This is awesome! I shouldnt be harassed by the elders as much to reach out. All I have to do is miss the co visits and I can completely fly under the radar.
Letter to BOE: Adjustment in process for appointing elders and ministerial servants
by pixel 143 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Pubsinger
In reality it was always the CO who did this anyway. The 'Bethel approval' was just a front.
Totally agree with the liability observations tho.
Will be very interested to see someone like Candace Conte's legal team target an individual CO. And then use this correspondence to still sue the WT. -
thedepressedsoul
I said in a post a while ago that power would be taken from the local elders over time. People thought I was nuts!
This is just the 1st step. There are too many power hungry Elders and too many problems with them to not remove their power.
I bet close to 80% of people who leave the org leave because of a way an elder treated them or what an elder did to them. Most people I talk to have a very bad taste towards certain elders and they eventually leave because of it. Trust me, you are going to see more and more power taken away from Elders. It'll be interesting to see what elders resist giving up the power.
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sir82
Letter is legit - it is on JW.org now for those with an elder password.
Next step, of course, is to cut the ties between COs and the branch.
Several years ago, there was speculation on this board that COs would be done away with, and that regional "super-elders" would carry out most CO tasks over 3 or 4 day visits.
This seems to be a step in that direction. Once "order of special full time servants" COs are no longer in existence, the link between elders and the branch is quite tenuous - virtually non-existent.
Which has the happy consequence, for the WTS anyway, of making them more impervious to lawsuits filed by molestation survivors, angry family members of those who died for refusing blood, etc.
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pixel
Thinking about it, I believe this is just to give the impression to the congregation that the CO is the one doing the appointings like in Paul's times.
The same thing they said before: the elders are appointed by the GB, but we all know that the GB dont know the brothers they are appointing.
So, at the end, the elders are the ones that know the brothers that can be future-elders.
It will be an illusion for the R&F since, how is the CO appoint brothers to be elders, if the elders within the congregations sometimes dont even know the full profile of the brothers they recommend?
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gingerbread
The elder & servant wannabe's will be doing everything possible to get the attention of the CO's - service time, taking them out for meals, giving them cash, opening up their homes, volunteering to give talks during the CO's visit, volunteering for everything at the assemblies...
The Branch big-wigs know this.
It stirs up the competitive spirit (activity). And brothers will go out of their way to financially take care of the Branch Representatives.
The Watchtower leadership is calculated. No doubt.
ginger
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DATA-DOG
Oh! Oh!! Guess who will be the new Elders??? The DO's who got fired!! They have to go somewhere! Those loyal company men can be sent anywhere by the CO to be a spy for the Borg! Take that, fading Elders!!
Hoser, !!!!
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jimbojones
What gets my attention is the CO now can delete an elder without input from the body. It can weed the stubborn ones and place more company men.
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pixel
If this has the backup of the scriptures as they say, why wait until September to implement it? Yeah sure...
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sir82
Just re-read that letter - it certainly seems to imply that elders will no longer even be making recommendations - it will all, 100%, be on the COs to appoint & remove.
That's a huge paradigm shift, if that is the case.
As was pointed out above, 99% of the time, if the CO approved the elders' selection, it was an automatic rubber-stamp approval from the branch.
If elders continue to provide recommendations, the change outlined in the letter will be practically unnoticeable.
However, if my reading of the implications is correct, and COs just go in and appoint & remove who they see fit - that would be a major shake-up.
For one thing, COs vary widely in temperament, reasonability, discernment, etc. If it is 100% the COs call, I can imagine huge (50% or more) turnover in some congregations' elder body.