One of the sisters raised her hand high, her husband had been disfellowshiped twice, she was wife number three. Will her dream of becoming a elderette be realized or will he leave her for number four? He said he had no desire to become a elder, was the district dude trying to pit husband against wife?
2+2=5 cited this fact about the shrinking amount of elders. Perhaps the coming implosion?
by wha happened? 86 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Phizzy
I can remember them bemoaning the lack of men "reaching out" over thirty years ago, but the WT is still here, mores the pity. I do see this as a problem for the WT , but not one they cannot solve.
One way they got a few more M.S was to lower the bar considerably, the problem that has given them is that many of these are piss-poor individuals who are simply not able to make it as Elders. They cannot lower the bar for Elders much more, unless they bury the bar underground, and yet they still cannot find enough men willing to take on the oh so wonderful privilege, I wonder why ?
They may be forced, after all the amalgamations have finished, to use a lot of ParaElders and "travelling" Elders who serve more than one Parish.
Fact is, the WT cannot sort out the underlying problem, it is the same as Companies and Corporations that expect wonderful qualifications and yet want to pay peanuts, they get monkeys.
For the WT offering a post that is frankly s**t, unless you love power and prestige within a weird group, and for NO pay, it is a slim hope they will get many takers, and those that do must be suspected of wrong motive or being mentally unstable, usually both.
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Fencing
He get's cute the third time "Which sisters here would like their husbands to reach out and become a elder?" Over a hundred hands popped up by eager potential women
Yeah, they're all eager about it now, because they have no idea how much their husbands would be taken away from them if they were appointed.
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DesirousOfChange
One way they got a few more M.S was to lower the bar considerably,
NEW STANDARD TO QUALIFY AS MS SERVANT:
Can he fog a mirror?
Doc
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Doubting Bro
The congregation that I attend is a little different. I don't think its the norm but:
around 130 publishers
9 elders (1 - 80s, 1 - 70s, 1-60s- 3-50s, 1-40s, 2-30s) while there are some lazy ones (2) for the most part they divide things up fairly evenly. They don't get along with a definite break along generational (a real generation not a WT one because they're all the same generation according to the WT) lines.
7 ms (1 -80s, 1-60s, 2-30s,3-20s) - Of this group, one in his 30s will likely be made an elder, if not this go around certainly next. He was a late bloomer for a born-in and wasn't appointed a ms until his late 20s. The other one in his 30s is a slacker. He was my CBS assistant way back in the day and I know he fakes FS and all his parts are worked up at the hall. He likely won't make the cut but is politically connected which is why he's never bothered about his lack of effort. The 2 older ones have maxed out. The 3 in their 20s are all elder material. They put plenty of time on their FS slips (or they give that impression) and are actually much better speakers than the majority of the current elders. If they all stay on their current course, I can see them appointed in their late 20s/early 30s.
18 pioneers as well
But, I would tell you that this congreation is likely one of, if not the most zealous in the circuit. Not to say they don't do what they want. I was just at a gathering (I hate that word, its a #%$# party) this weekend and believe me, folks let their hair down. Yet, people were at the meeting the next day (hungover but made it).
I think if I were to look at the majority of the congos I'm familiar with in this circuit, most of them are how everyone else is describing. I'm pretty sure this one is an outlier
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Gayle
As far as the idea of it going back to pre-70s of having just a "congregation servant" won't last long anyway. Back then, they were burning out too. Part of the "1975" push was to spark people up, and it did for the short while. I thought then in the early '70s, the "new light" was just a needed measure so as to work as a 'group' instead of so much on just one.
Bottomline, the organization is just a religion to "burn out" people. It promises "short-term" in this world, but is not made to deal with 'long-term' realities for people.
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Vanderhoven7
Responding to the first several posts (in case this was already brought out), I foresee that The Peter-Principle probably solving this one throughout the system.
There are probably enough power hungry incompetent rank & filers out there chomping at the bit for extra glory and recognition and power.
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jam
Doubting Bro: your congregation, is it in the US and if your
congregation is in the US is it a Spanish congregation?
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Eustace
Let's just say that the other reason the CO didn't recomend him was due to an issue that IS NOT a sin, but not something the WT necessarily approves of, nor encourages. Matter fact, the WT goes out of it's way to discourage what this brother had done. (let he who has understanding.....) That said because of this issue that I can't identify for you(you probably know what it is), there was some questions related to this brother's freedom of speech on this unidentified subject.
He went to college? He gave anal sex to his wife?
Those are the only two things I can think of, but probably it's something else and I'm just being thick.
