The Librarian

Jehovah's Witnesses operate 96 branch offices worldwide,grouped into thirty global "zones", each under the oversight of a headquarter's representative (previously known as a zone overseer) who visits each of his assigned branches every few years, auditing operations, counseling branch committeemen, department heads, and missionaries, and reporting back to the Governing Body. Each branch office is referred to as Bethel. The United States branch office, spread across three New York State locations with a staff of more than 4000, also serves as the international headquarters.
Branch offices, operated by Witness volunteers known as Bethel families, produce and distribute Bible-based literature and communicate with congregations within their jurisdiction. Full-time staff at branch offices take a vow of poverty and are considered members of a religious order. Each branch is overseen by a committee of three or more elders, which is appointed by the Governing Body. A Service Department in each branch corresponds with congregations and supervises the work of traveling overseers. Branch offices may also have printing, translation, legal and Hospital Information Services departments.Each branch office appoints various committees in its jurisdiction's communities, with local elders as members. Committees may include:

• Hospital Liaison Committee
• Patient Visitation Group
• Regional Building Committee (Now referred to as 'Kingdom HallConstruction Groups' (per Lesson 25 - Who is Doing God's Will Today?)
• Assembly Hall Committee
• District Convention Committee (Now "Regional Convention Committee")
• Disaster Relief Committee

Country offices working like branches, report to a nearby larger branches instead of to World Headquarters. These do such things as take in mail of interested ones and translate into local languages.

Uses:

Dance Halls and Parties

Party at the Branch Office in South Africa

Music Festival at the Branch Office in Japan

List of Branch Offices of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide

See also: School for Branch Committee Members and their Wives

Branch office staff Publications:

• Branch Organization (revised 2003), for branch overseers
• "Dwelling Together in Unity" (1952, revised 1974, 1982, 1989, 1996, 2004)
• Standards Manual (2005), for proofreaders
• Writing for Our Journals, for writers

See also: Lesson 22 - Who is Doing God's Will Today?

1980-Yearbook.pdf

 

 

“And now, Jehovah, . . . grant your slaves to keep speaking your word with all boldness.”—Acts 4:29.

"Divine Love" District Conventions held in the United States, Austria, France, Italy, and Japan. [2,097,070 publishers with 205 countries reporting in 1979, .5% increase over the 1978 service year, 42,600 congregations.] see w80 vol., pgs. 18-21.
yb80-E * Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses
w-E * The Watchtower
g-E * Awake!
dt * The Path of Divine Truth Leading to Liberation - intended for Hindus
hp * Happiness - How to Find It
Insurance Manual For Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses

Kingdom News #28 - Hope for Ending Inflation, Sickness, Crime, War
http://social.jw-archive.org/members-only-forum/kn-28-hope-for-ending-inflation-sickness-crime-war

 

The Chairman’s Committee, consisting of Albert Schroeder (Chairman), Karl Klein and Grant Suiter, now produced a most unusual document. 
They supplied a copy to each member of the Governing Body. Briefly put, these three men were suggesting that, rather than applying to people living in 1914, the expression “this generation” would begin applying as of 1957, forty-three years later
This is the material exactly as these three members of the Governing Body supplied it to us:

1957 marked the year when the first Russian Sputnik was launched into earthÂ’s outer space. Evidently the ChairmanÂ’s Committee felt that that event could be accepted as marking the start of the fulfillment of these words of Jesus:
"The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken." (Matt. 24:29)
Based on that application, their conclusion would be as they stated:
"Then ‘this generation’ would refer to contemporary mankind living as knowledgeable ones from 1957 onward."
The three men were not suggesting that 1914 be dropped. It would stay as the “end of the Gentile Times.” But “this generation” would not begin applying until 1957.
In view of the swiftly diminishing numbers of the 1914 generation, this new application of the phrase could undoubtedly prove even more helpful than some person allegedly living to be 130 years old in a certain section of the Soviet Union. As compared with starting in 1914, this new 1957 starting date would give an additional 43 years for the period embraced by the expression “this generation” to reach.
Governing Body standards required that for any Committee to recommend something to the full Body there should be unanimous agreement among the Committee members (otherwise the divided viewpoint should be presented to the Body for settlement). The presentation of the novel idea regarding 1957 was therefore one upon which the three members of the ChairmanÂ’s Committee, Schroeder, Klein and Suiter must have agreed.
The Governing Body did not accept the new view proposed by these members. Comments made showed that many considered it fanciful.

 

 

1971_Theocratic Ministry School Guidebook.pdf

 

 

@tromboneck 

 

@tromboneck  At least in the JW section of this .ORG website I try to keep people from being rude.

Please stick to addressing people's statements rather than attacking the person.

