EXJW World › Knowledge Base

📖 A-Z Glossary of Jehovah’s Witnesses

What do all the terms, roles, and customs within the organization mean?

• 📖 A-Z Glossary of Jehovah's Getuigen

  Everything you need to know about the organization, its structure, practices, religious language, and culture.

• A - Apostate

  What does “apostate” mean among Jehovah’s Witnesses?

• A - Apostasy

  What is meant by apostasy among Jehovah’s Witnesses?

• B - Repentance

  What does repentance mean and when may someone return to the congregation?

• C - Body of Elders

  What is a committee of elders, and when do you come into contact with one?

• D - The truth

  What does “the truth” mean within Jehovah’s Witnesses — and what does it do to your thinking when you grow up with those words?

• D - Baptism

  How free and informed is a choice of faith when you’re young and almost everything around you points in the same direction?

• G - Religious upbringing

  Who shapes a child’s faith within Jehovah’s Witnesses?

• G - Conscience

  Is your conscience entirely your own — or is it also shaped by what you learn from childhood?

• H - Shepherding visit

  Why do elders come to visit you, and what happens during such a visit?

• I - Inactive versus removed

  How can almost the same life lead to completely different consequences for family, freedom, and sense of safety?

• O - Organizational Structure

  How are Jehovah’s Witnesses organized worldwide?

• O - Unbaptized publisher

  When does taking part in the preaching become a religious identity of its own?

• Elder

  What role, responsibility, and influence does an elder have among Jehovah’s Witnesses?

• S - Votes

  Why don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses vote for political parties or candidates — and how does that relate to living under human government?

• V - Removal

  What does it mean when someone is disfellowshipped from the congregation?

• V - Privileges

  Why can assignments within Jehovah’s Witnesses be experienced at the same time as an honor, a responsibility, and a burden?

• V - Free will

  How free is a choice when one option is tied to God’s disapproval, the loss of people you love, Armageddon, or death?

• W - Worldly

  What does “worldly” mean among Jehovah’s Witnesses — and what does that contrast do to your thinking and conscience?