Did You See Brothers Use Politics to Reach Out For M/S or Elder Positions?

by flipper 24 Replies latest jw friends

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  flipper

  Hello folks. Valid question I believe. In the early 80's 1979 to 1985 I was a m/s and stepped down after having 3 kids bang, bang, bang in late 20's. Later when they were older I thought of "reaching out " again but didn't want to jump through the " hoops' of what I saw as politics at times to do it. What I mean is , instead of reaching out for the position the old fashioned way by doing " spiritual " things , showing fruitages of the spirit, service, meeting attendance, talks , etc., I noticed an increasing number of brothers saying the right things to the right people , "prominent elders ", and cozying up and being buddies to these prominent elders to get noticed for privileges. I even had a ministerial servant soon to be appointed an elder ask me once, he said," Mr. Flipper you give great talks, you are always here to assist in the magazine department, you are real regular in service, why haven' t you been appointed again as a ministerial servant? " I replied, " I don't know. " He said, " I'll tell you what you need to do. There are certain elders on the body who notice what you do more than other elders. You need to get close and befriend those elders that will notice you, and I guarantee you'll get appointed. " Needless to say that guy was appointed an elder within a week or two.

  So , it made me question the validity of appointments some times and from then on in the future. Not that all people reach out for the wrong reasons, mind you, there were and are sincere guys who did it for the right reasons, but for me who has never kissed anyones a$$ for any reason, and have just been myself , it rather nauseated me with the whole process of wanting to be in the " good old boys " club you might say. Didn't need the position to validate myself as others might have. My dad, an elder since 1953, was city overseer for 30 years and witnessed him being quite proud of that accomplishment and notoriety. So I just didn't need it. Felt I could do things to help people without all the accolades. More fulfilling. What about you guys? Did you see some of this happen where you lived? Would enjoy hearing your thoughts please. All are welcome, especially former elders who watched other brothers kiss up to them to get appointed. Might be hilarious. Thanks, Peace out, Mr. Flipper
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  Gopher

  Disclaimer - I was "only" a ministerial servant, never an elder.

  When the JW elder arrangement first started in 1972, the positions were rotated. This was changed in about 1983, so that the "service committee" positions were fixed -- that is, the presiding overseer, field/service overseer, and secretary.

  During the time of the changeover, there was considerable jockeying for position in many congregations.

  I saw at least one place where an elder who had been around a long time, was humble and well liked and so SHOULD have been made presiding overseer get outflanked by a more dominant "type-A personality" elder who longed to take the leading positinn.
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  Arthur

  To be honest, no I never observed anyone using any kind of "politics" to gain an appointment. What I observed instead, were men who developed this characteristic long after they had been an elder for a while. I was never an elder, but I was a MS for a while. From what I saw, most of the elders were genuinely concerned about being good shepherds. Even though some were incompitent, and a couple of them behaved like high-chair tyrants, most of them were humble, decent men.

  When it came to Elder / C.O. relationships however, I did see a desire by some to strive for extra favor and approval from the C.O. at the expense of integrity and basic ethics. For many elders, traveling overseers seem to represent a piece of the organizational power and prestige. If an elder could strive to garner extra approval (translation=kiss his ass), they seemed to feel that they were blessed with greater esteem and personal importance than those who didn't. It's like the juvenille behavior one would see in an episode of "Saved By the Bell".
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  flipper

  Gopher - I know what you mean about seeing the elder sitting in the corner listening to the more charismatic elders taking the floor and speaking up. If the truth was known, the guy sitting in the corner quietly observing probably has more wisdom than the rest of them put together. Saw it often.

  Arthur- Glad you didn't experience that kind of thing with the elders you knew. I agree most of them seemed decent enough doing what they were doing out of caring, however I saw at least the ones I was around thought that they were holier than thou and let it be known if you were to reach out that there were certain egos you would have to stroke
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  XBEHERE

  I have many stories which I cant tell due to the fact that the detail that I need to share in them would definitely expose me should any elder and or most of the publishers be lurking on here. I will say this though, the part that politics plays in appointments, getting assembly and convention parts, city overseer, etc, etc depends largely on how "simonized" the CO is at the time. Our last CO needed surgery to remove certain brothers from his colon. Since he left these brothers have yet to be on any assembly program. This is the CO that I argued with at least on 2-3 occasions and even wrote the service dept. about. He was truly an a**hole!
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  stillajwexelder

  Oh yes - after I became secretary loads of wannabees started inviting us to dinner. Our lunch and dinner invites increased
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  Gregor

  I knew a few brothers who let it be known they were 'reaching out' and if they were passed over they would 'pout' for awhile, miss meetings, snub elders, that sort of thing. One brother who had been campaigning was passed on because of his terrible temper so he went to the elders with some dirt he had on one of them who he had been close friends with. It got ugly.
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  minimus

  There was a wealthy brother that owned a health club and a granite company who fooled around on his wife. (It was common knowledge). He was actually df'd! A few months later he was reinstated. He was within a few months appointed a MS! A year later, after having vacationed on the islands for a week with the CO and his wife, the guy was appointed an elder!!! From the d'fing to being an elder----within about 2 years!

  In the old days it was very easy to get appointed.
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  lesterd

  Hell yea, unless your were born in-the-truth and had elder dad, uncles you politic like a big dog. sorry for the e uphemisms
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  Amber Rose

  I always found this very irritating. There were some elders in the congregation that wanted Drew to be a MS. He seldom missed meetings (this was in the old days), gave interesting comments and on the rare occasion (because the school overseer had a vendetta against him but thats another story) that he was assigned a talk, the congregation loved to hear him. But Drew was never the type to kiss anyone's ass. Elders would ask me Does Drew want to be a MS? I'd say, Why don't you ask him? (They they would imply that we don't have a good marriage if I don't know the answer to that question.) Well, Drew has all the qualifications, and the only bible study in the congregation. We'd like to make him a MS, but he isn't doing any sucking up, what should we do? What was funny is at the same time there were several other men that were dying to be MS's. Cutting extra grass, putting in extra field service hours, wining and dining elders, they didn't make it either.