GB closing down and selling Central American Branches to be serviced out of Mexican Branch

by cattails 74 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  yknot

  Georgiegirl....

  No sales of Branches yet but the reorganization and shifts in printing......to Brazil.

  Mostly the sales in S.America have been Assembly Halls and merging DCs into larger venues....

  There was quite a scandal with travel booking last DC.......not only was the price exorbitant in comparison to other arrangements but also unrealistic for most adherents.

  Spain will be the first...... (why?)

  Because of Toti losing the appeal regarding payment of social securities for Bethelites and 'company men'........from here the trickle effects will flow.

  Green handshakes are now to be forwarded to the WTS for Spanish COs. This means the WTS can flub the actual amounts received and control how much the COs get)........ This is expected to cause the long rumored CO-lite

  This is not to say the WTS isn't also motivated by the decline of the publishing world.......
• 

  straightshooter

  Close various branches to save money for the building expansion in upper New York. After all these Central American locations are not good vacation spots for the GB.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  After all these Central American locations are not good vacation spots for the GB.

  Finally, someone says the real story.

  The Branch Overseers are being sent to Mexico and the others (as indicated in the letter) are being scattered to the congregations.

  So if you clawed your way high enough for the coveted "branch overseer" title, you get Mother to continue to care for you. If you didn't make it that high, you swallowed their "lifelong-service-at-Bethel" story and got to miss out on making a living somewhere else just to be kicked out on the street. What a loving organization.
• 

  Gayle

  I wonder how the locals will be affected by the "branches" being gone, will it affect them like a lack of "presence" or closeness of the organization. I know there would still be circuit overseers around some and they still have their KH but it could affect them in a type of distancing?

  I mean, like to the Catholics if their regional diocese/cathedral and bishop was taken out of their country, leaving them only to their local church and priest, wouldn't they feel somewhat estranged?
• 

  ziddina

  "since they'll soon have a large number of Special Pioneers who'll be leaving Bethels and coming to help out in the territories...."

  Translation: They're kicking them out with no other options...

  " It's called trimming the fat!..." Ahem, SirNose586... Personally, I like to think of it as "imploding"...

  Speaking of the Catholics, I would find it absolutely hilarious if the South American Catholic Churches bought the old 'Bethel' buildings...

  But, hopefully the WTBTS won't be able to find a buyer...

  Zid
• 

  cantleave

  Are they still operating as anon religious organisation in Mexico?
• 

  cantleave

  double post
• 

  Mad Sweeney

  With the technology of video conferencing cheaply and easily available nowadays, is there ANY reason why ANY GB members should be full-time Bethelites anymore? Why not send THEM out into the real world to work and earn a living cleaning windows or floors and let them do their weekly GB session via Skype?
• 

  LongHairGal

  dgp,

  I also heard that these countries are very unsafe and unstable. Hopefully JWs will be 'safe' in their branch office, compound or whatever you want to call it? Hmm. I seem to remember several years back a group of American JWs lost their lives in Mexico. How come Jehovah didn't protect them?

  If things got really hot and heavy would there be a danger the JW branch office would become threatened? Also, what about witnessing in the 'field'? Even though most of the people in any given population are basically decent, when an unstable government with factions is going on how can somebody like a bunch of western-dressed bible-toting people going to be safe? They would stick out like a sore thumb and would be targets for kidnapping and the like.

  To me this news sounds basically bad even though the religion will put a positive spin on it and talk about the 'blessings'. Well, they can keep their blessings.
• 

  dgp

  LongHairGal, I don't think the average witness is at higher risk than the average person in Central America. Or Mexico, for that matter. That is pretty high. I remember that some Canadian friends of mine were told NOT to go out at night in El Salvador. But, as an organization, a left-wing government, happy as they are to recruit everyone into the army, does not feel well to have an American tell the people that they should refuse the draft, particularly if that "missionary" could actually be a spy. I know that you guys will say that no one would go through Kingdom Hell just for the sake of spying for a country, but stranger things have happened. And what if your joining the Watchtower is a way for you to say that it's your religion that makes you oppose the draft?

  And then, the Watchtower is an American organization. The Catholic church, which is the traditional church, is NOT; it is the "local" church, so to speak. That sort of puts the Watchtower in the defensive.

  But I think that it's MONEY that matters. Those are very poor societies. And I don't think they are harder to run all together than, say, Mexico or Colombia.