CO begging for more MS's

by life is to short 57 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  XBEHERE

  I think he's correct, in my cong we have almost twice as many elders as MS's and the majority of the elder body is under 50. In fact half are under 40. I noticed a trend towards many elders currently in their 30's and 40's.

  The reason I think is in 1995 these now 30's and 40's elders were pioneers and MS's and we were all reaching out and pioneering or going to bethel because...... THE WORLD WAS ENDING BECAUSE THOSE WHO WERE PART OF THE 1914 GENERATION WERE FREAKING OLD! Now there is no desire to expend yourself in anything WT. After 1995 most childeren from that time period grew up and went to college or got married and had kids and went to work. Really if you think about it I am correct. Thats why there are a bunch of very old elders and many in their 30's and 40's. As far as MS's you can forget about it.
• 

  Lore

  there are 140 elders in the circuit and only 80 something MS's.

  Maybe that's because the qualifications are almost identical.

  If you 'qualify' to be a MS then you also 'qualify' to be an elder.

  It's kind of unusual for someone to become a MS and then not get promoted to elder a few weeks later.
• 

  Pistoff

  and he just mentioned that we should dig in the older publications in our studying for the meetings, he is impressed he just said when someone mentions something from say a WT from the late 60's.

  Funny, it was reading old magazines/bound volumes that started my cognitive dissonance; the writing was better in the older publications, but so much doctrine had changed.
• 

  Gayle

  thanks, lits, for the update.

  Also, I am thinking more JW wives are less "JW submissive" to their husbands now-a-days. I mean this in a good way, for their good. They may not be blatantly that way but bottom line, quietly, but strongly. They have more expectations of their husbands and the father of their children.

  So many of the '50s and '60s, early '70s, there was such an explosion of new (converted) JW. Idealism high, the 'soon' was dramatic. The wives accepted to be more submissive (to a detriment in reality, proven as time went on), the husbands were sole financial supporters, even culturally expected that way. So many JW wives, let their husbands be ultra involved under the demands of the WTS. The wives mostly took care of the little kids, while the husbands took care of meetings and worked totally at assemblies.

  Second or third generation JW women saw this growing up and some learned. They saw how their mother or grandmother paid a price. Many now, a higher percentage, even have jobs full or parttime. These women require their husbands to be more involved in the home and with the family. Otherwise, more of these women realize the unwholesomeness of a neglected homelife and value of 'healthy' marriage which requires time and a more quality time for their children. Often, second or third generations often do not have quite the idealism nor zeal of 'soon' or that all this life is so temporary. They have seen more of the 'inside' reality.

  There are not so many new converts in comparison. The "new" is decreasing along with any much 'new zeal,', the baptisms of are mostly of their own raised in, kids seeing many parents tiring, sick, and grandparents very old, not much retirement benefits and dying. Not very inspiring.

  The leadership, GB, COs, DOs, have not much understanding nor respect, as their lives do not relate personally to working in the real world. They busy themselves, but they also have many who service them with their needs and concerns. They do not fully comprehend the reality of 24/7 family needs and demands, taking care of homes fully and most definitely, not raising children and the 24/7 needs for them.
• 

  skeeter1

  Perhaps young, teenaged baptised men will be now invited to become MSs?? Can you imagine the pubic twits strutting around the KH!

  In all serious, how about allowing women to wear pants AND be MS!
• 

  blondie

  Ten years ago I saw this trend, male children of jws growing up and not getting baptized or if baptized doing as little as possible. I can remember the push to convert non-jw husbands of the sisters (did not work). The problem also lies in MS and elders stepping down by their own choice and refusing to "reach out" again.

  In several congregations the COBOE suggested that sisters could be used to handle sound, do accounts, etc., and the CO said NO, if necessary the elders will do these things...no sisters, a sign of having failed to make male converts and to grow the male converts they have.

  I'm not surprised at the lack of jw men would want to volunteer to be abused.

  Blondie
• 

  cptkirk

  lol...i can picture the collective heart attack inside the kh, as the sister takes control of the sound system. would be like the sunday speaker walking up to the podium with a giant ruby pentagram pendant around his neck.
• 

  LongHairGal

  Gayle:

  I agree with your post. The guys at the top do not function in the real world and could not possibly know what the hell they are talking about. Why anybody pays them any attention at all is beyond me.

  When you talk about women who want their (elder) husbands being more involved in their own family (as they should be), I am reminded of what I was told when I mentioned this years ago to somebody:

  I was told that a sister who complains about her elder husband being away from home for long periods of time "must not want a spiritual husband". Did you ever hear such nonsense in your life? So, if a JW woman complains that she (for all intents and purposes) is a "widow" (no companionship or help, etc., etc.) it means she doesn't want a spiritual man. How is that for a guilt trip? So, a couple of decades later the religion has few men "reaching out" to be elders and whatnot. They simply do not want to volunteer to be abused.

  Kind of like me, being a single woman, not wanting to be abused.
• 

  Lore

  Some of the things that females are not allowed to do are strange.

  Why can't they operate the sound system? It's not something that requires any spiritual knowledge, they're not teaching the congregation, they're not representing anyone in prayer. They just sit in a little booth and fiddle with buttons.
  If I wrote a simple program to activate the songs at the appropriate times would it have to wear a digital head covering? If it can be done automatically by software why can't a woman do it?

  Why are they allowed to mow the lawn and clean the toilets but not adjust the microphones?

  Why do you have to have 2 MS's hold a sign that says: "This section reserved for baptismal candidates" But you can't just replace them with a pole or a sister?

  What the heck are the biblical reasons for these restrictions?
• 

  BluesBrother

  Being a M/S is supposed to be a right of passage on the way to becoming an elder. Bearing in mind the proportion of young men these days who are born in , you would expect the numbers to be getting higher. Evidently this is not the case.

  Their "Christian upbringing seems to have failed to motivate them to reach at least the Cong. average in F/S hours and the modest requirements for a M/S role. Perhaps they cannot be bothered ......

  We are not complaining though

  Wearewatchingyouman

  "when he asked me if I enjoyed the talk after the meeting I told him to be honest it failed to keep my attention and then I asked him if he'd ever thought about taking speech classes @ the community college... ah the look of shock..."

  Oh man ! that would be great ! I would just love to say that , if only......