Elders misusing donations for "the Worldwide Work" in Oz

ozziepost

The December issue of "Kingdom Ministry" for Australia carries this announcement:

"As a reminder to the brothers handling the congregation accounts, donations placed in the boxes for the Worldwide Work are to be remitted monthly and should not be used for payment on a Kingdom Hall property loan or for any other congregation expense."

Fancy that! Elders stealing the Society's funds! Oh dear, oh dear! No No No

Observers would wonder whether there will be a spate of deletions of elders and ministerial servants.

Cheers, Ozzie Cheers 2

The elders wanted to do that in a couple of congregations where my hubbie was accounts servant, that is use the money donated to the www to pay the mortgage. He told them that he wasn't going to "cook the books" and they backed down. They finally had a talk "reminding" the publishers that any money donated to the www could not be used for the mortgage and to be sure to put their donations in the right boxes.

Blondie

Tatiana

Never fear.....Jehovah will take care of this in his due time. Put it all in his hands. Trust in him. It will be handled in the next 200 years at least.

sens

arh well....doesnt shock me...

i never gave them that much anyway....after all i had to keep myself in gucci

Euphemism

You know, I don't blame them. I can hear their reasoning... "Why are the publishers sending all this money to Brooklyn [or wherever the Australian branch is], when we can't even pay our own damn mortgage?" Kinda makes me wonder... wouldn't it make more sense to have a single contribution box, and then let the local congs forward their surplus to the Society? A lot of congregations have a resolved monthly contribution to the WWW anyway. It would only make sense.

(And of course, I'm not saying it's right for the elders to cook the books, of course. It just seems that the current arrangement can be unfair sometimes.)

Gopher

So the Australian branch is having money problems? Where is Jehovah's blessing? I thought he would motivate his people to give abundantly so that there would be no "allocation" problems....

So the CO's -- as traveling representatives of the branch -- are catching up to what these local brothers are doing? Tsk, tsk. The CO's have to make sure that the money keeps rolling in. That statistic means just as much or more than "average hours per publisher".

wouldn't it make more sense to have a single contribution box, and then let the local congs forward their surplus to the Society?

Oh -- the Society would never approve such an arrangement. No you must have 2 boxes for contributions to the Worldwide Work, and one each for the local congregation and for the Society Kingdom Hall Fund (in nations where that fund is collected).

The more boxes, the more the brothers will "see the need" to ~~waste their money~~ support Jehovah's interests.

Panda

Interesting ... I would've just used the $$$ however my congregation needed it. But then I'm an apostate. But really the way so many KH's are treated by WTS I'd see a real need to not double the $$$ you give them. I mean paying for your KH and NOT owning it, then sending more money along w/ your payment... nice scam.

mustang

"They finally had a talk "reminding" the publishers that any money donated to the www could not be used for the mortgage and to be sure to put their donations in the right boxes."

Blondie has reported a really serious LOCAL NEEDS TALK

Mustang

mizpah

It seems that all this expansion in the building of Kingdom Halls and Bethel properties have become a financial burden to the members. For years JWs criticized other Christian organizations for doing the same. Then, in the 1950s they did an "about face" and proclaimed that these building projects were evidence of "God's blessings" upon the organization. Now, they are finding it like a millstone around their necks.

The early church had the right idea. Meetings in people's houses. No Bethels or factories. No central organization.

Elsewhere

As a reminder to the brothers handling the congregation accounts, donations placed in the boxes for the Worldwide Work are to be remitted monthly and should not be used for payment on a Kingdom Hall property loan or for any other congregation expense."

Therefore Kingdom Halls and other congregation expenses have nothing to do with the Worldwide work.

"World Wide Work" Translation: Corporate Headquarters.