before the elder "arrangement" came in to existence - we had congregation servant..assistant cong servant ..
And would you believe the first congregation I ever attended, two fleshly brothers filled both those positions. And their mother and father were held in very high esteem in the congregation.
The Assistant Cong.OS `s girl friend at the time played the piano at our KH wedding in 1960 .
Years later on I heard the asst.C.O.S.was charged with pornography and his then gf/wife committed suicide by walking in front of a train.
And as the person who related that info to us commented how the parents were once on a pedestal were now brought to such a low.
A very sad story.