Gilead Contributes to Worldwide Expansion
MONDAY, March 4, 1974, was graduation day for the student body of the fifty-sixth class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. That School has become world famous since its establishment on February 1, 1943. This has not been because of its size nor because of any impressive credentials of its instructors. Rather, what has been done by its graduates has made the name “Gilead” dear to hundreds of thousands world wide.
The name “Gilead” is drawn from the Bible and means “witness-heap,” a heap that stands as a witness to some event or transaction. That has proved to be a fitting name, for the several thousand who have been sent out as missionaries since Gilead first began have, with the help of God’s spirit, accomplished a tremendous work in bearing witness to Bible truth.
When Gilead School was established in 1943, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses were active in fifty-four lands. Outside the continental United States, there were upward of 53,000 men, women and youths who reported having spent some time in proclaiming Bible truth to others. Today, some thirty-one years later, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses are zealously preaching in 208 lands. And there are about twenty-four times as many preaching today outside the continental United States as there were back in 1943.
The graduates of Gilead have contributed much toward these stupendous results. Their example in zeal and devotion and their willingness to leave the comforts of home and to put up with inconveniences have made a deep impression on those who studied the Bible with them. Many of these students have become zealous proclaimers of the Kingdom message and have themselves been instrumental in aiding still others to come to an accurate knowledge of the Bible.
A remarkable example of what has happened is the country of Brazil. When the first Gilead-trained workers arrived late in 1945 there were about 350 publishers of the “good news” in that land. Today there are 78,729.
What accounts for this? As N. H. Knorr, president of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead, pointed out in his remarks to the graduating class, these marvelous results have been attained because of continuing the work started by Jesus Christ over nineteen hundred years ago. Jesus Christ was indeed an active preacher of the “good news of the kingdom.” His apostles and others continued the work that he began, and today it is being done on a grand scale. Why, just in one year’s time (September 1, 1972, to August 31, 1973) 193,990 were baptized world wide.
In the latter part of his comments, N. H. Knorr related experiences had by missionaries in South America. These experiences forcefully emphasized the determination, zeal and interest graduates of Gilead School have demonstrated in helping people in their assignments to get an accurate knowledge of God’s Word.
While serving in Venezuela, a missionary couple had the following experience: As they were working separately, speaking to people about the Bible, one householder recommended to the wife that it would be better to get out of the street, as there was trouble brewing. On being told what the woman said, the husband, however, was not disturbed and so they kept right on with their preaching work. But soon they saw that the military appeared to be taking over each block. So they decided to hurry home. A revolution was in progress. Not long after their getting home, the doorbell rang. A neighbor woman and her daughter, frightened by what was happening, wanted to come in. Bullets were flying by this time, and all four got under the bed. However, the neighbor woman became so frightened that she got out from under the bed and went into the closet. Every time there was a gunshot she repeated a “Hail Mary.” Recognizing the woman’s real need for accurate knowledge, the missionaries used the occasion to speak to her about the Bible. In between gunshots, they shared with her the comfort from the Scriptures.
At times people respond very slowly to the Kingdom message. That was the experience of a missionary now serving in Argentina. Some thirty years ago while serving in Puerto Rico, this same missionary called on a man; only recently he wrote to inform her that he was now a baptized witness of Jehovah. Thus her expressions about God’s kingdom made many years ago finally bore fruitage.
While the graduates of Gilead School have had many joys, they have also had problems. A missionary working in the southernmost territory of Chile came to be in need of medical attention and surgery. Though having limited financial resources, she did not think of quitting her assignment. She found a doctor who appreciated the work the missionaries were doing and he performed the surgery without cost.
Later, this doctor requested that the missionary come to his home to visit his daughter. The daughter had been stricken with a disease that paralyzed her to a certain extent. Having been a dancer, she was very depressed at now being confined to the home. The missionary called on her and a Bible study was started. Soon the countenance of the daughter became cheerful and she began attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Eventually the daughter, her mother and the maid became baptized witnesses of Jehovah. The doctor, though not a Witness as yet, is delighted with the fine effect a study of the Scriptures had on his daughter.
Like those who have gone before them, the graduates of the fifty-sixth class expressed an eagerness to begin serving in their missionary assignments. From eight lands they had come to school, but soon they will be putting their training to use in seventeen different countries. All felt that Gilead training had been rich and rewarding. This was evident from a letter of appreciation from the fifty-sixth class. It read in part:
“We do not expect, in this letter, to express our full appreciation for the School. But we would like to let you hear some of the students’ expressions. For example: ‘The School has been like putting the Bible under a microscope. We saw the details, we got the sense of it and the understanding.’ Or to put it another way, ‘The Bible is not so big anymore, because it all revolves around one thing—the Kingdom. And when you understand that, all the rest falls into place.’ . . . We now look forward to taking care of our assignments in different parts of the world. . . . We prayerfully hope that we will be able to use all we have received, to Jehovah’s praise and honor.”
By continuing to imitate the example of Jesus Christ and that of faithful missionaries of the twentieth century, graduates of the fifty-sixth class of Gilead can rest assured that they, too, will make a contribution to the worldwide expansion of true worship.
[Picture on page 24]
Fifty-sixth Graduating Class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead
In the list below, rows are numbered from front to back and names are listed from left to right in each row.
(1) Robertson, E.; Blatzheim, L.; Andersen, B.; Cason, L.; Buchmann, R.; Starycki, C.; Martin, M.; Jensen, V.; Fiore, G. (2) Scheffel, W.; Wood, S.; Fiore, J.; Petruch, R.; Scheffel, B.; Geelnard, I.; Stogre, R.; Schoenherr, I. (3) Petruch, F.; Andersen, P.; Cason, M.; Nabholz, E.; Toth, T.; Christensen, H.; Stogre, J.; Orozco, R. (4) van Selm, H.; Jakobsen, H.; Devoe, G.; Sellers, A.; Mathiesen, A.; Vestre, F.; Bode, B.; Witty, B. (5) Robertsen, R.; Wolff, G.; Sellers, M.; Hale, C.; Christensen, P.; Jensen, T; Toth, J.; Martin, B. (6) Trad, G.; Mathiesen, H.; Blatzheim, W.; Hale, R.; Geelnard, K.; Mares, J.; Starycki, S.; Wood, J.; Nabholz, H.