A whole 125 bones a month? What a loving organization, to show that much appreciation...
440 Bethelites reassigned
by stillajwexelder 57 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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daniel-p
AK, the big draw for soon-to-be ex-Bethelites is that Special Pioneering comes with health insurance. Even if the stipend is only a few hundred a month, they can find part-time work smooching off a wealthy brother with a business somewhere. But the health insurance is a biggie, as we all know.
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sir82
I don't know what the stipend amount is now
$600 per month. $1200 for a SP couple. Prorated down if if you don't make your hours.
Local SP just found a job working 24 hours a week. Add in the 33 or so needed per week to get his SP time in, plus 5 hours per week meetings, plus preparation for said meetings (gotta set a good example, you know), plus elders meetings, plus judicial committees, plus he lives about 20 minutes away from the KH (cheaper apartment),...I count about 70-75 hours of stuff to do each week.
Oh, and he's going to be Serivce Overseer soon too.
I predict they won't last more than 3 years as SPs.
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daniel-p
sir82, your prediction sounds accurate. I remember a statistic I heard while at Bethel that the average for missionaries was like 3 years. Can't be much better for Special Pioneers.
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burningbridges
even at $125 a month for the 440 that's $660,000 a YEAR they are just giving away to people because they convinced them not to edgucate themselves. Add the others to make it 2000 people an thats THREE MILLION a year just to retirees!!!!
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daniel-p
This brings up another point... that Missionaries and Special Pioneers are appointed more as a symbol to inspire the rank and file. We all know Gilead is hugely ineffective... I mean, the Catholic Church has churned out missionaries for hundreds of years, and the JWs do a few dozen per year and most of the drop out after a few years. But all the publicity around it makes it sound like some huge project that's changing the world. Every evangelistic church has to have someone on the "frontlines" so people back home can feel like their money is spent well and that the "good news is preached through all the inhabited earth."
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heathen
I think they even made it a privilege to make these pioneers breakfast and clean up after them , good grief they mentioned a need for people to cook for them , now that's just plain absurd .There's noway I'm volunteering for that .
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sir82
$600 per month is $5000 per year.
$5000 times 440 SPs equals $2,200,000 per year, plus the cost of their health insurance, plus reimbursement of X cents per mile spent on "theocratic" activities....I'm thinking they're spending 4-5 million a year on these guys.
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jgnat
the JWs do a few dozen per year and most of the drop out after a few years
I must say I like the Alliance approach to missionary work. Every assignment is for a set time, and missionaries are rotated back to their home countries for needed breaks.
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blondie
*** w92 12/1 p. 16 par. 16 "Bring All the Tenth Parts Into the Storehouse" ***In 1991 the cost of maintaining missionaries, traveling overseers, and special pioneers alone amounted to more than 40 million dollars, all of which was provided by voluntary contributions.