Kingdom Hall

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Kingdom Hall in Karlsruhe
Kingdom Hall in Essen-Altenessen
Worship meeting in a Kingdom Hall

Kingdom Hall ( English Kingdom Hall ) is the name for the building of the religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses , where usually public, their, worship held meetings. Since 1935 the term Kingdom Hall has been used by Jehovah's Witnesses to refer to their places of worship. The name indicates the proclaimed kingdom of God .

Kingdom Halls are simple and functional, with no altar, religious symbols or saints, built and furnished. The furnishings are more reminiscent of a training or study room than a church sacred space. Seating for around 100 to a maximum of 300 people and a podium with a console are part of the basic equipment. Usually there is also a small library, a meeting room and sanitary facilities.

In every Kingdom Hall, on or near the podium, the “text of the year,” a succinct Bible quote, is printed. The leadership of the religious community chooses the quote annually for all assemblies worldwide.

When they were first established, Jehovah's Witnesses often held their meetings in private homes, rented rooms, or in the side rooms of inns. Kingdom Halls are not specially consecrated , nor are they specially profaned when they are abandoned . However, in such cases - instead of a consecration - so-called handovers are provided. Sometimes existing buildings or parts of buildings are bought or rented by the religious community and remodeled for their religious needs. In the meantime - especially in industrialized countries - mostly new buildings are common. Most of the construction work is carried out by volunteers from the ranks of the religious community. By using standardized designs, building a new Kingdom Hall can often take only a few weeks, and sometimes even a few days.

Each Jehovah's Witness congregation meets in the Kingdom Hall for a weekday meeting (usually one of the evenings Monday through Friday) and a weekend meeting (Saturday or Sunday). Many Kingdom Halls are used by different local congregations at different times. In metropolitan areas there are also Kingdom Hall Centers, which are larger buildings with multiple halls.

Web links

Commons : List of Kingdom Halls in Germany  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Kingdom Halls Worldwide  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. Jump up ↑ George D. Chryssides: Jehovah's Witnesses. Continuity and Change . Ashgate, Farnham / Burlington 2016, p. 203 .
  2. Jump up ↑ George D. Chryssides: Jehovah's Witnesses. Continuity and Change . Ashgate, Farnham / Burlington 2016, p. 204 .
  3. ↑ George D. Chryssides: The A to Z of Jehovah's Witnesses . The Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2009, pp. 84 .
  4. Jump up ↑ George D. Chryssides: Jehovah's Witnesses. Continuity and Change . Ashgate, Farnham / Burlington 2016, p. 204 .
  5. ↑ George D. Chryssides: The A to Z of Jehovah's Witnesses . The Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2009, pp. 84 .
  6. Jump up ↑ George D. Chryssides: Jehovah's Witnesses. Continuity and Change . Ashgate, Farnham / Burlington 2016, p. 204 .
  7. ↑ Régis Dericquebourg: development of the construction program of Kingdom Halls in France. in: Gerhard Besier, Katarzyna Stoklosa (ed.): Jehovah's Witnesses in Europe - past and present. Volume 1. (= Studies on Contemporary Church History, Vol. 5) Berlin, 2013. pp. 61–68.
  8. Jump up ↑ George D. Chryssides: Jehovah's Witnesses. Continuity and Change . Ashgate, Farnham / Burlington 2016, p. 204 .
  9. Jump up ↑ George D. Chryssides: Jehovah's Witnesses. Continuity and Change . Ashgate, Farnham / Burlington 2016, p. 205 .
  10. ↑ George D. Chryssides: The A to Z of Jehovah's Witnesses . The Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2009, pp. 115 .
  11. Jump up ↑ George D. Chryssides: Jehovah's Witnesses. Continuity and Change . Ashgate, Farnham / Burlington 2016, p. 206 .