I will apologize at the outset as this question stems more from anecdote than from research. Anecdote 1 - Some years ago, while at the local dump, I was approached by a woman for help unloading the trunk of her car. By way of thanks (after a brief conversation) she offered me some Jehovah's Witness material, notably a booklet called "What Does The Bible Really Teach?". I gladly accepted and offered to read the book and then reunite with her to discuss the contents. She declined and instead offered to have one of the deacons (male) from the local Kingdom Hall contact me if I was interested in studying the booklet together. The reason she gave for declining my offer was that JW women were not allowed to instruct men. Anecdote 2 - Much to my wife's chagrin I have always invited JW into my home to discuss the scriptures when they come knocking at the door. My wife was homeschooling our children at the time and would send JW visitors away if I was off at work. As these visits were concurrent with a year long bible study via telephone (the result of anecdote 1) I requested of the JW deacon with whom I was speaking that visits during my away hours cease. What occurred is that male visits during my away hours ceased but small groups of females periodically stopped by (more spousal chagrin). As my work schedule became apparent so did this pattern: When I was known to be home it was men who came and never women. I found some relevant information in Watchtower online which seems to indicate that women may witness to and teach men in an evangelistic setting but may not teach doctrine or preside over a congregation wherein there are baptized male believers. My question is: Was the woman from anecdote 1 just being extra cautious in declining to undertake bible study with me or was it my baptism in a Protestant denomination that was enough to disqualify her as my teacher? A corollary question is: How does this affect a JW woman's ability to answer questions on a site such as this Christianity Stack where an OP's gender is often unknown and an OP's baptism into Christianity is often unknown but is likely to have occurred?

I've been reading a book on Church growth (*Growing A Healthy Church* by Dan Spader and Gary Mayes) with a chapter on evangelism that says something which I've heard in churches before: >"Typically a**n unbeliever needs to have more than five meaningful contacts** with a number of Christians before he or she will begin to trust the message of the gospel Growing a Healthy Church This seems to be a linchpin point supporting relationship-style evangelism but the book doesn't cite any sources and I don't seem to be able to find any myself. **Can someone else locate the source of this claim whether it be a study or merely an idea proposed by someone else?**