Elders....what sort of training do they get...how are they selected (page 3)

tijkmo

I served as an elder for a total of 9 months, being appointed in October 2008.

elder and time traveller no less

VM44

Many "elders" are very incompetent in dealing with family problems.

I view elders as managers of the Kingdom Hall similar to the managers of McDonalds resteaurants.

Both receive directions from a central HQ and have to follow institutional procedures.

WTWizard

They are picked from people that are hard line, that put in plenty of field circus, and are good at hounding people to do ever more.

The Missus

very very scary when people would rather have a counseling session with an elder than a licensed and qualified therapist.

SnakesInTheTower

I believed, in my naive sort of way, that elders should be training MS. True, we were not to take MS on shepherding (vs encouragement) calls.

Once, I had a single sister in the congo call me right after evening book study at the KH. She and her pre-teen daughter were having a knock down drag out fight at home. I tried to call the other elders, but none of them were answering their phones. I had a MS with me, young but had been a MS for awhile. I knew I couldnt go to the single sisters house by myself. I asked if he would join me. I brought him up to speed as much as I could. He was shocked. I told him: "Obviously this is confidential. You can't help if you don't know something of the situation. You are not here merely as a chaperone. You are not here as an observer. You are here to provide insight and comfort and understanding, as if you are already an elder. This may be different than you have been told but you need training if you are wanting to be an elder."

The MS did a fine job during the conversation. Of course, before I could do so, the MS reported everything to two other elders....his father-in-law and his brother-in-law (now the PO). I got reamed for disclosing confidential information to him. I informed those elders that a) I tried to call them but none of them could be bothered to return my call and b) I asked the sister if it was alright if the MS joined us for the discussion. This only mollified those idiots for a brief time...but the jackass father-in-law elder filed it in the back of his mind in the list of sins I had committed in his opinion.

My point in that story is that I believed in training MSs. I was taught that in Ministerial Training School. We were messing with people's lives, the least we could do is try to do so competently...well, as competently as the context of the cult allows..... glad I am done with that.

Snakes ()

passwordprotected

snakes sounds like he was my kind of elder! I fully agree with him; new elders are going to be put in situations where they can massively impact on peoples' lives. They need to be trained and trained well. Unfortunately, too many elders view this as an inconvenience.

karter

We had 1 elder appointed he was an Accountant he did the books for lots of brothers ans sisters who were in bisness ............turns out he had been stealing money off them for years .......when it went to court it came out it was around 1 million $ ....now he was made an elder wile he had been stealing money from them.............were's the holy spirit???

zions watchman

CHEETOES... YOU ARE THE MAN!!! WHAT INSIGHT AND WISDOM I MAY APPOINT YOU. TOO SENIOR CHEETOES....

bonnzo

i was an MS for 5 years, never elder. however, i conducted a book study, presided over the second school, gave public talks in my own cong. and every one in my circuit and other circuits, and got drunk and smoked before and after i was appointed. so how do youy get selected? it helps if your dad is PO. holy spirit has NOTHING to do with it. as for training.....you are kidding, right?

Elders....what sort of training do they get...how are they selected

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