If you don't like someone's lengthy response then just simply state why you disagree, ignore them or add your better explanation. 

oh.. BY THE WAY..... "Heck" is a euphemism.  We are not allowed to use foul language. 

 

The Catholics or the Jewish in their categories are always watching ..... they might have different viewpoints on matters as well.

Don't expect everyone to walk away with the same understanding as you might have.

The previously posted WT letter of December 15, 2017 "Re: 2017 Service Year Report" was for the UScongregations.

The second (and third) paragraphs of the letter are being re-written to feature highlights in the local field to the congregations that it is addressed to...

• PHILIPPINES - "December 15, 2017 letter Re: 2017 Service Year Report" - with local numbers and highlights

Below is the local section of the SPANISH letter:

December 15, 2017, TO ALL CONGREGATIONS Re: 2017 Service Year Report

Dear Brothers:

[snip]

Regarding the activity in Spain. You will be glad it was a historic maximum in the number of publishers, reaching a total of 112,916, which represents an increase of 1% over the previous year. On average, each publisher devoted about 11.8 monthly hours to preaching. which equates to 1,332,408 hours each month. It is very encouraging to see that 16,499 brothers served as regular pioneers. As a result of that evangelizing work and Jehovah's blessing, 2,037 new brothers were baptized during the past year of service. This is the equivalent of 29 congregations of 70 publishers and assumes an average of about 5 new baptized people every day of the year. In addition, more than 52,000 Bible courses were reported and we had an attendance of 188,092 to the Memorial of the death of Christ. This summer we also enjoyed the motivating regional assembly entitled "Don't give up". A total of 129,992 were able to benefit from the program. What an animator! True? You will also be happy to know that we currently have 34 congregations and 24 Spanish sign language groups in the country. It is also worth noting the work that many brothers are doing in other languages and that it is evident that it also has the blessing of Jehovah.

The branch of Spain also supervises the work in Andorra and Gibraltar. In Andorra there are currently 3 congregations (Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese speaking), which have a total of 164 publishers. As for Gibraltar, there is a Spanish-speaking and an English-speaking congregation, in which there are 124 publishers. In both places, the brothers have also been constant in their activity and deserve praise for it.

[snip]

The previously posted WT letter of December 15, 2017 "Re: 2017 Service Year Report" was for the US congregations.

The second (and third) paragraphs of the letter are being re-written to feature highlights in the local field to the congregations that it is addressed to...

Hence below is what I understand to be the version of the above letter that is being sent and read out (in the first week of January 2018) to congregations in the Philippines.

I believe that the Philippines is traditionally one of the WT's Star Performers in terms of growth 

I have bolded the key text in the letter:

December 15, 2017, TO ALL CONGREGATIONS Re: 2017 Service Year Report

Dear Brothers:

We are pleased to share encouraging highlights from the 2017 service year report. The peak number of publishers was 8,457,107. Jehovah’s people spent a total of 2,046,000,202 hours in the ministry, a 3.1 percent increase from last year. We are especially encouraged to see a 7.4 percent increase in the number baptized, with a total of 284,212! This is evidence that we take seriously our commission to “make disciples.” (Matt. 28:19) We were delighted to see that the average number of regular pioneers was 1,225,279. This was an 8.6 percent increase! The worldwide Memorial attendance figure was 20,175,477. Significant features of the service year report will soon be available on jw.org and in JW Library, Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY, and Watchtower Library. These figures provide compelling evidence of Jehovah’s blessing on our work.—Isa. 60:22.

Here too in the Philippines, we saw indications of Jehovah’s blessing on the activity in the field. The peak number of publishers was 210,914. The increase of publishers over last year’s average was 3 percent. And the publishers were truly busy in the field, as evidenced by the 52,443,544 hours spent in preaching and teaching. This was a 4.6 percent increase over last year. More and more enrolled in the regular pioneer work. We were happy to see a peak of 45,264 sharing in this work during the year. The Memorial attendance figure was 575,813. It was also good to see 10,781 baptized in the 2017 service year. No doubt having two regional conventions in one year was a factor in having such a large number. Nevertheless, it makes us happy to see so many personally making the decision to join the ranks of Jehovah’s worshippers.

Be assured that Jehovah values your faithful service and that he will continue to give you the necessary strength to “fully accomplish your ministry” in the coming year!—2 Tim. 4:5; Isa. 40:31.

Your brothers, 

WTBTS of the Philippines, INC.

. 

For comparision with previous years:

. 

. 

• A 3% increase would indicate that Average Publisher is expected to be between 207,492 and 209,515 (ie between 2.5% to 3.5% as the yearbooks only used whole numbers for the %'s)

• The Regular Pioneer figure is a Peak - though I would expect the Average Regular Pioneers during the year to be fairly even, with no real spiked peaks.

