jessica has never wanted to live anywhere but where her family was, but on our flight home something changed.

I held my tongue the entire time we were in Mexico, Jessica was the first one to say "I could see us living there". It was all over from there, we had a long conversation about where our lives were going and how we felt we were capable of doing so much more for Jehovah. We prayed about it on the plane and ask Jehovah to help us with our new focus and to help us realize what goals were needed, we had no clue where to start.

We got back to Houston and the following Monday I went in to work, fully expecting to start where I left off...they LET ME GO. Yes, I no longer had a job, I was flabbergasted, I gave them 11 years of my life. I then realized how fickle this system is, the only security in life is in Jehovah's Organization. That day Jessica and I prayed and left the situation in Jehovah's hands. We then realized that this fit our previous conversation on the plane, we wanted to simplify, you can't do it faster than this! We decided that this was an opportunity that we couldn't pass up, instead of finding another job I would become a full-time pioneer. That night at the weekday meeting I signed on to be a full-time pioneer and prayed that as we moved forward Jessica would join me.

In the next month our goals became clearer, we wanted to be Need Greaters, particularly in Chiapas. The following 5 months were a testament that Jehovah provides for those who put him first. In those 5 months Jessica, who was still working full-time, got five promotions that boosted her pay to what I was making at my old job. We decide that we needed to sale our condo, so we fixed what we could, moved in with Jessica's parents and put it up for sale. We sold everything we owned in a period of four days at a garage sale. It took six months to sale the condo, talk about being specific in your prayers...we prayed that it would be sold by the end of the year, 2013. We had not had one offer, except for one on the last day of the year. It was cash and the paperwork was complete in 14 days!

We had visited Chiapas again in 2013, this time for a month. We wanted to see what it took to live there, but there where many changes to the English territory, so it was not an option. We were discouraged, but again we took it to prayer and decided to write the branch. We were very specific, and the branch gave us three choices, 1 in Mexico, and 2 in Nicaragua. We decided to give Nicaragua a try, in March of 2014 I visited for 1 week and found what we were looking for. It was a small English Speaking group in San Juan Del Sur still mapping 90% of its territory.

I did nothing but scope it out, what the town was like, what things cost, the housing situation, visa requirements, etc. When I returned, within a month I had bought the plane tickets. We promised Jehovah that this will be our lives now, 100% focused on serving him in any way we could. It was a blessing not going to Mexico, in the months before we moved I was privileged to be able to assist in the hospitality arrangements for the Houston Spanish International Convention 2014, an experience that will always have a place in my heart and encouraged and strengthen me even more that we were on the right course. On July 14, 2014 we and 8 pieces of luggage made it safely to San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.

---Feel free to message me if you have any questions or comments.

                      Brotherly Love,

                      Bryan L.