Committees
The Governing Body functions by means of its six committees, which carry out various administrative functions. Each committee is assisted by "helpers," who do not necessarily profess to be of the "anointed". Governing Body meetings are held weekly in closed session. Until 1975, decisions of the body were required to be unanimous; according to Raymond Franz, a two-thirds majority of the full body has since been sufficient to allow proposals to be carried, regardless of the number present.
- The Personnel Committee arranges for volunteers to serve in the organization's headquarters and worldwide branch offices, which are each referred to as Bethel. It oversees arrangements for the personal and spiritual assistance of Bethel staff, as well as the selection and invitation of new Bethel members.
- The Publishing Committee supervises the printing, publishing and shipping of literature, as well as legal matters involved in printing, such as obtaining property for printing facilities. It is responsible for overseeing factories, properties, and financial operations of corporations used by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
- The Service Committee supervises the evangelical activity of Jehovah's Witnesses, which includes traveling overseers, pioneers, and the activities of congregation publishers. It oversees communication between the international headquarters, branch offices, and the congregations. It examines annual reports of preaching activity from the branches. It is responsible for inviting members to attend the Gilead school, the Bible School for Single Brothers, and the Traveling Overseers’ School, and for assigning postgraduate students of these schools to their places of service.
- The Teaching Committee arranges congregation meetings, special assembly days, circuit assemblies, and district and international conventions as well as various schools for elders, ministerial servants, pioneers and missionaries, such as Gilead school. It supervises preparation of material to be used in teaching, and oversees the development of new audio and video programs.
- The Writing Committee supervises the writing and translation of all material published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, including scripts for dramas and talk outlines. It responds to questions about scriptural, doctrinal, and moral issues, specific problems in the congregations, and the standing of members in congregations.
- The Coordinator's Committee deals with emergencies, disaster relief and other matters, such as investigations. It comprises the coordinators, or a representative, from each of the other Governing Body committees and a secretary who is also a member of the Governing Body. It is responsible for the efficient operation of the other committees.
Read more about this topic: Governing Body Of Jehovah's Witnesses
Famous quotes containing the word committees:
“A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.”
—C. Northcote Parkinson (1909–1993)
“... in the minds of search committees there is the lingering question: Can she manage the football coach?”
—Donna E. Shalala (b. 1941)
“What lies behind facts like these: that so recently one could not have said Scott was not perfect without earning at least sorrowful disapproval; that a year after the Gang of Four were perfect, they were villains; that in the fifties in the United States a nothing-man called McCarthy was able to intimidate and terrorise sane and sensible people, but that in the sixties young people summoned before similar committees simply laughed.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)