Questions I have about the "Ministry School".

by Pallbearer 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  SadElder

  At one time there was an actual attempt to train speakers. Now they go through the motions and serve up spiritual pablum. Remember the old Qualified To Be Ministers book both the green and gray ones? There were subsequent iterations to attempt some semblance of training but like everything else a dumbing down continued. Do they actually have any training instruction or books now?
  

  "Students" had counsel slips covering the various speak topics to be worked on and received ratings on their skills.

  G - Good; W - Work on (at one time called Weak); I - Improved - If you had received a W on a point you were to work on that point twice receiving an "I" for the first go around and then hopefully a G on the second.
  
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  Phizzy

  The effectiveness or not of the old Theocratic M. S, depended upon the skills of the Elder in charge , in the old days we had a guy who was very skilled, and taught many to be good Speakers. Then we got a guy who himself had no mastery of the English language, was hardly literate, and was a total joke, why the Elders foisted him upon us I know not !

  Nobody improved of course under his "tutelage". I should imagine that now anyone who turns out to be a reasonable Speaker does so from natural talent, not learning skills from any JW Meeting !
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  mynameislame

  At one time there was an actual attempt to train speakers

  I wish I had known at the time that was an opportunity. That is actually something you could use in the real world.

  And I think the Go bag is the replacement for the bookstudy. If I remember correctly the idea behind having the smaller meetings at various locations was so you would have a place to meet when the persecution started.
  
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  SadElder

  Phizzy how true... there were some good teachers and some who had no clue. The "School Servant" job was one that most tried to get out of as you always had to be prepared and sometimes had to deal with several no shows on one night.
  
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  dropoffyourkeylee

  As much as I despised the meetings, I have to admit that giving a 5-6 minute speech in front of an audience was a useful skill to develop.
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  alanv

  I must admit I learnt a lot from the Ministry School as well. Obviously helps when you know the audience are not at all hostile to you, as is the case sometimes in other audiences where a person may need to make a presentation
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  Phizzy

  alanv. I think I only learned a few, but important things from, or because of, the TMS. One was how to project my voice. When I was young we met in quite a large Hall, with no Sound System !! I prevailed upon the Congregation to get one, as some just had weak voices, or no ability to project.

  When we got a Sound System , I learned the proper use of microphones. So many people turn their head away from it, or are the wrong distance from it etc .The other , vital, thing I learned was, be the Master of your subject. People are always prepared to listen to someone who is the Master of their subject, and is able to tell them something they do not know. This always involved me in extra research outside of JW Literature.

  Learning that though is good, if I have to speak now on anything, I do my Homework ! And people can always hear me , microphone or not !
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  Disillusioned JW

  When I was an active JW:

  • The # 3 talk was (or virtually was) a demonstration given by a sister who was assisted by another sister.
  • The #4 talk was virtually always a talk directly to the audience and given by a brother.

  Very shortly after I became baptized while a teenager I started being assigned # 4 talks. I stopped being an active JW before the "Christian Life and Ministry" meeting replaced the Theocratic Ministry School.