With the book Crisis of Conscience detailing the turbulence at Bethel during the early to mid 70's, the transformation from autocratic rule to governance by committee or a body of men, many of us can speak to how that felt among the rank and file of the local congregations during those years. We learned new concepts based in large part to research done for the Aid to Bible Understanding volume, then we were asked or coerced into unlearning those principles, going back to the old ways. Some of us never readjusted, finding ourselves very different from our more hardline compadres.
The inertia for the changes that eventually were initiated in the congregations came from the discovery that the Greek words episkopos and presbyteros were used biblically to refer to all qualified men in a congregation, not just one. This dramatic new insight was shared with the R&F at the '71 summer conventions with the new organizational changes to be effected in the following service year. There was also a talk few seem to remember that paved the way for not counting time spent in spreading the "good news. I approached the circuit overseer who gave the talk asking if it was possible field service time would no longer be counted. "That's what it looks like," was his response.
We received the organisational instructions about recommending a body of elders in the insert of the September Kingdom Ministry. As a very young Congregation Servant or Overseer, it was my job to meet with the entire servant body to discuss the insert, review the scriptural qualifations for elder and make our recommendation. As I recall, congregations went to two extremes, some making no recommendations for elder, while others recommended nearly all of the adult, active males. In one nearby congregation, an unassuming Congregation Servant for two decades did not feel he or any other brother met the biblical standard. None were appointed.
The KM insert allowed for 5 key positions, each filled by an elder, but rotated from year to year. That arrangement was in effect for several years, resulting in a different Presiding Overseer each year. An almost stunning change was that initially at least the circuit overseer was viewed as simply another elder, a traveling one, with more or less experience than local elders. Recommendations for congregation responsibility were made with the input of all of the elders including the circuit overseer. Gradually the pendelum swung back, but initially that was heady concept.
With the organizational changes, the emphasis on serving Jehovah from the heart, not to create a service record, the newfound authority for many, many interesting situations developed. If a fellow elder let his hair grow a bit, including facial hair, he was within his rights. It was difficult to argue scripturally for short hair and clean-shaven faces. At the circuit or district level, assembly overseers seemed to enforce more stringent standards, but frequently the congregations on an individual basis could be more lax. Public speakers frequently developed their own talks, featuring their own agendas or pet peeves. Some were very dramatic, entertaining, but did not resemble the confining rhetoric of the Watchtower.
One of the first relaxations came with respect to the treatment of disfellowshipped persons. We could now actually greet them. The Watchtower printed the example of passing a disfellowshipped person with a flat tire, stating that the Christian approach would be to stop and offer assistance as we would do for any non-Witness. We were given the option of providing transportation to the meetings for those disfellowshipped. (I remember sitting in on a judicial committee resulting in a disfellowshipping. We encouraged the person to attend all the meetings. I ended up transporting her to the Kingdom Hall for several months.)
During the summer convention of 1975 one of the talks dealt with proper attire at meetings, stating that proper female attire was not limited to skirts and dresses, but included pantsuits, as long as they were designed for female wear. We were in a huge innercity congregation at the time. The first meeting following that assembly, ALL of the sisters wore pantsuits to the Kingdom Hall.
A number of Watchtower articles of that era emphasized the individual conscience, making decisions based on principles, taking care of the widow and orphan as part of the "ministry", etc. Many of us eagerly accepted all of this sort of Christian, highminded, individual approach to serving our God. While we could give a number of other initiatives, examples, you get the drift of the organization for a very brief time in its history.
By the early 80's the organization reverted back to the old way of treating disfellowshipped persons, firmed up the local leadership with permanent presiding overseers and reinforced the control of the traveling overseers. Many of us who bought the humanity of the liberalization never quite fit in again.
tms