Witnesses are told they "should never miss a meeting unless there is a serious reason". According to The Watchtower, one role of the frequency and length of meetings is to protect Witnesses from becoming "involved in the affairs of the world". He says they are also important in helping new converts adopt a different way of life. Sociologist Andrew Holden claims meetings create an atmosphere of uniformity for Witnesses, intensify their sense of belonging to a religious community, and reinforce the plausibility of the organization's belief system. During meetings and in other formal circumstances, Witnesses refer to one another as "Brother" and "Sister". The meetings are largely devoted to study of the Bible and Witness doctrines. They are expected to attend weekly meetings as scheduled by the Watch Tower Society and congregation elders. Witnesses are assigned to a congregation in which "territory" they reside. Meetings for worship and study are held at Kingdom Halls, and are open to the public. Worship A Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Norway. Members are expected to participate regularly in evangelizing work and to attend congregation meetings and conventions that present material based on Watch Tower Society publications. The threat of shunning also serves to deter members from dissident behavior. Ī system of judicial committees maintains discipline within congregations, exercising the power to expel members who breach the denomination's rules and to demand their shunning by other Witnesses.
The denomination requires adherence to a strict moral code, which forbids premarital sex, homosexuality, gender transitioning, adultery, smoking, drunkenness and drug abuse, and blood transfusions. Witnesses refuse to participate in any political and military activity and are told to limit social contact with non-Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses endeavor to remain "separate from the world", which they regard as a place of moral contamination and under the control of Satan. The group disseminates instructions regarding activities and acceptable behavior through The Watchtower magazine and through other official publications, and at conventions and congregation meetings. Since 1976, practices have also been based on decisions made at closed meetings of the group's Governing Body. 1881) of the Bible Student movement, and of successive presidents of the Watch Tower Society, Joseph Franklin Rutherford (from 1917 to 1942) and Nathan Homer Knorr (from 1942 to 1977). Jehovah's Witnesses's practices are based on the biblical interpretations of Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), founder ( c.
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