The “simplified” congregation donation arrangement

by slimboyfat 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Betheliesalot
    Betheliesalot

    This week I saw my pimi spouse sneak money in a folded envelope to a mask wearing elder who was driving a massive 2020 lincoln. I think they are getting more and more sneaky as the great T approaches them in their minds. They are getting more cultish by the day. Well today i found an old service bag and found some donated cash from years ago. Karma, I took the money and bought some adult beverages.

  • eyeuse2badub
    eyeuse2badub

    I'm sure as hell glad that the GB "simplified" the "generation" doctrine! So fu*king simple that even they can't explain it!

    just saying!

  • Overrated
    Overrated

    Fill an envelope with fake cash and give it to the elder. Fake organization = Fake money.

  • Italiancalipso
    Italiancalipso

    For bethelitesalot:

    My two cents for you, tell your wife you are doing the donation via internet from Bank account each month. In this way less contact for the elder to be in danger for them and for her. And of course don't do it!

    At least you will not give them any money and you wife can sleep well.

    IC

  • Doctor Who
    Doctor Who

    So, it seems everyone is implying they are cunning linguists. I can tell you without a doubt they are not!

  • belogical
    belogical

    You only need to do two things

    1 miss the meeting the night the pledges are collected and a resolution will be past.

    2 Put lots of Monopoly money in the contribution boxes.

  • RubaDub
    RubaDub

    I would expect a "simplified" donation amount would be to just send them a years worth of signed checks, leave the dollar amount blank, and let them take care of the rest.

  • road to nowhere
    road to nowhere

    Wife is the bookkeeper. as for concealing donations either way, there should be discretionary monies for each to use as wanted.

    Wait until mom finds the local congregation having 7000 instead of the max of 5000. Of course the new enhanced donation will eat that up.

  • Overrated
    Overrated

    I wonder what the brother who was dealing with the collection boxes at my old Khall thought when he found buttons and small scrapes of paper. There is my simplified donation.

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    According to my research the earliest use of “simplification” or “simplified arrangement” was in 1979.

    1979 Watchtower introduces an unspecified “simplified feeding arrangement” for the Livng Hope District Conventions which freed 70,000 brothers from working with food and simultaneously, so it is claimed (and perhaps counterintuitively) resulted in “a wider range of food for breakfast“.

    1983 the Kingdom Ministry announces adjustments to the use of forms “as part of an effort toward simplification” which is “approved by the Governing Body”.

    1986 the Kingdom Ministry states that simplification has already occurred in many areas of the organisation’s operations: rooming, food service, literature orders and shipments, congregation supplies, Memorial invitations, handbills, Circuit Assembly programmes, and that further simplification is needed due to the “continued increase” in baptised believers worldwide.

    1986 the “simplified reporting arrangement” is announced, including a convoluted explanation which appears to mean that pioneers no longer report their activity directly to the branch, but to the local elders who monitor their activity.

    1987 Watchtower notes that the “simplified reporting arrangement” of the previous year has significantly cut the amount of work at the branch.

    1987 Watchtower “further simplified the food service arrangement”: no more hot food, only cold food and hot beverages.

    1989 April Kingdom Ministry states that, “in recent years, simplification through following principles of good order has brought about improved efficiency in the operation of Jehovah’s earthy organisation”.

    1990 Watchtower: please remember to wear your badges to facilitate the “simplified food service arrangement”, apparently meaning that JWs now get food without charge at the convention.

    1990 the “simplified literature distribution arrangement” is introduced and literature is placed without charge.

    1991 it is noted that there has been in increase in placements due to the “simplified literature distribution arrangement” however publishers are reminded not to hand out literature indiscriminately. The fact that there is no charge to the publisher “certainly does not mean that no cost is incurred in its production”.

    1992 May Kingdom Ministry: “all literature and food items will be distributed free of charge under the simplified arrangement”. (I don’t remember getting free food in the UK. Was this only in the US? I remember having to buy food tickets and then use the tickets to buy food.)

    1995 there is a “further simplified food arrangement” which means that no food will be provided at all at conventions. There is a very lengthy explanation of how much work, liability, and distraction the food service was causing for Watchtower and how feeding yourself is a better solution.

    1997 Kingdom Ministry states that ordinary JWs have expressed “appreciation” for the end of food provision under the simplified arrangement because it means more can concentrate on the programme.

    2000 the “simplified literature arrangement” is extended to all lands where the preaching is conducted. (This would seem to imply that some African countries were still paying for literature up to ten years after the charge was eliminated in the United States.)

    2005 mention is made of simplified presentations for the ministry.

    2005 reduction in the production of Awake! to once a month is described as resulting in a “considerable simplification” of its preparation, translation, and shipment.

    2006 a “simplification of certain branch operations” means that many bethelites are “invited” to serve in the field in various assignments instead.

    2009 Yearbook notes that many bethelites were reassigned to the field “as a result of the simplification of branch operations”.

    There is a related, and broader, discourse in the literature around the need to “simplify your life” in order to do more preaching which occurs throughout the period and may well go back earlier than 1979.

    These are all the referenced to “simplification“ in the organisation and the various “simplified arrangements” over the years. The latest September letter to congregations comes ten years after the latest mention of organisational simplification in the Kingdom Ministry or other published literature. The phrase and idea may well have occurred in many more letters and verbal communications from the organisation apart from the published literature.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit