Were you ever affected by seeing a man or even a teenager being made a ministerial servant or a young man being appointed an elder-----knowing that the person is not really qualified? You could be thinking, "I can't believe he gets to be an elder when my husband (or brother or father or friend) is doing everything but headstands for the elders!" When such appointments were made did you see to it that you would not go to that person for direction or counsel? Similarly, I remember seeing sisters get disturbed when one of them became an auxillary or regular pioneer. All the others knew that the pioneer wasn't really getting their time in properly yet they were always on the platform telling others how "easy" pioneering was.
How Were You Affected By Elder/Ministerial Servants/Pioneer Appointments?
by minimus 31 Replies latest jw friends
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JH
I was sorry for a brother who was about 19 and he became a MS. I felt that he was too young, and he was missing out on the things a 19 year old young man should be doing, like going to college and university...
He was a full time pioneer too....
Personally, I never wanted to be MS, and was kind of afraid of getting trapped in growing responsibilities.
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cyberdyne systems 101
Yes it did bother me at the time, to see certain people 'pushed forward', those that Elders liked etc. It was one of the things I could never strive after personally as I never felt I would do the appointment justice being a sinner, knowing i might feel a hypocrite, I now realise it was the guilt thing that made me feel that way.
CS 101
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XBEHERE
I dont know if this is really answering your question or not but it actually bothered and still bothers me to see especially elders still serving when they clearly dont do a damn thing. I sat on one body where this one dude insisted that we put him on the "elderly elder" list so he didnt have to do squat.... I mean no disrespect but he was only in his freakin 60's. What made it worse is that there was another elder on this body who was in his 70's )wonderful man died recently unfortunately) who conducted a bookstudy and did service meeting and TMS parts. It used to burn me up to sit in the elders meetings and listen to this "elderly elder" give his opinions when quite frankly because he didnt do shit had no right to give. He wasnt even that sickly.
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Lapuce
Well for me it showed the corruption in the WTS, because of who you are and from what family etc.... There was pushing obviously.
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undercover
I wasn't affected. I didn't really care about "position" all that much.
A friend of mine however, was just beside himself because they would not appoint him to be MS. He did everything they asked, he volunteered for everything, spent 20 hours a month in service, but they still wouldn't appoint him.
I was in a different congregation then and had backslid some. I moved into his congregation, tried harder at meeting attendance and service and in 6 months was appointed an MS, but not my friend. He wasn't mad at me, but mad at the elders by then. He started to believe it was a racial thing, which I didn't buy, because the elder body was evenly divided black/white and the CO was black.
He felt embarrassed around his large JW family because all the other male members were either MS or elder. He was the lone "plain ole publisher".
Finally after years of trying, he got appointed. Less than a year later, he was removed and publicly reproved. Now talk about embarrassing.
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acadian
Good morning All,
Never became a MS, of Elder, but the elders at least twice a year would incourage me to work toward that goal, they would tell me that they are considering making me a MS, my answer was always no thank you, I have a wife and three kids who are my first priority.
But I saw many who became servents when they shouldn't have , and their families suffered for it.
What I noticed was that the ones who had families, most of their kids left the Org. or were constantly in trouble for one thing or another.
Those poor Bro's weren't able to take care of their families the way they should have, because the time spent taking care WT Business
took away from the time they should have spent with their families, making sure they were taken care of spiritaully.
It just seemed all screwed-up too me.I was never affected personally by any appointments, but there were diffinately those who weren't qualified for the responsiblity or privalage (if that's what you want to call it)
Acadian
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Dismembered
I've seen total goofballs become "elders/ministerial servants". Ones who could hardly speak a word or sentence coherently. The reason many were appointed was because they were related to others in the hall or ones on the exisitng body. Others were appointed because of having their nose all the way up "Brother fat pig elders" anus. There was/is no such thing as appointment by "divine providence". Nepotisic buffoonery, total ass-kissing, prostate fondling, and opportunistic ambition were the order of the day in getting appointed.
Does that sound harsh?
Dismembered
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anewme
My husband and I were on the other end of the prejudice. He was appointed an elder at 30 years of age.
We were the poorest of the poor in the hall. And he was severely disabled. Poor, crippled and at the podium. This rubbed some wannabees the wrong way.
Most of the congregation had spiritual eyes and saw the great inner strength and love for God my husband showed. They accepted him and helped him grow to full stature as an elder. He gave talks out and funerals and weddings and counseled many.
But one unfortunate woman and her husband were green with envy over the appointment. They were completely transparent about it. Right after my husbands appointment she and her husband started to shun us sort of. They would never say a greeting to us or address us in any way. This went on for 15 years.
They were raised as witnesses from their births up. He was a successful business man. They owned the nicest home and opened it up to witnesses all the time for bridal showers or baby showers and even a book study for a time. But each year as new elders were appointed her husband would be overlooked or disqualified somehow.
I dont know why except that he came off arrogant and unfriendly and stiff. His answers at the Watchtower Study were like a foghorn. I secretly nicknamed him "old foghorn" in my thoughts.
I once entered the womens room during a meeting to find Sis. Foghorn crying her eyes out to another elders wife about her husband getting overlooked again for appointment.
I found this display very immature on her part. If she only knew how much I wanted my husband to step down!
Both their sons did terribly in the org. Neither reached out and one was dfd. They were like two crazed people after that. I think she felt my husband was a key figure in her sons dfing.
We had alot of personality type problems in our old hall. Many moved from our little wealthy clickish congo.We lost all the good ones. There was so much tension in that hall I could not deal with it. I hated being an elders wife! I was not cut for it. I am a mountain songbird, not a corporate chick. We were a collection of misfits and unhappy people when I finally departed. -
stillajwexelder
No - I always thought differently - It was obvious to me that being a servant or elder is a lot of work - and I mean a lot. So the more brothers that were appointed I was absolutely delighted even if they were not 100% qualified. It meant I was not as busy.