by Open mind 42 Replies latest watchtower bible
Today's WT lesson: Serving Jehovah with All Seriousness, excerpt from Paragraph 11:
"If a brother has been baptized at least one year and to a reasonable degree meets the Scriptural qualifications for ministerial servants outlined at 1 Timothy 3:8-13, he can be recommended for appointment."
How often have you seen someone become a Ministerial Servant one year after baptism?
This isn't a new rule, but the reminder to elders speaks volumes IMO.
om
they are desperate for men to reach out. There has been years of Elders using the miracle criteria for appointments leading to discouragement and men stopping reaching out. Now they are reaping what they sowed and are in desperate need of appointed men as elders are having to work harder to fill the gaps and they are getting older.
10 years as MS and 11 years as Elder, I have never seen a brother been appointed to MS after only one year.
During 11 years as Elder, figure 22 elders meetings with a CO discussing brothers' qualifications... the conversation ALWAYS comes down to hours in field service, visibility, and not being a 'newly converted man.' The only way I could see a one year brother make it to MS is to be a ball of fire as a reg pio (that only can happen 6 months after baptism.) so he would only have 6 months as a reg pio and still be a 'newly converted man.' It has always been seen as 'laying on of hands hastily.'
This WT study article may be pointing out the technical requirements but the last 5 to 7 years of trying to get a man appointed as MS has been extremely difficult. The CO is always covering his own arse, usually shooting down the recommendation with the most inane objections, for example it now seems to be the GB directive that when you look at a married/family mans' hours you subtract 4 hours a month for family study, so you are left over with usually 5 to 7 hours of what they consider 'real field service time.' So a married/family man that works for a living and doing all he can to reach out and work in field service may still not be considered as putting the kingdom first because he 'really only gets less than the national average.'
I could never reconcile all the latest public articles about men reaching out with the opposite attitude by the CO at recommendation time.
Another example of procedure within the last year: The CO outlined how we exactly can answer the question of 'How much field service time do I need to qualify?' The first rule as an elder is to NEVER EVER state an exact hour figure. We were to ask the brother how much service time that HE thought was reasonable, if his figure was above the national average then we were to say, OK that sounds like a good goal for you. THEN IF HE DOES NOT START REPORTING THAT AMOUNT OF TIME, we were supposed to remind him of what 'he agreed to do in service!!!!!!!!!!"
The big bosses know they have a problem of men resigning their positions in the congregation, so they say they need more men to reach out, but the reality is that during the meetings with the CO 'in the back room' it just rarely happens.
This is one more reason that I am...
Burnedout
Yes, OM, I do know 3 new converts being appointed MS after one year of baptism in the 80's. One of them is still in the borg as an elder. Two of them left the org.
I am a Ministerial Servant and have been slacking off in "official" duties in a major way. I still spend a lot of time with older ones, and taking kids from single parent families out to do things, etc. But, my Service time has been hovering around 4 - 5 hours per month, I rarely comment anymore, and have missed 30% of the since January. This is a huge drop in activity for me. I used to get around 15-20 hours a month, commented all the time, never missed a meeting (even if I was sick).
No one has said a word to me. Not one.
Thanks for your up-to-date perspectives burnedout.
I stopped being an elder a couple years ago, but I also have NEVER seen someone recommended for MS just one year after baptism.
Maybe this Watchtower will help to scrape up a few more grunts.
om
From my somewhat limited perspective , the requirements to being appointed as a MS have been diluted considerably. A 19 year old has just been appointed locally who is jobless & spends most of his time playing computer games with his friends (many of whom are "worldly"). Another was a 60+ man whose brain has sadly been destroyed by a lifetime of alcohol abuse before (and sometimes since) he became a JW. Neither would ever have even been considered 5 years ago.
A lot depends on the CO - a COBOE who remains a close friend told me that basically the CO was telling him that unless a brother was doing virtually nothing , then he should be put forward for discussion by the CO.
dontplaceliterature, Have you had a CO visit since slacking off?
Over 40 years I have seen several men made MS after just 1 year. In one case they were born-in, baptized at 15, regular pioneering for 2 years, and appointed at 20, made elder at 25. But I have known 3 that were not born in but had a college education, were reliable and energetic, got in 15 hours or more each month in the d2d. Also there was not many MS and the elders were overloaded with the peon work in the congregation so were motivated to advance them.
I have seen 2 be appointed as MS.
One was single and moved out of the state within a year of his appointment and was never heard from again by the local congregation.
The other one was 'serving' as an elder in N.C. the last I heard. He was/is a good company man.
