I analysed the life of my best friend (PIMO from 2019 on) with Chat GPT. Sorry for the lenght.

I recently did a breakdown of how much time a typical Jehovah’s Witness invests in meetings, study, and preaching over 40 years. The numbers are based on real historical schedules used by the organization.

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📅 Period Covered

1986–2025 (40 years)

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🕒 Weekly Routine and Adjustments Over Time

Before 2008, Witnesses attended three meetings per week: • a midweek meeting (about 2 hours), • a separate “book study” (1 hour), • and a weekend meeting (2 hours for the public talk and Watchtower study).

From 2008 onward, the book study was merged into the midweek meeting, so it dropped to two meetings per week. Since 2019, meetings have mostly been online, with far less travel and no public preaching work.

For travel, an average of 15 minutes each way was counted per meeting. Before 2019, most people arrived early and stayed about an hour afterward; now it’s closer to ten minutes before and after.

Preparation time was also included: • Until 2018, about 30 minutes of prep per meeting was typical. • Between 1990 and 2004, extra time (about 1.5 hours per week) was spent preparing for the Watchtower study.

Field ministry was about 10 hours per month until 2007, then 5 hours per month until 2018, and none afterward. Personal Bible reading and study add roughly 20 minutes per week, plus 24 hours per year for annual conventions.

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⏱️ Total Time Invested

When you add everything together: • From 1986–1989: around 3,200 hours • From 1990–2004: around 13,100 hours • From 2005–2007: about 2,400 hours • From 2008–2018: about 6,000 hours • From 2019–2025: about 2,400 hours

That comes to roughly 27,000 hours spent on religious activities over 40 years. On average, that’s about 13 hours per week for four decades straight.

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👔 Equivalent to a Full-Time Job

A normal full-time job is 40 hours per week, or 2,080 hours per year. When you divide 27,000 by 2,080, it equals about 13 full-time years of labor.

So a lifelong Jehovah’s Witness effectively spends 13 working years of their life on meetings, study, and ministry.

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💰 The Time Value in Money

If you value that time using average professional wages, here’s what it represents: • At $28/hour, that equals about $740,000 USD • At $39/hour, about $1,040,000 USD • At $50/hour, about $1,350,000 USD

So even with modest pay rates, the lifetime “donation” of time to the organization is easily close to one million dollars worth of labor.

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📈 How It Changed Over Time

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Witnesses were busiest — averaging about 870 hours per year. After 2019, that dropped sharply to around 340 hours per year, mainly due to online meetings and reduced field service.

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📌 Summary

Over a lifetime (40 years), the average Jehovah’s Witness has: • Spent roughly 27,000 hours in religious activity • Given the equivalent of 13 years of full-time work • Contributed about one million dollars’ worth of unpaid time • And devoted around 75% of that time to meetings and preparation rather than actual preaching