Coordinator of Elders Problems in One Southern England Circuit! (page 5)

Crazyguy

Why do they want to replace the older elders, these guys have been brain dead for years, so I don't get it?

ToesUp

They know the younger ones are YES MEN who want to wash windows by day and kick ass by night.

freddo

@crazyguy

Well, they're brain dead now but soon they'll be dead-dead. So they've gotta bring in the replacements!

Little update - 100% certain this is the Bristol area. The related saga in this area is the disbanding of the Portishead congregation and the closure of the hall they shared with Clevedon. It's typical local congregation v Bethel politics but is a bone of contention for the locals and has meant a drop in attendance as people vote with their feet and baulk at supporting the org's new arrangements for them.

Dark Knight

This is probably as close to open rebellion as we will get in watchtower land.

Splash

the disbanding of the Portishead congregation and the closure of the hall they shared with Clevedon.

I'm wondering why this congregation is disbanded. Is it due to lack of attendance, merging congregations to sell a hall, or something else?

konceptual99

Portishead was disbanded for several reasons. Historically it had split from Clevedon congregation but over time attendances dropped and it was full of older people. A couple of younger families did move across from Clevedon but it's been one of the those old, parochial places for some time.

Clevedon and Portishead continued to share a hall in Clevedon, a old Victorian building which backed right onto a hillside. The building is listed which means you have to get lots of approvals to do anything to it. Of course, each year that goes by means it needs more maintenance work.

Clevedon and Portishead congregations have been looking for a new hall for years. The main problem has been that the Clevedon congregation wanted to keep the hall within Clevedon and not have to travel. All the sites that came up had planning problems because they were on a flood plain. During this time the Bethel were slowly taking more and more control of hall planning tasks and saying to the congregation they needed to look elsewhere.

At some point earlier this year the Bethel pulled rank. They sent the RBC (as was) round and surveyed the hall. They said that the hall was not really safe to use due to the risk of a rock fall and other maintenance issues. They sent Clevedon to Weston which already has 3 congregations meeting at a hall. Portishead were sent to another hall but then told that as of the new service year they would be disbanded. Portishead congregation members were sent to three congregations depending on where they lived.

Clevedon has basically been told to await the LDC's guidance on what will happen with the hall. They have been warned not to do anything themselves otherwise the LDC will drop them and they will be on their own. They cannot even verify with independent surveyors what the real state of their old hall is. On the one hand this has wound the locals up something chronic since going 10 mins down the road is a big PITA for them and they don't like being backed into a corner by Bethel. On the other hand the hall is a money pit and the high level argument for the way Bethel are spinning it makes sense, but one does get the impression that the LDC are taking advantage of a set of circumstances to get shot of a desirable building and get the cash without having to go to the trouble of building another hall. Of course, Clevedon & Portishead have been saving for years for a new hall and AFAIK all the cash they had on hand has already been scooped up by Bethel in the last funding round.

OneGenTwoGroups

My immediate family was composed of 3 elders and 1 MS and 4 pioneers. That was 10 years ago.

Now, zero, zip, and zilch.

Zoos

They said that the hall was not really safe to use due to the risk of a rock fall and other maintenance issues...

Let me guess, they sold it to someone else without any concern for their safety. This kinda reminds me of the ARC accusation that elders send known pedophiles into the community without any regard for other children in the neighborhood.

konceptual99

Let me guess, they sold it to someone else without any concern for their safety. This kinda reminds me of the ARC accusation that elders send known pedophiles into the community without any regard for other children in the neighborhood.

It's not been sold or even on the market as yet. The locals are waiting for the LDC to come back and say what they are going to do.

The property is in a very desirable area but has issues due to the age, current usage designation, grade 2 listed status and potential problems with the hillside. I am 100% sure they will sell but it's whether they sell as is to a developer, do remedial works or even do a full conversion to a residential property(ies).

There are lots of other properties in the street and so this question of the state of the hill side would supposedly apply to at least some of the others. It's not been raised as a community problem so there is some scepticism amongst the local congregation of the actual level of risk. Without independent verification there is nothing the congregation can do. Any sale to a developer would require full due diligence on the part of the purchaser of course.

The problem for the LDC is that if they have overblown the risk of landslip/rock fall and independent surveys debunk this then the locals will be miffed and simply want to return to the hall. On top of that, the longer they leave it the more it is simply a maintenance nightmare and the pressure will be there for the congregation simply to return and stuff the LDC.

Coordinator of Elders Problems in One Southern England Circuit!

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