I see serious problems with the leadership of the Witnesses on two important levels: Locally, in smaller bodies of elders with marginally qualified men carrying heavier workloads, and internationally in a lackluster and unimaginative Governing Body. There are no Nathan Knorrs, or Fred or Ray Franz's in this pathetic group!
First, the local elders:
In the thread discussing the drop in elders in the US, evidence from several sources indicates that the 12,390 congregations in the US have something less than 60,000 elders, down from over 94,000 a decade or so ago, a decrease of way over a third.
A number of traveling brothers have commented that there is a need for 40,000 elders and MS, and I would guess that means in the US.
It seems, from those circumstantial figures, that the number of elders per congregation has gone from an average of about 8 down to around 5.
In my former congregation, I know that, of the 3 or 4 elders that are no longer there, they lost two of the best they had in that time, plus a couple of duds. What is left are about three good, faithful guys, not really balls of fire, but steady and easygoing, caring and helpful, and the rest of the body is essentially taking up space.
If you are still an active or sorta-active JW, what kind of elders are in your congregation? High quality, medium or poor? Over-worked or doing OK? Good speakers or poor? Really helpful or non-existent? Are things better or worse than they were a decade or two ago?
As far as the Governing Body, there are no scholars or standout leaders there, especially now that the old boys are ancient, and Jaracz is in poor health.
We had a talk by GB member Sam Herd critiqued on here last spring - a talk sooo pathetically bad that it was an elder who came to the brother who wrote about it on this board, and the elder was almost in tears he was so discouraged by the stupidity of what was said. And Herd may be one of the better GB members!!
The idiot Bethel elder who's recent off-hand comment that the preaching work was finished that is on YouTube, is an example of the poor quality of brothers they have at headquarters. That guy was scarily sad.
What do others see out there, especially those who are still involved? Has there been a serious brain drain? How is this affecting your congregation or circuit?
S4
Will Lack of Leadership Sink the JW Ship?
by Seeker4 55 Replies latest jw friends
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Seeker4
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sir82
Our congregation: Up until 3 or 4 months ago, 7 elders: 3 competent, 3 marginal, one space-taker upper.
Recently had 3 more move in, now the count is: 5 competent, 4 marginal, 1 space-taker-upper.
None of them is a "ball of fire" when it comes to leadership skills. Virtually no one has much in the way of public speaking skills. Only one, maybe 2, have any sort of real compassion for the brothers.
I suspect the ratios are similar in other congregations.
I think you are on the right track - I think there will eventually be a tipping point at which the workload will be too great for the ones left, and there will be some sort of crisis - how or when that will play out, I have no idea.
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lfcviking
Well the last time i was there the thing i noticed about the Elders was that most of them were old, in fact one of them had recently died. There wasn't too many ambitious young men coming through the ranks either to take their places.
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Billzfan23
There are less than 5 elders in my hall now, some moved, some quit, some were deleted, some stepped down like me. The problem is that there is no youth infused into the organization anymore. The elder pool comes from the younger generation, and there are basically none. In an entire circuit (I was always an attendant for years at the circuit and district assemblies) there are almost NO young brothers volunteering or helping out these days. I would say that out of the entire pool of about 60 attendants at our last circuit assembly, only about 7 or 8 were under the age of 30. That's pretty pathetic when you consider that most of the growth in the organization today is due to JW's having kids that turn into publishers.
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compound complex
Dear Sailors Upon the Stormy Seas,
As we anticipate the foundering of the S.S. Society, will there be sufficient lifeboats aboard for the hapless passengers? More importantly, do these poor souls realize that there is NO ARK of salvation, but only a "lifeboat" tended by the likes of us? S.S. Society is sinking, but those on board say that she, like the Titanic, cannot be sunk--- even by God!
Compound-Complex
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metaspy
I recently moved, so I will comment on both congregations. :-D
Cong #1: Elders: 8, Outstanding: 2 (one is 86), Mediocre: 4, Space-takers: 0, Better off without: 2
Cong #2: Elders: 6, Outstanding: 0, Mediocre: 4, Space-takers: 1, Better off without: 1 -
V
Some congregations do still have a solid and strong elder body, however...
When there is any surplus of willing elders, those elders are soon distributed into weaker, problem congregations. There is a definite "bleed-out" happening, and any momentum is stifled by moving the good elders into other tired congregations. There they are left to slog it out alone in needy halls.
The previously strong congregation is then left with a few "ol' stand-by" elders which tends to diminish its collective zeal.
This is my experience in two different congregations recently.
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willyloman
My last congo: Elders: 17, Outstanding: 0, Above average: 2, Mediocre:6, Space-takers: 9. Of the 17, four were so elderly they were virtually unused and invisible. They would show up for the elders' meetings, provided the meetings were scheduled in the daytime (when they were awake). One was very strange - a young man about 30, with a wife and 3 little kids. He was so overwhelmed he couldn't be used for anythng; had that "deer in the headlights" look on his face. Missed a lot of meetings. In fact, I was in the congo for several months before I knew he was an elder, and only then because they called a quarterly e meeting and he showed up.
The space-takers were an interesting lot. All were in their 50s or 60s, most looked really tired and beat up, and all did as little as possible. They were gone a lot, too, and if they bothered to use an excuse it was "family matters." All of them had extended dub families and there was always some problem (illness or otherwise) that took them out of town on the weekend. One of them was typical, I think, of many of these worn-out elders. He was a school teacher at an area high school (!). His wife was a social worker for the local welfare department. They had met in college and became dubs later. They flew under the radar pretty well - rarely did they show up for a social event. But they came to all the meetings, always had an answer prepared for the Q&A parts. I never saw them out in service but we met by book study; I do know they were regular in FS. They were excellent at going through the motions.
Anyway, one day I come to the KH and there is a beautiful upscale SUV in the parking lot, a $55,000 car. I saw him get out of it. Chatted him up about it (gorgeous vehicle!). He said he bought it as a "retirement" present to himself. Then told me he was retiring from the school district after 30+ years. His wife was retiring from the government job she had, too. They had bought a home and were moving to Florida. I asked what was in Florida, and he told me all his brothers and sisters (there were four of them) had all retired in the past couple of years and they had all purchased homes in the same retirement subdivision there and all planned to retire together. Are they all in the truth? I asked (like a good dub would). No, he said, none of them are.
I thought for a minute there I saw something like hope in his eyes. A few weeks later, he disappeared into the sunset. I left the dubs several months later. I like to imagine him sitting by the pool, sipping a gin and tonic at midday, thinking, Damn, we really ought to get to a meeting sometime. But not today.
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JWdaughter
Willy, I hope that elder is having a wonderful time, retired in FL. In fact, wouldn't it be nice if all of them would retire to Fla, and take a good long rest?
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Quandry
At the KHall I last attended, about thirteen elders, my husband included, but he was deleted with a bunch of lies when my teen daughter was df'd (another story). The P.O. was cold and unfeeling, one was very caring, one somewhat caring but old, the rest were pompous B#$%@^$#. One,new to the Cong., when asked what outlines he had so that he could give public talks, replied that he "usually only gave talks at the Circuit or District level."
I do wonder just what eventually will happen at the WTS headquarters. When the old men that are "annointed" begin dropping and there are only a few young "annointed replacements" and the "Nethinim"-- won't that look at least a bit suspicious to many? Or will many suddenly find that they are "replacement annointed" and vie for a chance at the GB? Should be interesting to see the powere struggle.