Jamaican Branch Office Closing

jw07

I'm from Jamaica, Montego Bay to be exact. If there are other Jamaicans here, feel free to let me know.

With that said, it was announced at our last meeting (a letter was read) that the branch office (Bethel) in Kingston would be closing, and affairs would soon be directed from US hq. Now the branch office here is a large compound built on acres of prime real estate. It's one of the most structurally sound meeting centers in the island, since when it was being built in around 1998 it was something many JWs have boasted about.

I had an opportunity to speak to 2 persons who have worked / lived there yesterday. They are both shocked beyond belief :-)

They are wondering what will happen to JWs who have spent many years there with little formal education, no financial plan in place, and high dependency on the org to provide everything for them.

I have inside knowledge that there was alot of WASTE was going on there. Poor energy conservation, over spending on lavish meals etc.

Some have already begun concluding that 'the end must be really close' for them to do something like that.

At this point I'm not sure whether a move like this is due to the society suffering financially, or just trying extra hard to rake in more profit.

Has a similar letter been read in your country recently? Let me know.

pixel

In Wt world, consolidation means expansion ($$). Go figure...

Londo111

marked

AllTimeJeff

There is no doubt in my mind that the Borg does not have the cash flow they once did. Branches AND congregations are being downsized purely for cash flow. The property is then sold, and where do you think the profits for the sales go?

I know of several congregations lately that are being merged into larger ones, and the KH's are being sold. The money will go to Bethel. This is purely an economic move.

steve2

Those of us who are more 'observant' of what is going on in the organization hope that local Witnesses and those at the branch offices will be disturbed enough by these closures to question WTF is going on.

I wondered that when the New Zealand branch office closed earlier this year.

However, a more likely response is the one you mention in passing: The Witnesses will conclude 'the end must be really close' for the closures to occur'.

Sadly, when it comes to religious beliefs, unhindered observations by members on what is happening are clouded by emotion-bound attachments to the belief system..

jam

jw07: There was a brother name Martian from Jamaican that severed in

Belize for years, he moved back to Jamaican around the late 70's.

He was married and they had one daughter. Just curious, do you know him.

A great speaker and a very humble brother.

blondie

So no local branch office, the WTS is going to govern from the US?

No printing publications any more....

The focus is no longer on preaching...teaching the locals the WTS ways of administration.

Could computers be the way to save money.

Yes, I have been saying that the cash flow has been decreasing since 1990 when paying for the publications by jws and people in the "field" ended.

I was told that an aircraft carrier takes ten miles to actually make a change in direction, ten miles after direction was changed. It has taken time for the change in cash flow to register. I wonder what branch offices will remain eventually. All those people can go into the preaching work and pioneer without much like pioneers have been told to do recently.

designs

...ta it ain't so mon

FadeToBlack

I feel really bad for these people getting kicked to the curb (hate the ones doing the kicking). It is hard enough for those having worked and competed in this 'system' for many years to continue to put food on the table. Even with a decent education. Now imagine having no education (talking some kind of degree) or real-world work experience and suddenly finding yourself thrust out into the cold. It seems their only hope is to try and find work thru their network of 'brothers'. Hopefully they didn't annoy too many in their previous existence as an elite bethelite.

Wouldn't it have been nice if the new compund they are building in NY was actually a retirement-care home for all those who had honestly devoted their lives to kingdom service! Or pehaps, it could also have included an educational facility (non-theocratic) to help retrain those who suddenly find themselves with no marketable skills , simply because they got taken in by the 'end is near' hokum. I know, what am I thinking...

jw07

@Jam: Was he dark, wore glasses and was slightly bald?

Jamaican Branch Office Closing

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