2+2=5 cited this fact about the shrinking amount of elders. Perhaps the coming implosion? (page 8)

wha happened?

There are probably enough power hungry incompetent rank & filers out there chomping at the bit for extra glory and recognition and power.

Every congr had at least one. However, what happens when that personality makes up the whole body?

karter

They have lowered the bar to become an Elder.

Were i come from 2 elders who had serious drug problems before becomeing JW's .....Their talks are disjointed and the stumble through them.

As there is not alot of young men reaching out they will rush through anyone who showes the slightest sing of wanting to become an M.S or Elder.

One new appointement is the most moody,smart arse around if i ever bump into him he makes some smart arse stupid comment.

Karter.

sir82

Were i come from 2 elders who had serious drug problems before becomeing JW's .....Their talks are disjointed and the stumble through them.

<Snort>

"Disjointed" and "stumbling" describes well over 95% of the public talks I've heard over the past 20 years. No drugs needed.

You'd think there's be some sort of "bell curve" effect and at least half the JW elders would be decent speakers....but I'd peg it at about 10% tops.

Excellent speakers? I can count them on the fingers of one hand.

Burnout and exhaustion have long been the negative fruitage of those men assigned positions of responsibility in the organization. They'd be foolish to go back to sole leadership positions because I suspect the main reason they changed to "bodies" of elders was to try to address burnout and mental exhaustion.

It's ironic that the "solution" of having more than one man leading each congregation has not eased the burden one little bit.

My maternal grandfather was the "Presiding Overseer" of a small rural congregation in the 1940s and most of the 1950s - a sole position. He "resigned" from the position in 1957/58. In a rare moment of vulnerability in the late 1960s, my maternal grandmother disclosed to me that she had feared he would have died from exhaustion had he remained in that position. Of course, she did not "blame" the organizational arrangement, instead preferring to point the finger at some of the local brothers and sisters who made my grandfather's theocratic work difficult. Truth be told, I think my dear grandfather was simply out of his depth in terms of the problem behaviour in his congregation - and he received no obvious support from the organization.

Doubting Bro

jam - I"m in an English congo in the US. These things tend to ebb and flow. At one point, they had 5 elders, 2 ms and 2 pioneers. People move in and move away. One individual had a near death experience in his family that turned him from a not participating, former elder to now a current elder in the space of about 4 years.

jam

Doubting Bro: That,s definitely not the norm for most

English speaking congregations in the US, unless it,s a

combine congregation.

Doubting Bro

No, they actually sent 2 elders in the last year to other congos to help them.

But, even though there are a bunch of younger elders, the ratio of MS is still not good. You want more MS than elders figuring that not all would make it to elder.

Also, the congo average in FS is below the circuit average.

Meeting attendence is 90% for the Sunday meeting and about 80% for the midweek meeting per a recent CO visit. That's not very good considering that with kids who are not publishers, you're looking at 150 potential people or so.

So while the elder count and pioneer count look good, once you dig below the surface a little, to me you see a very apathetic group with a group of overperformers.

sir82

a very apathetic group with a group of overperformers.

I think that describes about 90% of English-speaking US congregations.

Gayle

I wonder when the decision to close the Branch happened and when the decision to do the "international" convention was made. New Zealand decreased in pubs, and baptisms for 2012 Report. How much the international convention sparks things up again will remain to be seen.

Thanks for the report. Watching the WT where ever and all over will be interesting for 2013 and 2014 for certain.

steve2

One individual had a near death experience in his family

Some would arge that serving as an elder is as near a death experience as you're likely to ever get...

2+2=5 cited this fact about the shrinking amount of elders. Perhaps the coming implosion?

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