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I live in Korea, and I’m curious about the situation in other countries.


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I am curious about the situation in other countries' congregations. I am a JW in Korea. I used a translator, so some of the terminology might be a bit off, but I have a question.

 

In Korea, over time, more brothers have qualified to serve as elders, and now, in almost every congregation, the number of elders is greater than that of ministerial servants or publishers.

 

For example, in our congregation in Seoul, we have 12 elders, 3 ministerial servants, and 4 publishers, meaning the majority are elders. In non-urban areas, where there tend to be more JWs, many congregations with around 120 members have over 30 or even 40 elders.

 

Of course, if someone meets the biblical qualifications, it’s natural for them to be appointed as an elder, and factors outside of one’s qualifications—such as the current number of elders—are not considered. But my question is whether this trend is happening globally.

 

As I remember, 10 or 15 years ago in Korea, the number of elders was lower than that of ministerial servants and even publishers.

 

 


Edited by New Heart
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Same in my cong until recently, we have 14 elders, for 13 servants, but from this month, as elders are moving and brothers are appointed, it will be 15 servants for 12 elders.

The Slave has encouraged elders to train and appoint brothers. There is a huge need.

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I guess the trend is because we're gradually approaching the new world,so things are beginning to look like in the new world, because in the new world when we become perfect,every brother will fully qualify to be an elder so every brother can be assigned any part in the meeting without any restrictions.

In a sense every brother will be an elder in the new world 🤗😄

 

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I don't know if it's happening in other places but certainly not where I live. My congregation has around 90 publishers and seven elders. It's more or less the same in most congregations I know. Four, six, maybe ten elders.

 

Where you wrote "publishers" I think you mean "pioneers". Otherwise that would be a very small congregation. :)

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15 hours ago, New Heart said:

For example, in our congregation in Seoul, we have 12 elders, 3 ministerial servants, and 4 publishers

I think Carlos was referring to the reference to publishers here- pioneers ?

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6 hours ago, New Heart said:

When I refer to 'Publishers,' I mean male publishers. Our congregation has about 55 members, including approximately 20 pioneers

 

50 minutes ago, Mike047 said:

I think Carlos was referring to the reference to publishers here- pioneers ?

 

If the congregation only has just 55 publishers, assuming that it's roughly half males half females with a few more sisters than brothers, it can be there are only four brothers who are not appointed yet as elders or servants.

 

It's an unusual situation because small congregations usually don't have so many elders. I have only seen something similar in congregations that are close to the branch, where a big part of the congregation are Bethelites. I remember sister @cme , who lives close to the Warwick Bethel in the US, mentioned recently that her congregation has like 30 or 40 elders. But that rarely happens in the rest of congregations. At least where I live, when a congregation has more elders than it needs, some are invited to move to other congregations where they are necessary.

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2 hours ago, Dages said:

Ha yeah, Japan and Korea have a looooooot of sisters... we need more brothers :D 

 

Wow, then I must have made it to visit the only expeption during my vacation in Seoul last month :D the congregation I visited had a balanced number of brothers and sisters.

Chrissy :wave:

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We have about 200 publisher cards. 
The breakdown is about 11 elders, 50 pioneers, 2 full time remote servants. 
I don’t know the number of servants. 
But we have a lot of brothers who are not servants but are used for Av, mics,stage etc.  

 

Jer 29:11-“For I well know the thoughts I am thinking toward you, declares Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”

Psalm 56:3-“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”
Romans 8:38-”For I am convinced...”

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We need both mature men and mature women - brothers and sisters - to help our growing congregations. There are many emotional and mental issues today, and mature people of both sexes are vital in helping all to keep a spiritual balance. Especially now and with what we are about to go through. We are thankful if we have both in our congregations.

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In our rural congregation of just under 50, we just have 3 elders, 6 MS's. However, we do have a high number of those are over the age of 65.

 

One of the elders that lives outside of our territory really likes being in our congregation, as he finds that having a large body elders, even in a big congregation can be at times an hinderance, especially when you get ones who at times seems to butt heads on certain viewpoints.

 

In my mate's congregation, there have a large body of elders and very little amount of MS's. They had a local needs part one night asking brothers to reach out to be MS's. After the meeting, he went up to some of the elders and suggested a solution to their MS shortage, "Stop appointing MS's becoming elders, then you would have plenty of MS's". 

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