How many of you have seen situations where the ELDERS DISAGREED? (page 2)

Edington

When I was a ministerial servant I went to an elders meeting... ......you know, the bit of the meeting before elders really get down to business & the mini's are expected to leave.

I had never experienced one of these meetings before & went with my father, at the time also a mini'.

It was an eye opener.............the rivallry between them & one upmanship was very disappointing. I said to my father I will not be going to another.

Soon after I told them I did not want to be a mini'.

These men apppointed by Jehovah???

It is just not true!

Many of them are way out of their depth, many like to have a position of authority they would never attain in the 'world' outside the WT, some are just outright bullies.

If you are very 'blessed' you may have a man that is a wonderful elder, but they are few & far between.

Ed

dutchstef

My father was an elder for a long time, the elders always had conlicts with eachother.

You had like two groups of elders the three big ones, (don't know the english names, but I trie to explain) the head of the cong. the secretary and fieldservice elder( my father) and the rest.

The three big ones including my father were verry arrogant and I know for a fact that if an other elder had a big mouth they would force him to step down. It even happened once that an elder had to step down in our cong. He moved to an new area complained about what happened and became an elder in his new congragation within a year...

Waffles

Never made it to elder level, but I have been in congregations where the differences and disputes of elders became very public knowledge.

At one Hall I attended in Kansas City, the PO was somewhat of a Godfather figure. He had his favorites in the hall and everyone knew, his son was publicly reproved, lost all his privileges, and was back to reading the Watchtower on Sundays within a few months, every time he was out in service he never left the car, just drove around checking on the groups and chatting with them a bit before going to the next group. Anyone who wanted to go anywhere in the hall had to kiss his ass to do so.

He and a more newly appointed elder (who was a by-the-book kind of guy, would never dream of stopping for a donut in field service, etc) argued in front of people on more than one occasion - they just did not see eye-to-eye. Long story short, brother ByTheBook was eventually deleted as an elder. The following week we had a local needs talk on respecting those taking the lead among you, and he left the Hall and moved to another congregation.

Fast forward a year, and we have a new CO - one that sees through the PO's Godfather-ness. He immediately shuts him down, removes him as an elder, and asks him to go to a different congregation.

It sure was a wacky few years in that old hall lol.

“By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”—JOHN 13:35.

straightshooter

I remember the 4 to 7 hour elder meetings. The congregation never knew of the fighting among the alpha elders during those elder meetings. I remember once where one of the alpha elders called the co about having the po removed as an elder. He needed the other elders to side with him during the next visit of the co. It was so funny when the co sided with the po to the dismay of that elder. It was definitely a kodak moment to capture the surprise and shock on that elder's face after all the manipulating he did.

Some circuit overseers were really good and some tried to force their personal opinions down the elder body. I remember some of the elders disagreeing with the co, resulting in the stepping down of one of the elders because of this. This elder did not like voluteering his time to help the congregation then get yelled at by the co for not being in his seat and listening to the co Tuesday talk. This elder instead was handling a matter in the second hall with a brother to make sure that the sound was working properly.

Actually it was fun giving talks and encouraging the congregation, but it was heart sickening the battles within the body and even with the circuit overseer.

slimboyfat

We had someone move into our congregation about 14 years ago. He had been a Witness for years but was never made an elder in any previous congregation. But in our congregation he made a real effort to "reach out" and he became an ministerial servant and then an elder within a couple of years. He was charming when he first arrived, but when he was appointed as an elder he became rude and was nasty to a lot of people in the congregation. He would counsel people for really stupid things, like placing the wrong magazine for that week. (It was a big crime to place the magazine for May in April for example) People complained about the elder so much the other elders eventually decided to remove him. When he found out the other elders were going to remove him this elder quickly moved to another congregation, (he didn't move house, he just stopped going to our Hall) and somehow he still managed to be an elder in the other congregation despite our body of elders refusing to write a letter recommending him. He was good friends with the CO at the time so people assumed the CO managed to get him recognised as an elder in the new congregation straight away. He told people that he moved congregation to help out with foreign language or something but it didn't make sense. Did the CO break the rules there in overruling our body of elders? How can you be an elder and refuse to attend your local congregation? This elder still lives in our territory 7 years on and is an elder in the other congregation. He gets used on the platform at Assemblies as a good example for others to follow.

flipper

BONAFIDE- I would estimate that 7 out of every 10 elders serve with motives of power, authority seeking, and prestige. My dad is 84, has been an elder for 55 years since 1955 so being raised in a house by a well known elder - I saw lots of power struggles and disagreements. In fact I saw SO MANY political games played and brown nosing among contentious power mongering men - it totally turned me off to ever want to reach out to be an elder. I was an MS for 6 years and regular pioneer for 3 years - but too independent and opinionated to ever be an elder. They would have deleted me the first month I was appointed as I would have stood up to the elders mistreating people ! LOL! Peace out, Mr. Flipper

The Berean

The Elder arrangement is little more than a system of quid-pro-quo political negotiation. One elder sponsors a motion and expects the others to go along with it. In exchange when another elder brings a matter to the floor the remainder of the body will acquiesce. The war begins when one elder has been bobble-heading for the others and suddenly meets resistance on his motion. How this game affects the flock is of little interest to the the Rascals in the club house.

wobble

My old man was eventually appointed as an Elder,quite a time after the 1972 (?) arrangement came in.

He told the body of elders that he had not changed in any way,so how come he qualified now and not before ?

eventually they apologised and said they had got it wrong (where was the Holy Spirit ?)

The old feller (now deceased) used to set a time limit on Elders meetings,reasonable,say 10pm,and just get up and go at 10pm regardless of where they were in their deliberations ! Bless him. In later years it was unsafe for him to drive in the dark (and in the light I.M.O) so an Elder would take him to the meeting, and have to leave at 10pm as well to take him home, I still laugh at the cantankerous old devil.

Love

Wobble

How many of you have seen situations where the ELDERS DISAGREED?

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