So far, that's eight (8) NO's and one (1) YES... very telling...
CO Visits... Are elders honest about the TRUE state of the congregation?
by Alfred 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Generally, the elders and publishers join together in sugar-coating the congregation for the COs visit.
I say "generally" because I was in a congregation that would turn into a giant bitch-fest at every COs visit. Sisters and brothers would be lined up with a list of complaints about others in the congregation. Nearly every "local needs" part for almost 4 years was about gossip/forgiveness/patience/trying to get along. I was so glad to finally get out of that wreck.
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Anony Mous
I can say a resounding NO. Throughout my JW career I have been in at least 15 congregations if not more.
- Territories usually are lacking in 'updates'. Usually the poor chap that's doing the thing gets hauled off the job after 2-3 times that the CO has visited. One congregation actually printed new territories and checked them in when publishers didn't return them in time, another congregation actually had two sets of territories, one for the CO, one for the rest of the time.
- I have done the accounting for both KH's and RBC's, again, external time pressures make sure you simply can't do what you need to do in the time alotted. I eventually resided to just printing off the accounts whenever they were requested, I had automated all the calculations and the double checks so I only typed in everything once, never verified the numbers. Sometimes 2 audits have to be performed at once and the dates fudged. The months before I was assigned, I noticed people had fudged the numbers (quite visibly) because they were off by $180. After I noticed that and all the financial emphasis coming from the branch (among other factors) I started doubting the congregation/organization so I started 'testing' first God (which proved unable to catch a $200 loss), then testing the system. Before I left I had defrauded the organization about $2000 in donations with perfect numbers on the books. My assistant apparently also caught on to it at the very last because in the same way I did, I noticed $100 disappear after I started skipping meetings and gave him the 'privilege'. To this day noone can prove anything.
- Shepherding calls are rarely attended to. Several times even before I was appointed I was called upon by elders to go with them on (sometimes sensitive) calls because they needed to get them done before the CO came.
- I have seen congregations with some of the above figured out but none have been able to figure out the 'WT way' of doing magazines and books. Either they're missing audits (yes, all books in inventory are to be counted for accuracy on a monthly basis) or faking them.
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Diest
I dont think it is wise to post that you did something illegal. I am not bothered by it in the least, but I dont think it is a good idea.
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Alfred
Anonymous... Diest is right... Also, I'm hoping Diest and I misread what you wrote... what you've brought to light here only serves to give the WT more credibility (whenever they trash so-called "apostates")... what gives?
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winstonchurchill
As InBetween said, CO's are pretty much mid-level managers. And every employee in the world tries his/her best when being directly observed by a supervisor. It's human. Nothing wrong with that.
And, yes there are true honest to god elders (as RayPublisher) trying their best, honestly. I don't think "white-washing' is a fair term for those cases. You just clean your house better when you have important visitors.
But there are way too many elders that will flat cross the fine line into being deceptive, tweaking the facts, and then flat out lying.
Too many times when visiting congregations I easily picked the mismatch between hard facts and what elders were telling me. I once found a sister reporting One hour, consitently every month for over a year. Long story short: she had died 6 months before at a nursing home. Boy did I let that Secretary have it!
And anyone can tell when they lie about shepherding.
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A question
winston you have a PM
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Mr. Falcon
winston and OTWO are spot on (as are many of the other comments).... but you guys left something out....
not only will they outright LIE about actually doing shepherding calls but they will sit there with shit-eating grins and pat themselves on the back when/if the CO tells them to their faces that they are doing "a fine job shepherding Jehovah's Flock". I was a MS and I saw this first hand; was a major red-flag for me.
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ziddina
Wooooowwwwwiiiiiieeeeeee.....
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Anony Mous
@Diest and @Alfred - I defrauded the organization of donations, not the congregation I did not make that entirely clear.
There was a lot of unrest in our congregation because we had just done paying off our KH and had a small savings account ($10k). The organization pushed to build a new Kingdom Hall entirely funded by the congregations and folded more congregations and groups in our little hall than before. The organization also didn't (and still doesn't) allow the congregation to use their savings account for the project which is held by the branch and was entirely mute on the sale of the old properties, one of which was in very desirable real estate and eventually bought by ANOTHER CHURCH (no dealings with Babylon the Great there)!
I redirected the funds from the 'worldwide work' to 'local congregation' and 'project funds' because the locals were poor as dirt (literally a ghetto congregation) and giving their every cent of retirement and disability income to the worldwide work. One of the CO's had told the congregation before to 'give more' by setting aside a certain amount every month before paying bills so the income into the worldwide box went up to $300/month - congregation size was 110 active publishers - THAT'S HOW POOR THEY WERE. Then some of them gave their ENTIRE SAVINGS, sometimes $2000 for the new project which was projected to cost $1M in loans from the branch in a neighborhood were large family homes (1500sqft with yards) were going for $30-60k. The organization bought 2 of the neigboring properties (in order to knock them down for the expansion) for $30,000.