by VM44 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
The Watchtower's goal is to have every elder attend the Elder's School.
In the United States the school has been held in Patterson, New York, which involves traveling considerable distances for some in order to attend it.
Can an elder decline to make the trip?
What happens if he does decline?
What makes the Elder's School so imporant anyway? What is taught there that requires the physical presence of an elder?
I couldn't sleep, thats why I'm posting this late. I just took 7 benadryl, so hopefully in the next 15 minutes or so I'll get drowsy.
An elder can decline, or just not go depending on the circumstances. At the one I attended, it was at a local kindom hall. What happens is, your COBOE, formerly known as the PO, would give all the elders at that congregation a lapel card. At that point, you were free to do whatever with it. If you chose to attend, great, if you chose to not attend, nobody would notice anyway. I'm sure a few elders didn't bother going. This school was the first time I've ever attended one. So I was quite curious. I asked my father, who's been an elder since the elder arrangement was instituted, what these were like. His response was, "same ol crap." At that point, I had to attend, just to see what he meant.
It is really frowned upon not to go, one of our more thinking Elders didn't go on more than one occasion.
The first time he missed, I was standing next to him after our Congo. Meeting that came soon after the schoool had finished, our P.O (as it was called then) came up and asked him where he had been, he replied:
"Mind your own business"
I was quite shocked, and the absconding Elder then proceeded to tell me why he had missed the "School", it was a family emergency, and he said to me "It is none of his business if I go or not" which I had to agree with.
He used to give several of the ones after that a miss too, because of work etc.
He is no longer an Elder, but for different reasons, I am surprised he still sticks with the cult, but there you go.
I suppose they could decline. But, that is along the lines of "Can I say [the F word] on this forum"--you can do it, but there are going to be consequences.
For the hounders not going to the hounder school, it could make it much harder for them to be upheld, and they will not be getting any higher up. And they are going to get the garbage jobs that no one wants.
I think some may be confusing two different schools.
1) Every 3 years or so, there is a 3-day school (Fri, Sat, Sun) conducted locally for elders (2 days, Fri & Sat) and ministerial servants (1 day, usually Sunday so elders can conduct Sun meeting). These are typically conducted on the circuit level using a local KH, or several circuits have met together at assembly halls
2) A Kingdom Ministry school for Presiding Overseers/Coordinators has been being conducted in Patterson for a few years now. The original goal was for all POs (no CoBE) to attend. I understand this was expanded with the goal for either all elders of the Service Committees to attend, and perhaps for ALL elders to eventually attend. This is for one full week (or perhaps it was even for 2 weeks originally). Seems like there was some talk of conducting at more locations now than just Patterson, such as regional Assembly Halls around the country (US), such as where they conduct Ministerial Training Schools. (I don't know if this has been implemented beyond the US at this time.)
My liberal elder friend who is usually open to discussing organizational "secrets" has already attended this school in Patterson, but he refuses to say almost anything about it. Just that it was incredibly encouraging and he doesn't understand why it isn't adapted to regular meetings for the entire cong to benefit. (Obviously, then there wouldn't be any "secrets" to make elders feel the power.) If anyone here (POs/CoBE) has attended this school, what's it about? What's the big secrets? (Maybe this could be a new thread if there are enough comments?)
In the United States the school has been held in Patterson, New York, which involves traveling considerable distances for some in order to attend it.
There are now "traveling schools" in the US. Some Bethel bigwigs have been trained to conduct the school and are sent out to various locations throughout the US. I don't know how many there are, but the triners typically travel to an assembly hall, stay there a few weeks or months, then move on to another one.
This would of course reduce the travel time & expense for many - but of course there's still the issue of missing 5 days of work.
I imagine an elder could be "excused" if his reason were viewed as "legitimate enough" - family or personal illness, severe economic hardship, etc.
What is taught there that requires the physical presence of an elder?
Nothing that they haven't heard before. The primary difference is that it is 36 hours of intense "spiritual discussion", a far longer time than is usually spent in "theocratic pursuits".
Considering that an Elder™ would have to cover his own expenses for accommodation, travel, missed work and other such inconveniences, and they are not compensated in the least for their efforts on any level, to make it mandatory would be laughable. Of course, the WTS likes to dress it up as a Privilege™ that one only gets by invitation, to make it seem way more special than it really is.
We had a traveling heavyweight from HQ direct the school. Ours was a day and a half. That last day was rough. It was early enough in the morning when I arrived that it was still dark outside. By the time I left, it was dark again. I was going stir crazy towards the end.
As far as brothers not attending, nobody would have noticed. Thinking back, I'm not entirely sure every brother from my hall was there now that I'm thinking about it. It's not like you have to sign in or anything. They had attendants at the front door checking for your lapel card. If you didn't have it, I'm under the impression they wouldn't let you in. Or someone would have had to vouch for you if you didn't have it. When I got there on the first day, I hadn't pinned it to my jacket and it was in my pocket. So I opened up the door, and two brothers were the bouncers attendants, and I knew both of them. The one has a daughter that reminds me of Cheryl Burke from Dancing With the Stars. Gorgous little lady. He said, "hey Misery!, good to see you!" We did the man-hug thing, and then I proceeded to walk into the auditorium, but he stopped me like, "whoa, where's your badge Misery?" I replied, "my fault, its right here. I'll put it on in a second." Then he let me in. There's was so many brothers in this little Kingdom Hall that if I or someone else decided to blow it off, nobody would have noticed. 75-80% of the brothers in there, I didn't know. They came from all over, possibly neighboring States.
Has anyone done the week-long gig at Patteson that can share any info about it?
