Observations

We attended a memorial service at a JW hall for our neighbour. It was the first time I had ever been in a JW meeting of any kind & I noticed a few things:

• everyone was dressed up - I realize that it was a memorial service not a regular service but you could just tell this is how they dress when they come to church - quite a difference from the casual dress at Community.
• no musical instruments on the stage - strange
• no elaborate sound equipment - only a couple of small mikes on the podium & speakers built into the ceiling
• no video equipment - no plasma tv's, no display screens, nothing
• everyone was carrying a bible - couples each carried their own - no sharing
• when they read a scripture everyone turned to it in their own bible & it seemed, at least in the people around me, that they knew their bibles because they found them quickly
• when they sang a song at the end a piano started to play - I assume it was recorded since I couldn't see one anywhere.
• there was no song leader - the guy leading the meeting stood back from the mike as the music started
• they announced they were singing song 102 - everyone was singing from a book & since I didn't see any other books around I wonder if its part of their bibles

The building itself is new (no stains anywhere on the carpets or chairs) nice but definitely not ornate in anyway. Also there was nothing on the walls, except for one scripture quotation, no pictures, no bulletin boards, nothing anywhere.

I also noted that the building was on the small side - sitting around 150. On the way out I noticed that three different congregations share the building so they must have some rules about how big an individual group can be before they have to start a new group.