Jehovah’s Witnesses|A special international convention can be organized within the framework of Messukeskus with the help of, among other things, workers and monetary donations.
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The mass event of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a special convention, starts at Helsinki Messukeskus on Friday.
The event is free. The program is the same all over the world.
The special convention is based on volunteer work and donations.
There are approximately 20,000 participants every day.
Prayer In the Mass Center, it ends with the name of Jesus Christ, and 1,118 heads raise their eyes from the floor.
After Amen, a member of the organizing committee speaking into the microphone reveals the number calculated at the door of the Messukeskus to the people of Talko. The crowd of different ages begins to disperse.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ international mass event, or special convention, at the Helsinki Exhibition Center begins on Friday and lasts until Midsummer Sunday. Talkoo people still have until Thursday to clean up the venue.
Among other things, the floors of the hall should be cleaned and surfaces cleaned, the sound reproduction, screens and streaming equipment should be tested, and everything else should be installed. All halls of Messukeskus are in use for the mass event.
The biggest At the very back of the hall, the friends who will soon turn eighteen can be found by the mops Jade Salo and Merita Mäkelä. The purpose would be to mop the edges of the hall with the talcum fists of ten people.
Friends Jade Salo and Merita Mäkelä have met Jehovah’s Witnesses from different parts of the world in Helsinki even before the official event date. The guests of the convention spend about a week in Helsinki getting to know the city, Finnishness and each other. “The three of us went to eat next to Kamppi. Then we went to Esplanadi park and there were 25, 30 of us. The group was from the Yankees and Australia,” says Merita Mäkelä. “Nowhere else is there such a good sense of community.”
The day after tomorrow is Salo’s baptism day. Then he officially becomes a Jehovah’s Witness. Mäkelä has already been baptized before.
“Two thousand people there. No pressure!” 17-year-old Salo says.
Roughly that many people attend the convention every three days.
The baptism takes place in the center of Helsinki at the hotel President’s spa. One of the organizers of the event Niklas Wallenius says that practically the entire hotel is used by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The depth of the pool is reportedly 125 centimeters. That’s enough for dipping.
For many it might come to mind to compare the spiritual mass event organized in the summer with, for example, the summer clubs of the Lestadians or the kert revival party. Spokesperson for Jehovah’s Witnesses Jukka Palonen however, it sucks. It’s about something more global.
Jukka Palonen, spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Finland, trusts that the guests will give enough money to cover the costs of the event this year, even though they are not specifically asked to do so.
“I wouldn’t compare. This is an exceptional event because the program is the same all over the world,” Palonen says.
At the same time as the special convention organized in Helsinki, smaller conventions are organized in Tallinn and Riga, for example. The program from Helsinki is broadcast live to the conventions organized in parallel.
This year, a total of 15 large special conventions and thousands of smaller conventions will be organized in different countries. The program is the same everywhere: its motto is this year tell me good news.
“Twenty million people get this exact same program. That’s why you can’t compare this to anything. We feel that we are a big international family. The same program is translated into everyone’s own language,” Palonen says.
Swedish-speaking Pekka Repo (behind) and Johan Suomi take care of sound technology in the Swedish-speaking hall. The event is divided into five different areas based on language: Finnish, Swedish, Russian, English and sign language areas. According to the organizers, there are participants from more than 30 countries.
Is it is clear that renting out all the halls of Messukeskus is not exactly a cheap endeavor.
Logistics also cause costs when, for example, chairs are chartered from Britain, Germany and Sweden. The organizers have hired subcontractors, for example, to take care of more toilets inside the Messukeskus.
Still, the event is free. Palonen emphasizes that you don’t collect leaves by collecting them. There are donation boxes at the event, but the donation is completely voluntary.
How does the equation work economically?
Messukeskus’ own water pressure is not enough for the number of visitors, so a water container has been brought to the place. The toilet capacity inside the hall has also been increased.
After the volunteers’ morning meeting, there was silence for prayer.
“Soit’s wonderful”, says Asta Palonen, one of the organizers of the event. A spiritual undertone comes into the conversation when we stop to think about the logistical and financial miracle of the convention.
There are logical explanations. The witnesses are an international, networked crowd, and that is reflected in the five-language event.
The Finnish branch does not have large LED screens, but the German ones do, and they have been chartered to be set up at Messukeskus. Thousands of chairs have also been brought to Finland from different parts of Europe.
Then there is also the traditional Finnish talkative spirit. Many donate money. This is how such events have been organized before, Jehovah’s Witnesses say.
Jehovah’s the activities of the witnesses have also been criticized over the years. HS has reported earlier this year, for example covering up sexual abuse in the community.
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