by eyeslice 15 Replies latest jw friends
Don't complain if you get kicked out of Bethel after 23 years (it's really a blessing to be assigned back to the field) and don't complain if they sell your kingdom hall even if you have just invested your time and energy renovating it.
So encouraging?
The Watchtower—Study Edition | November 2022
STUDY ARTICLE 48
12 Consider the example of Zaina, a sister in the Middle East, who received a change of assignment and lost a cherished privilege. She was reassigned to the field after serving at Bethel for more than 23 years. She says: “My change of assignment was a big shock. I felt useless and kept asking myself, ‘Where did I fail?’” Sadly, some brothers and sisters in the congregation added to her pain by telling her: “Had you been good enough, the organization would not have let you go.” For some time, Zaina felt so downhearted that she cried every night. But she says: “I never allowed myself to doubt the organization or Jehovah’s love.” How was Zaina able to keep her senses?
Zaina ( a made up name and experience) looses her Bethel assignment after 23 years. She has to feed herself, pay her own medical insurance, pay for room and board.. She is literally thrown out in the streets as a ''publisher or special publisher.''
Zaina cries every night, but never doubts her love for Jehovah and the organization (that threw her in the streets).
''All of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.''
November 15 2013 Watchtower, p.20
Yes, this article got quite a bit of discussion over on Reddit when it came out awhile back.
Basic message: You should still have full devotion to God and Watchtower when all of your hard work amounts to nothing and you are cast aside by Jehovah's Witnesses.
From 2020 to 2022 the decline in congregations totaled -2,740 in just two years which is a pretty shocking statistic......at least it is shocking to me. I also know of at least one area of the U.S. that is ramping back up the mergers and consolidations of congregations/Kingdom Halls that were paused during the pandemic. Link below related to the thread on fewer congregations.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/108aby4/congregations_decline_by_2427_2020_vs_2022_is/
EYESLICE & RULES AND REGULATIONS:
If this article was released in November 2022, I wonder if it was to mentally prepare everybody for yet more bethelites to be sent home?
From what I have read, many have been sent packing over the last decade or so!.. If there was no danger of anybody else being let go, would they bother printing an article like this??
I imagine it’s a shock for somebody over 50 to be sent home if they expected to stay and be taken care of for life.😮 (And correct me if I am mistaken - with no severance package like a ‘worldly or secular employer’ would give.) ..Even this wouldn’t be the answer to anybody’s problems because they would STILL need to make a living once they got out.
I hope most (especially the younger ones) who have already been let go in recent years have found a way to support themselves. I imagine older ones would definitely have a problem even with help since almost nobody wants to hire an older person - especially with No college or useful skills!
As an observer, since this seems to be the ‘handwriting on the wall’: anyone still at any of the bethels had better be prepared with a plan and a list of contact phone numbers!!
I knew a couple who sold out and went to Bethel, having been being assured from a higher up, they could stay until the end.( they based their decision on this "brothers" word.) Both of them developed some health issues in a very short time and they were sent home-save they had no home and had to scramble to find a place to live and work. I do think they may have had a bit of profit from their home sale, because they ended up with a used mobile home for a while.
enoughisenough
Got same advice as young from older brother. "Go to bethel and you can stay there till new system". I'm extremely happy I never followed that advice.
Sell your house and you’ll feel so much better. Said by a circuit overseer that never owned a house.
When I was a young Jw I pursued going to Bethel. But after a Bethelite who moved into the hall proved to be a real pompous azz. I changed my mind and went to college.
