What everybody said above It's a huge combination of things including everything from lack of training, having too much on your plate as it is with family, work, and other responsibilities, shortage of willing brothers, organizational responsibilities including talks, field service, personal study, endless meetings, meetings about meetings, etc., its too much at times. It's overwhelming and it doesn't have to be that way. The organization as a whole is simply too big for its britches right now. Excuse my language, but as JWs we do a bunch of shit for no other reason than to say that we do it. Its a classic example of following the traditions of men.- Matt 15:1-16 Not to mention, those traditions can be emphasized as important one meeting, and then within a matter of weeks that tradition is done away with and the reasoning given is often confusing. That plays on your resentment at times. I look at my own life at times and say to myself I gave up a lot of things in order to immerse myself within the traditions of the WT. Armageddon doesn't look anywhere closer in sight than it did 50 years ago.
Something else I believe warrents a mention is, the friends don't exactly make it easy for you to shephard them. I always think about the old saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt." It's true, which is something else I fault with this organization because of the constant contact and association with others in your congregation. To be quite blunt, sometimes you simply get sick of hearing the same old broken record that people play. There's a sister in my field service group who transferred from another congregation that is closer to where she lives. When that happens, immediately my Spidey senses are going haywire. Why would a person not attend a congregation that is a matter of minutes from their home? She attends our congregation and its a good 1/2 hour out of her way. Once you get to know her though, it all makes perfect sense. She's one of those people where if you have a cold, well she has breast cancer. Your car had a flat tire, well her car's transmission went. You forgot your id badge at work, well she got fired and on her way to the Unemployment Office, she got mugged and raped. People like that drag you down. There's been times that I've been on my way to meet the group for field service, and when I spot her car, I do a U-turn and head right back home. There's other brothers at this group, so I don't feel so bad about doing that. I imagine she probably irritated the people in her home congregation and overstayed her welcome as a result, but I don't entirely blame her. Its difficult to "put up with one another" when you're constantly forced to deal with one another. You never get a break.
As far as elder bodies and how they work together, there's some things I'm dying to share with you, but the timing isn't good right now. If I'm still alive and still posting here several months from now, I've god SOME THANGS to relate to you.
