What is The Elders Index???

by dh 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  dh

  i was recently scanning through some wt letters and i came across something interesting regarding the elders index.

  basically the letter outlined that the new index was to be kept safe, a copy given to each elder, but otherwise not to be copied with a special emphasis on NOT putting it into a computer in any form.

  from what i read the index is a document that each elder can keep one copy of, containing all the policies etc, and how to deal with things, and it wasn't referred to by any other name than 'the index', which is why i think it might be different to the elders book.

  anyways this letter went on to tell criticise elder bodies for not using the index properly, saying that many elder bodies write to the society with questions on policy which are covered in the elders index, if they used it right, basically it's an efficiency thing, they want the elders to use the index instead of wasting bethel time by writing in, when most policy issues are covered in said index.

  has anyone heard of this document/documents, the elders index?
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  blondie

  I would gather this might be a procedure/policy developed for the WTS to do an end run around the Data Protection Act.

  Blondie
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  NeonMadman

  I'm not sure whether this is what you are referring to, but the Society maintains a topical index of letters to the Bodies of Elders that have been issued over the years, so that if an elder needs the policy on a certain topic, he can look it up directly rather than having to browse through dozens of unrelated topics. I have a copy of the index here somewhere on my hard drive...
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  NeonMadman

  OK, I found it...this is the first of 12 pages. If you want the whole thing, PM me with an email address and I'll make up a zip file containing all of them.
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  badboy

  What does it say about child abuse,can't really read it.
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  NeonMadman

  Basically, it's a list of all the topics that have been covered in elders' letters about each subject, so the listing for child abuse just references which letters (by date) have covered that topic. It's broken down into subtopics like "accusation of child molesting, contact Society's legal department immediately" and "alerting authorities or not, considering moral responsibility," etc. Those two topics reference the BOE letter of January 30, 1992. And that's what the whole document is; just a listing of topics with dates of letters they were covered in.