By Tamas Mondovics
With construction complete of their brand new Kingdom Hall, Jehovah’s Witnesses are pleased to welcome the public to an open house scheduled for the weekend of May 3 and 4, 2014 from 10 a.m to noon both days.
The 10,000-square-foot double auditorium place of worship located at 11725 East Symmes Rd., in Riverview, sits on a 3.5-acre property, which the Witnesses purchased in the spring of 2008. The Kingdom Hall will be used by the Sun City, Ruskin and Riverview congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as by 3 Spanish language congregations.
The Witnesses are proud of the new facility, which was constructed strictly by members of surrounding area congregations, all volunteering their time and skills, and who were supported and assisted by hundreds of other witness volunteers.
The work was completed under the direction of a Regional Building Committee (RBC), which oversees Kingdom Hall and Assembly Hall projects for use by the Witnesses.
Today, the Witnesses gather in more than 130,000 congregations worldwide, with an estimated average attendance of 19 million.
The building of a new Riverview facility became necessary in order to meet the need of the rapidly-increasing number of followers.
The new Hall replaces the former place of worship, which was used since 1974, also built by the Witnesses on a double lot on U.S. 301 just south of Big Bend Rd, in Riverview.
“We like to keep our congregations to about 100 members,” said Clayton Peace, an elder in the Sun City Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and resident of Sun City Center.
“This way we are able to keep in touch with everyone and assist as needed.
Peace emphasized that regular Bible study meetings call for audience participation and question-and-answer sessions, so a very large group would make such functions difficult.
“We could build a much larger building to accommodate everyone, but we would loose this personal involvement,” Peace said, adding, “This double-auditorium will allow such needs to be met by these congregations and they can easily maintain it and pay for it by their voluntary contributions.”
During the upcoming open house, area residents will have a chance to take a tour of the building. There will be light refreshments available. No charge or obligation or collections taken at any time. Explanations available in English and Spanish.
For further information about Jehovah’s Witnesses and meeting locations and times please visit www.jw.org.