À Bakou, en Azerbaïdjan, un tribunal de district a accordé des dommages et intérêts à deux femmes Témoins de Jéhovah qui avaient été emprisonnées injustement pendant 11 mois.

la source

Source

Source

Daniel a été enlevé à sa famille. Dans cette nouvelle situation, va-t-il continuer dÂ’obéir à Jéhovah ?

la source

la source

The growth in Belgium must be amazing! Thx for sharing.

Jehovas Schöpfungswerke flößen uns Ehrfurcht ein und veranlassen uns, für ihn zu singen.

Quelle

Les Témoins de Jéhovah vont lancer un projet de reconstruction sur une grande échelle au Guatemala et au Mexique pour aider leurs coreligionnaires touchés par deux séismes dévastateurs.

la source

Peu de temps après lÂ’attaque terroriste survenue à Turku, en Finlande, les autorités locales ont accueilli chaleureusement les Témoins de Jéhovah qui ont repris leur activité de témoignage public sur la place du marché.

la source

Il s’agit dÂ’une prophétie qui met en valeur les principes immuables de Jéhovah ainsi que sa miséricorde et son amour constants. Elle offre aussi des conseils précieux qui nous aident face aux situations que nous rencontrons.

la source

2017 Figures released to Bethel families worldwide:

Peak Publishers: 8,457,107

Total Baptized: 284,212 

Regular Pioneers: 1,225,279 

Memorial Attendance: 20,175,477

Memorial attendance has increased by 0.5%

Last year it was 20,085,142 while 2017 is 20,175,477

Hours: 2,046,000,202

You may want to break this up into 7 individual questions 

Such as "What was the 3rd world power?"

maybe then you could take all seven questions and combine the links on one post. Just a thought.

My "Librarian" side coming out again...

I'm sure when they get into the details of Persia versus Greece this could get very difficult to navigate.

The world looks a lot different through the eyes of little children. And according to a recent study in Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, the idea of aging might look different too. A good number of children aged three to five seemed to think that birthday parties were responsible for making people grow older. According to those kids, if a person doesnÂ’t have a birthday party, they stay the same age.

Developmental psychologist Jacqueline Woolley and her team at the University of Texas, Austin, compiled two studies in which they tested childrenÂ’s understanding of aging by telling them stories.

In the first study, the researchers told 99 American children between the ages of 3 and 5 a story about a child who had no birthday party. Then, a story about a child who had two birthday parties. “The third was simply about a child who was turning 3,” the authors write. After hearing the stories, the children were asked to tell the age of each character.

Toshifumi Kitamura/Getty 

Woolley’s team expected that 4- and 5-year-olds would do significantly better than 3-year-olds at reporting the age of the character in each story. And that was mostly true for the stories with no birthday party and with one birthday party. But for the third scenario, in which a child had two birthday parties, all the kids seemed confused. 

Thirty-eight percent of all the children were confused by the two-birthday party scenario, and incorrectly answered that the child in that story would be two years older. They had an easier time wrapping their head around the scenario of children with no birthday parties, and children who had one birthday party on their birthday. 

The researchers also tested children's beliefs about the way adults age by telling a story about a woman who does not want to grow older. The researchers' scenario went like this: “This is Mrs. Jamison. She is a teacher. How old do you think she is? Tomorrow is her birthday. But she does not want to get older. She wants to stay the same age for the rest of her life. Can Mrs. Jamison stay the same age and not get older? Does Mrs. Jamison have to get older even if she does not want to?”

Apparently, this caused some confusion among the children. Seventy-one percent of three-year-olds responded that yes, Mrs. Jamison could make herself younger. The older kids did better on that question, and all of the kids were able to correctly answer the other questions about Mrs. Jamison's age. 

But why carry out this study in the first place? A lot of research explores how children understand the facts of the world around them as they age. The researchers cite studies from the 1980s in which it was shown that children as young as 3 understand the idea that living things grow and objects do not. 

But birthday parties are a cultural practice. Jehovah's Witnesses, for instance, don't celebrate birthdays. So the researchers set out to study how a piece of culture might affect the way children think about an idea that overlaps culture and biology. And, as it turns out, kids think the darnedest things. 

http://www.newsweek.com/children-dont-understand-aging-or-birthdays-749711

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So.... I am wondering.... what did they find out about JW's? .... Anyone else left wondering?

Increible! 

A photo from Stanley Theatre:

Dabei handelt es sich um eine Prophezeiung, die Jehovas unveränderliche Grundsätze sowie seine Barmherzigkeit und Liebe herausstellt. Sie enthält auch wichtige Lehren für uns heute.

Quelle