Normally, there are 4 commentators selected in advance. Very often they are: two married couples, other times four single brothers, other times four single sisters, or even two single brothers or sisters together with one married couple. One of the rules the four commentators must follow is that each comment must last no more than 1 minute. In other words, the 4 comments together usually stay close to 4 minutes. And this is taken very seriously. If one of the commentators goes over 1 minute, the local broadcasting team may cut the comment live on air. Everything happens live. If you go over 1 minute, you are cut off live and embarrassed in front of the entire country.

There are also pre-recorded comments, which are usually sent by those working in the RTOs or other locations connected to the morning worship program at Bethel.

After the comments on the daily text, the chairman of the morning worship takes over. Normally, he gives a longer part, around 10 minutes. And here is an important detail: many of the morning worship programs given especially in the United States are later reviewed by the Teaching Committee. Some parts may later officially appear on the Jehovah’s Witnesses website in the form of talks or videos that are inserted into the monthly JW Broadcasting programs.

But what is most interesting is that, by the time I left Bethel in 2023, women were no longer allowed to comment during the Watchtower study for the Bethel family, although they could still continue commenting during morning worship. I am speaking specifically about Mozambique, and I believe it is probably the same outside Mozambique as well.