Field Service Reports Count More than Showing Love - Ray Franz CF Book

by flipper 56 Replies latest jw friends

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  Alfred

  Flipper...

  In my congo, there were two pioneers who were constantly watching the other pioneers, especially the aux pioneers, to see if they were really meeting their quota...

  One of those pioneers, an elder, would spend at least 75% of his field service time gossiping with his assigned partner about other brothers in the congo (and other nearby congos)... whenever I was paired up with him, I would cringe... it would always be a continuous onslaught of demeaning gossip about how brother John was fixing his roof instead of going to field service first or how sister Mary only places magazines... It was really embarrasing...
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  flipper

  ALFRED- Indeed what you say I saw as well. It was amazing to me how self righteous some pioneers would be gossipping about the lack of production by other pioneers. It was like it was a back stabbing competition between these people at times. Certainly no love showed at all. Just a whipping post mentality and ones who didn't measure up got whipped verbally. Really sad. WT society puts WAY too much emphasis on numbers
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  Bubblegum Apotheosis

  WOW! WOW! WOW! FLIPPER!

  I found this diamond post, you wrote about Brother Adams out of C.O.C. , he was with the 1st Century Mindset and was blown off! Is it any wonder how we marvel, at how fast familes can shut off their Love? Common decency is destroyed, with one annoucement from men from the platform or Org. If you are preceived by the Society as having the fullest possible share in the ministry, you are judged "loving" by default, because it is "your great love of mankind, that propels you from door-to-door, spending countless (they are counted) hours driving, seeking for those lost sheep. The greatest problem facing the Twenty First Century JWs is, their lack of love, for their fellow JWs. You can read about their love, it can be preached from the platform, it's talked about during the Watchtower and Book Study, but it's selectivly shown (if it truly exist) to those who merit it. It's been decades since I have felt any semblance of love, the famous Supreme Court decesion regarding Porn, could be used to describe love.

  Justice Potter said regarding Porn, let's put in the word love, where porn was mentioned.

  "I shall not today attempt to further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ("hard-core porongraphy (love) "); and perhaps I could never succed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture (Organization and People) invovled is this case is not that (not practicing Love!). Jacobellis V. Ohio 378 U.S 184 (1964)
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  tornapart

  I pioneered in my teenage years, about the time when it was 100 hours a month. I could never quite do it and all I ever thought about was how to get my time in! I cringe at it now. I hate having to count time, I think it's pointless. And yes... where's the love in it??

  Btw.. CoC built the coffin for me... CF drove the nails in...
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  flipper

  Saw this thread was bumped up by a couple people, thanks, I'll respond.

  BUBBLEGUM APOTHEOSIS- Exactly like you say. The rank & file JW's learn how to be calloused and put field service reports FIRST before showing love due to the fact that they learn this from the WT society leaders themselves ! I found Karl Adams experiences in the " In Search of Christian Freedom " book to be astounding. Yet the GB STILL wouldn't listen to his voice of reason. This organization is calloused from the top down- no question. I'm glad you bumped this up, thank you .

  TORNAPART- I agree with you. I never saw the point in turning time in either. I figured if I was serving God out of a true motive of love- why count time ? The main thing was it was a marketing tool fr the WT society and gave them something to brag about - how many billions of hours JW's turn in going in service ! Has nothing to do with real love. That's why you see so LITTLE real love in the organization. They are consumed with building numbers up - not building one another up in love. It's ridiculous
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  Ding

  This sort of thing isn't surprising in a legalistic, bureaucratic organization.

  Field service hours can be measured, quantified, and reported.

  Showing love can't.
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  flipper

  DING- Exactly. A bureaucratic organization like the WT society is always organization first- people's individual needs second. Peace out, mr. Flipper
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  Bubblegum Apotheosis

  Mr. Flipper, thank you for this material, love and fine works are not the key focus. It sickened me to see a sister show up after six months of missing meetings, only to have the "secretary" say "Do you have your time for the last six months?" No greeting, nobody asked her "how have you been?" it was all about productivity of placing magazines.

  We are entering into a strange period within the organization, love is in short supply, pressure is still placed on "service, magazines", I notice every "Study Edition" is relentless with Pioneering or doing more. These magazines use to have more content that dealt with other aspects of the Org, now it's compacted to say "Preach, Place and Pioneer!"
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  dozy

  This was one of my major issues when I was a JW. Over & over again , what was on the record card was regarded of primary importance.

  I remember when we as the BOE were considering one young brother to be a MS. He was a really decent guy - lots of time for all the older folks , always ready to drop everything to work at the hall etc. He used to aux pioneer a couple of times a year despite having a full time job. A couple of young children and always at the meetings.

  Under normal circumstances he should have been a shoe-in for an appointment - frankly , he was a much better candidate than most of our existing servants. But when we came to discuss his appointment , as usual his record card was produced & passed around for contemplation. He was very honest in reporting his hours and the last couple of months were in single figures - 7 or 8 hours. The service overseer , a uber pioneer , proclaimed that because of this we couldn't appoint him.

  The brother's book study overseer noted that his report was generally very good and the reason that his report was lower was because it was the summer , the brother had been on holiday for a couple of weeks , his grandfather had just died & that because the brother was a landscape gardener inevitably he had to work more in the summer months to fulfill contracts. A couple of other elders sided with the Service Overseer & as we couldn't reach an agreement , it went to a discussion with the CO. At no time was the brothers work with the elderly ones or any of his "Christian" acts ever mentioned.

  Inevitably the CO took the easiest option & kicked the appointment into touch till the next visit. Predictably his seasonal work situation was spun as a negative factor ( "allowing secular work to be more important than setting the lead in the ministry") .I mentioned about the brothers decency , his time with the elderly ones etc but it was of no interest whatsoever.

  Despite being in favour of his appointment , I was told to have a chat with him to explain why he wasn't appointed. In fairness , the guy , although disappointed took it really well. I just told him to make sure his report looked good before the next visit ( ie greater than 10 hours ) & make sure he worked with the service overseer or his wife a couple of weeks before the next visit. I also reminded him that he could book 4 hours for his family study ( he hadn't been bothering to count this). Job done & appointed next time without any problems.
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  cedars

  Even in my deepest state of indoctrination, I always considered the emphasis on hours and reports to be a contradiction of the whole purpose of being a Christian.

  Cedars