Hi there Knowledge Seeker. I am a Gilead grad, who also researched similar things to you.
I don't know (and it isn't my place) how to determine your particular criteria for Christlike people. In my own mind, I think that such people are of their own accord, and the helping hand of organized religion doesn't change a persons true character.
I never left because of the people I knew. I love and miss them to this day. In fact, I get a feeling that you and I might be in a similar boat, that we have/had a lot of friends, and from our vantage point, all is well. But think of it this way.....
You were at Bethel, you pioneered, etc. Your family is established. Thus, it WILL be different for you. It was for me too. Everyone I associated with seemed ok, because I never really associated with those struggling, having problems, etc. As an elder, I "helped" them, JW style. But they weren't my close friends, even if I cared for them too. My status allowed me to be friends with the higher ups, and I had no personal reason for complaint. Having said that, I was never a struggling JW ever.
For many on this board, and others, they have experienced the cold, mineral like feeling of elders who were taxed for time, and/or otherwise incapable of helping. It is no small matter to describe elders as 'a hiding place in the wind, a crag in the rain', then to be consistently treated as if your mental issues, your "personality conflicts", are the result of your lack of spirituality and faith. I even experienced that at the end as I resigned. I could only shake my head and laugh.
You have found many correct issues regarding WT involvement with the UN, the pedophile problem, etc. I can appreciate the resistance to these. For me, I knew first hand the UN was right. Every Gilead class, the class gets a specialized tour of the UN. Why? Because as a UN NGO, they have to provide "education" to some of their flock regarding UN activities. I got to go in 2005 with class 119. We were never told why this was necesarry. It's purpose was glossed over. But the tour guide would make little comments concerning JW's, as if she knew we were associated with the UN.
As far as pedophiles, I served in a congregation with several prisons, and we had the "lucky" privilege of studying with incarcerated JW pedophiles, and reviewing their pleas for reinstatement. Having dealt with so many, and learning how truly cynical and sick they are, left me cold. And yet, JW policies allowed them to continue in almost every case. The problem is truly rampant.
But maybe thats not compelling for you. Here is what did it for me. In class at Gilead, we hit 2 Kings 1, where the correct answers to the test was to link the prophets Elijah and Elisha to which modern day counterparts? Elijah = Rutherford, Elisha = Knorr.
I wrote about this under "What Gilead Taught Me"
I don't consider it my job to tell anyone what to believe, the nature of god, etc. We are all on our journeys. But at some point, if we lose our intellectual honesty for the sake of a group, religious or otherwise, we lose ourselves, and whatever value being Christlike could have for us gets lost too.
As for your desire to shake things up, well, I can only say that elders these days are specifically trained to disfellowship in short order, anyone who would dare express dissent with the GB. Perhaps you need this experience so that you can see for yourself. Regardless, I would temper my expectations in what you would hope to accomplish.
In any case, I wish you all the best!
...OUTLAW