has anyone noticed lately the emphasis on elders.. (page 2)

Elsewhere

"Elders are untrained volunteers"
"elders are appointed by holy spirit."

Fascinating... volunteers who are appointed.

RubaDub

Or are they Appointed to Volunteer ???

Yes it is interesting.

*****Rub a Dub

Pork Chop

Any good HR guy would ask whose responsibility is it that they are untrained.

It's not just the elders; as the WTBTS has deteriorated from an approximation of an egalatarian brotherhood to a heirarchy, stratification and categorization and various forms of pigeon-holing has become and obsession; hence we have ``unbaptised publishers,' ``Gileadites,"" ``Bethelites," ``elders" ``ministerial servants," etc. etc.

It used to be that any male in reasosnably good standing with the locals sttod a fair chancew of being asked to pray for the congregation; now it seems they have to be vetted or to hold the minimum office of Ministerial Servant.

Of course it's in the Society's interest to grant privileged ``bragging rights" status and a illusory sense of exclusivity as ego-building rewards to stem the tide of resignations from what is in reality a thankless burden, a classic ``no-win" situation as a local ligfhtning rod and scapegoa . It's kind of like a boss cynically giving an employee a promotion without an accompanying raise.

blacksheep

"elder's are appointed by holy spirit."

Why don't they just say "appointed by God"? Or is the JW's version of the holy spirit "an unseen force," just doing what it dang well pleases and then later filling Jehovah in on the individual selections??

Mulan

In our former congregation, one of the pioneers actually suggested that for the Memorial, all the elders and male pioneers wear boutonneires and the female pioneers wear corsages, so the visitors would know who they all were. And...............they actually considered doing it. GRRRR.

Auntie Flame

The circus serpents would descend on yall's publishers only party and everyone would hafta go to the "B" room in the back of the hall....and then yall'd be publicly criticized for havin too much fun without proper authorization and everyone else would be jello-wuss.

Auntie Flame

has anyone noticed lately the emphasis on elders..