Hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses give up their time for free to turn former pub into church

[Guest Nicole]

Hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses from across the country are flocking to St Ann’s to build a place of worship on the site of a former pub.

The site of the former Sycamore Inn pub in Hungerhill Road is currently being turned in to a meeting hall for the Christian sect, with work due to finish by the end of February.

However almost every stage of the building, from design to putting in the windows, is being done by unpaid volunteers – 450 of them in total.

Adam Byrnes, 35, of St Ann’s, a cleaning business owner who has been helping out three days a week, said: “It is absolutely amazing to see people volunteering to build our church.

Read more: http://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/hundreds-jehovahs-witnesses-give-up-1000573

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

The best thing I saw about this is that people with NO construction , building or design experience are being patiently trained to do learn new and valuable skills .... and that does not even include the most important skill of all .... how to do difficult hard labor under relatively painful conditions, without noticing overmuch... and on the other end ... to develop patience and skill in teaching people how to think ahead.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

— Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

 

That competency is not acquired except after many years of risk, experimentation, and frequent failure ... and in this case ... a few hammer smashed thumbs.