JW Positions?

WinstonWigglesworth

I'm kinda new and I was woundering what all these (I think they're positions or levels?) different kinds of JW people are. What'a a pioneer, elder, baptized, weak family, publisher, and any other titles people can come up with. And also how do you become each "position"? Sorry if this is dumb...I'm just confused.

Nathan Natas

Winston asked, "What'a a pioneer, elder, baptized, weak family, publisher, and any other titles people can come up with. And also how do you become each "position"? Sorry if this is dumb...I'm just confused."

No problem.

A pioneer is a baptized JW who is appointed to the "position" by the WTS and spends at least 70 hours (correct me if I'm wrong about the present goal - when I was a pioneer more than 25 years ago the goal was 100 hours) a month in the door-to-door "ministry". Simply spending 70 hours going door-to-door without having the appointment is NOT "pioneering," but no one would stop you if you did. Males and females can be pioneers.

An "elder" is the equivalent of a priest or pastor. It is also an appointment made by the WTS. Beneath the elders in the heirarchy are "ministerial servants," aka "servants" All elders and servants are male.

A "publisher" is any member of the congregation who is baptized and in good standing and not an elder, servant, or pioneer. One major requirement is spending time every month going from door-to-door. Publishers can be male or female.

A "weak family" means "spiritually" weak, as opposed to a "strong" family, which would be under the direction of a baptized male (the husband) and in which the wife and children all lived in strict accord with WTS teachings.

The WTS headquarters is called "Bethel," which means "house of God" in Hebrew, yet has an interesting association with idolatrous false worship in the scriptures.

The leadership of the WTS is the "governing body."

There are two classes of JWs - "anointed" who expect to go to heaven when they die, and "other sheep" who hope to live forever on a paradise earth.

The headquarters has "branch offices" in other countries, administrated by a "Branch Overseer." The next step down in the heirarchy is "District Overseer," then "Circuit Overseer," then the "Presiding Overseer" of the individual congregations, then the congregation structure. All members of the heirarchy are elders.All are appointed to their positions by the WTS, either under the direction of God's Holy Spirit or as the result of human politics and good-old-boy-ism. The difference is indistinguishable.

Edited by - Nathan Natas on 15 June 2002 15:1:1

Edited by - Nathan Natas on 15 June 2002 15:1:55

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WinstonWigglesworth

Thanks for your help!!! It's all making sense now. Who knew that God needed to have all these titles?

COMF

The only acceptable JW position is missionary.

eyegirl

heehee, that's what i was thinking COMF.

FriendlyFellaAL

Thank goodness I'm not the only one with a dirty mind. I've been thinking evil thoughts since seeing the title of this thread.

BTW Nathan, that was an incredibly detailed description of each of the positions. Hope you won't mind, but I might have to use your explanation to help some of my coworkers understand just how the JW societal structure works.

Brian

mouthy

friendly!! that isnt a dirty mind- nothing wrong with sex !!!it is the borg that made it dirty( but there is other postions!!!!) Oh I am sorry I thought you were talking about something else---lol

Amazing

Hi Friendly: Nathan Natas gave a good description. Here is another way to compare JW organizational positions between the Watchtower Society and the Catholic Church:

Watchtower President = Pope ( The first four WTS Presidents, Charles Russell, Joseph Rutherford, Nathan Knorr, and Fred Franz were well known and treated like Popes. This has changed since the corporate changes in Oct. 2000. The office of President is no longer occupied by one of the Anointed members of the Governing Body. The Chairman of the Governing Body rotates, and is not a powerful position, so effectively, the single power position is gone.)

Governing Body = College of Cardinals

Branch Committee (3 Branch Overseers) = Cardinal over a country

Zone Overseer = Arch Bishop over an Arch Dioceses

District Overseer = Bishop over a Dioceses

Circuit Overseer = Auxiliary Bishop

City Overseer = Monsignor (Chief Priest in a City)

Presiding Overseer = Pastor or head Priest of a Parish

Service Committee = Associate Pastors in a Protestant Church

Elder = Priest

Ministerial Servant = Deacons and Brothers

Special Pioneer / Missionary = Missionary

Pioneer = Similar to a Nun/Sister (Pioneers can be men, but are nost often women)

Publisher = Regular Church member

Hope that gives some perspective.

Edited by - Amazing on 15 June 2002 16:14:33

MrMoe

COMF - Bent over doggie style? Doh...

Nathan Natas

Hi FriendlyFellaAL,

Unless otherwise indicated, anything I post here is public domain and may be used by anyone who finds it useful. Thanks for the kind words.

JW Positions?

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