Where are the MS's?

ozziepost

A thought occurred to me when i read one of Blondie's comments in her thread http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/82052/1.ashx

Even then a lot of those elders delegated it to some up and coming MS. Can?t do that now with so few MS in the congos.

There was a time when the MS outnumbered the E's in each congregation. I wonder if this is still the case?

The men usually progress through the ranks and so the MS of a decade ago would largely have become E's by now. But what of their replacements? With the lacklustre increases in the past few years in the western world, what has been happening in the congregations? Are there really now so few MS's in each congregation? What's it like in your congregation?

stillajwexelder

Blondie is correct - in many congos in the US there are always items about reaching out - all the "good" MS get promoted to elders and the bad ones get dissolusioned and there are very few brothers reaching out -at last count I think there were slightly more elders than MS

doinmypart

Ozzie

In my circuit the MS still outnumber Elders, but not by much. Both groups are getting older, and thankfully there aren't many young male publishers "reaching out". I hope this trend continues. It makes it harder on brothers still serving, but I think this is a good thing perhaps more will tire out and step aside. Many Elders are old and serve as honorary elders. These brothers can no longer give meeting parts, handle responsibilities, or serve on committees.

The Branch is trying to cover itself by sending Elders from Ministerial Training School to some of the congregations. Of course there aren't enough of these brothers. I know of two MTS graduates that married sisters in the congregations they were assigned to serve, and now they are gradually easing into a more normal life.

kwintestal

MS? What's an MS? lol

I think there was 2 of them in my last hall. They were run off their feet.

Kwin

metatron

I know this isn't true of all areas but in my younger days I don't ever recall a congregation

that was forced to use elders and MS's to run the mics and sound. Now, it's common.

I told the C.O. some years ago , "You got no B team" referring to the MS's. He didn't know

what to say. He knew it was true.

metatron

blondie

Think about this, where do new MS's come from?

Male children of JWs

or

Men that come in as adults

Are many male children sticking around after they hit 18? If they do are they getting baptized and reaching out? How many of them are DF'd or drift away after a short time?

How many new people are coming in now? Based on past and current averages, how many of them are men?

Are there men in the congregation that used to be elders and MS that sit back and relax? In one congregation I counted 8 ex-elders to 5 current elders and only one had been removed, the rest had stepped down.

Look down the line, where are the replacements going to come from? Yes, in many congregations, the elders have to handle the microphones and act as attendants due to lack of male candidates.

ozziepost

"B team" - very apt, metatron! I'll try and remember that one.

Cheers, Ozzie

ozziepost

Look down the line, where are the replacements going to come from?

I wonder if we'll get back to the time when they had sisters doing the accounts?

pillsbury

This is becoming a very big and real problem. At the last Elder school a couple of years ago, they mentioned that the elders outnumbered the MSs by 2 to 1(at least here in the States). In about 10 to 15 years there is going to be hardly anybody to replace the older elders that die off.

blondie

I wonder if we'll get back to the time when they had sisters doing the accounts?

Only over the CO's/DO's dead body!

I will admit that in some really, really small congregations in remote areas, sisters they have been forced to use sisters...but as soon as a brother is baptized, they boot them out and put them in even if he can't count. He just takes it home and has his wife do it (smile).

Blondie

Where are the MS's?

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