I have read elsewhere about the talk outlines the WTS provides its public speakers. This raises the question: Since its inception 70 years ago in 1943, what real good has the Theocratic Ministry School accomplished?
Personally, I can say that this was one of the few provisions the WTS has provided that truly benefited me. Yes, I can say I already had a lot of natural ability as a speaker, but the TMS honed that ability to a very fine pitch. However, I can’t say that has been true for the majority of the men I have seen give public talks or meeting parts.
Most, even after years of participating in the TMS, are mediocre speakers at best. A great many are downright bad and have no business giving public talks of any kind. I don’t think this has changed in the three years since I ended all contact with the organization, either. And when I was an active Witness, I used to have TMS overseers come to me for counsel! (All this time I was never considered or recommended to even be a ministerial servant, let alone an elder, mark you.) It made me wonder what good the TMS had done these men and many others whose public talks were nothing short of a disgrace.
I saw the same thing in the canvassing work. Despite years of “training”, I knew many who did not have the necessary versatility to really participate in it. Yet the WTS acts as though anyone can become an accomplished and polished speaker or door-to-door canvasser simply by giving talks in the TMS. Obviously, that is not true. I’m not saying that there have not been many who have profited from TMS instruction, but I honestly think it is wasted on the vast majority of Witnesses. But I also believe that not everyone is cut out for public speaking and the canvassing work either, yet Witnesses are required to be proficient in both. Comment is invited.
Quendi
