The Story of Minimus

by minimus 116 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  aniron

  Having been there at the beginning of the Elder arrangement in the early 1970's.

  The idea of having an MS on a JC would at, least in my congregation, not be allowed under any circumstance. No matter how well "qualified" the MS may have been to be an Elder.

  When I left in 2001 they still had an Accounts servant, he would briefly go through the accounts with the PO, who would then sign the form.

  There would usually be a full audit at the end of the year. Otherwise most times it was just left to the accounts servant.

  It must have changed since then.

  I learnt last year that the brother who was accounts servant above, at time I left, and for many years before that. Suddenly upped and left , on discovering a few things about the WT, saying he had wasted his life with the JW's. He was in his 40's never married, keeping himself for "New System" , even though his brothers and sisters had got married. Last I heard he had grown a beard and was off travelling the world.
• 

  blondie

  As to accounts servants, it depends on their ability and the complexity of the funds they handle. I have seen men unqualified to handle their own funds put in charge of the congregation's and men who dipped into the till once too many times.

  The institution of the donation arrangement in 1990 should have "simplilfied" their jobs somewhat.

  Blondie
• 

  aniron

  Thats true Blondie,

  The JW I mention above said as much when the "donation" arrangement came in. "One less worry" he said if I remember right.

  Then later on he had to point out that the arrangement was not paying its way. Most of the congregation were not donating.

  I heard of one local congregation were the Literature Servant, when you paid for literature, was creaming off some of the money.
• 

  neverendingjourney

  As to accounts servants, it depends on their ability and the complexity of the funds they handle. I have seen men unqualified to handle their own funds put in charge of the congregation's and men who dipped into the till once too many times.

  This is so true. I was part of the accounts dept. years and years ago. The Account Servant did not have a clue what was going on. Simple things like making out the weekly deposit and filling out the monthly accounts reports were made into hours-long affairs. It was one of the most frustrating things to go through. He was a nice guy, but simply was not qualified to do even the simplest bookkeeping tasks required by the Society. The elder that audited the accounts every three months was not much better. He would just go through the checklist provided by the Society and check through all of the boxes even though he knew full well that we weren't following all of the Society's instructions. Stealing from the congregation would have been so easy; that's how bad their bookkeeping was. Of course, I never did and I fully would have expected lighting to strike me had I tried.

  One year the congregation assigned a new MS as part of the team. We had been together for hours trying to "figure out" why we couldn't get the sheets to balance. I pointed out the reason, but my explanation did not satisfy the Account Servant. Finally the newly-appointed brother got fed up and raised his voice. It was about 2 a.m. at that point. He told them I was right and that they were stupid for taking so long (paraphrasing). He was fairly educated, so he knew that I was right. The Account Servant couldn't balance his own checkbook. The Account Servant was intimidated and just went along with it. He never understood the reason why the sheets weren't balancing, but he just caved in after awhile. It had something to do with the fact that he didn't understand that a payment was made in a prior month for the following month's services, but I don't remember the details.
• 

  minimus

  The earlier instructions to elders from the Society and I believe in the KM stated that a MS could be used in JC meetings under certain situations. That same KM talked about how a MS could conduct a bookstudy and give public talks----if there were not enough elders in a cong.

  Eventually, they said only elders should serve on JCs unless a country had no elders. Nowadays, I could see no reason why only elders or "Overseers" should do what must be done, especially because there's so many new directives being given to BOES.
• 

  restrangled

  Minimus..../Maximus

  I have refrained from responding because of your description of your younger years on a JC. It reminded me too much of the following:

  I was destroyed by someone your age on a JC. He wanted me nailed. Approximately 6 years older than I was. Straight out of high school to a 4 year Bethel stint and then back to our hall as an elder.

  He didn't have a clue as to what was going on in the real world. He was counseling married couples, children etc.

  At that time they were using the term "Older Men"....and I thought what a farce this person was. No experience in life, no kids, no wife, and an idiot concerning real life experience.

  I wanted to slap him silly, and to be frank, I probably would have slapped you silly had I had the opportunity.

  I appreciate your honest story, but you know and I know you had no business making the decisions you did at your age.

  I think you are a great guy at this point, just responding to your absolute Junior level years.

  r.
• 

  minimus

  RE, "you know and I know you had no business making the decisions you did at your age"....and you had no business listening to an inexperienced young man, but I bet you did it too often. You should slap yourself and the rest of us too.
• 

  aniron

  The earlier instructions to elders from the Society and I believe in the KM stated that a MS could be used in JC meetings under certain situations. That same KM talked about how a MS could conduct a bookstudy and give public talks----if there were not enough elders in a cong.

  This seems a case of congregations doing things differently from each other.

  They would be no way my congregation would have used an MS on a JC. They would have sent to Bethel for a brother if necessary, or called on the Circuit Overseer. Only an Elder could do an Elders job.

  I became an MS in 1979. Whithin months I was taking items in the Service Meeeting, giving the Insruction talk in the School, taking the book study if the Elder was ill or on holiday, and giving Public Talks.

  Even when we had nine Elders at one time.
• 

  mouthy

  Mini! Thanks for sharing What a pity they give young inexperienced men the power to rule...

  I know so many that have killed themselves after being d/f ...The saddest was in Montreal.He was a wonderful fellow a bank Manager....He helped me serve at a wedding ( free voluntary catering) a few weeks before he "opt" himself.He confided in me . that a lot of the guests at the wedding was giving him trouble.He said they realize Armeggedon is coming ,,, they are in so much debt...They come for a loan, after checking them out he really couldnt do it.... But he relented when they kept bugging him....If I ever he got caught at what he was doing for the Bro's & Sisters, he could lose his position...
  About two weeks later he sat in his car & blew his brains out.
  Story that went around was the mafia shot him.......NOT!!!!!!

  I used to clean the toilets also.... I told you all about being in the mens room & the thing you pee in (forgot their name) kept flushing !!!! the other gal & I figuered it must be cos we were stepping on cetain tiles So we tried stepping on differant ones. Only when I told some one they roared. O.K so Mim I admit I was a dope....But you ????? You had brains

  .
• 

  kazar

  That's quite a story, Minimus. It really touched me. I'm glad you're here now.