Bethel Layoffs

cantleave

Could those who know about these lay offs give some clear evidence of what has happened, when, to who, any experiences of people effected and to what extent?

I want to talk to a really good friend about the situation. He is a young guy who feels he should be doing more for the organisation, and is thinking about giving up a very good career to make a more of his career in the "truth". One of his friends has been accepted to gilead, and another is joining the translation department at Mill Hill and he feels he is being left behind. He believes the BS that a career in the organisation is more secure than one in the world, I would like him to see how secure it has REALLY been over the last couple of years.

In the UK we know nothing of these lay-offs so any info would be useful.

Thanks in advance.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Over here in the US, I know plenty. Even though I can give evidence, that might not phase him. When you're young and idealistic, facts like that can be ignored.

Does he or any of his family have health problems?

cantleave

I agree that he may not bee phased, but he does have a great deal of respect for what I say, even though shouldn't since I helped him stay in the org.

He doesn't have health problems and he probably doesn't see health insurance as a major issue. All I want to do is demonstrate is that a career in bethel can result in disappointment in the same way as a career in any organisation can.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

What would his reponse be if you come along with something like:

"Of course it would be a fine thing to serve Hojovah in the best way possible. Right now, Jehovah has blessed you with a good job while many other JWs are struggling to make ends meet. I don't know, but I think that with the way things are with the economy today, it would be loving on your part to give any possible openings in Bethel to a struggling pioneer brother that doesn't already have a job.

"In the meantime, you have a job and maybe can get some more education in law, accounting, electronics, or something like that. Skills like that are needed in Bethel and would provide you with better security if you stay in Bethel or a better job when you leave Bethel. If you only go to Bethel for toilet-cleaning duty, that's a needed service, and you may even start with that job as a lawyer. But if they ask you to leave Bethel when the branch in France or Spain is disbanded and they replace you with someone else, you don't expect to leave Bethel with professional toilet-cleaner on your resume. It's about practical wisdom."

cantleave

Yeah - that's about it.

He actually in Financial services and make good money even in these turbulent times. It would be stupid for him to pursue a life in Beth-hell. I reckon he would end up on cleaning duties, and he would hate it, but unfortunately I have instilled a real zeal for the "truth" in him, and I feel kinda guilty about that now, so would like to put him off.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Yeah, it would be more "loving" of him to leave any Bethel job openings to those that need them. If he were to quit his job now, that job wouldn't go to a "brother", it would go to a "worldling", which would just be "wrong".

Perhaps with his work in finance, he should take some university courses that would help him learn more about the workings of a multi-billion pound "non-profit" multi-national company, such as Botchtower Corp of Pennsylvania, USA.

Or you could suggest that he learn a foreign language to serve another congregation where he will feel like an outsider, culturally isolated, and emotionally drained and lonely.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

...or you could tell him that you would love to see him go to Bethel so that he would know which brothers to ask about why only JWs believe that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 607 BC.

dgp

I wonder if what happened at the Spanish Bethel would help:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/174671/1/Bethel-reductions-in-Europe

alanv

Billy some really good answers there. You have to play them at their own game. It is hard for anyone not in the U S to see that the society are cutting back, especially with their apparant 4% increase in N. Americathis year.

Cantleave. I suggest you search all the sites on the internet to find what would be helpful for your friend. Some things mean nothing to them whereas other things really hit a nerve. Good luck

freddo

The prob here in the UK is that Mill Hill is expanding it's printing on the back of the Spanish/Italian layoffs. London is picking up a lot of their work. I know a dozen bethelites who are fairly young and "low-level" and there is no "redundancy" fear in the UK - far from it.

They even joke how the "accommodation" watchtower - you know the one about living arrangements where they imply that people will think everyone is ready to jump each other's bones when someone's back is turned - should start being applied in London Bethel first because so many singles and marrieds are sharing flats, kitchens and bathrooms!

Bethel Layoffs

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