More Good Things in the Ministry School
1 Did you notice that the Theocratic Ministry School program for 1973 features something new? With the exception of times when written reviews are scheduled, each week there will be a talk based on Biblical or modern-day life experiences. Will it not be encouraging to hear how others overcame problems similar to ours and continued to find delight in Jehovah’s service?
2 If you are scheduled to give one of these new talks, try to capture the spirit of the experience, make it live and show how we personally can benefit from it. You do not have to use every detail of the experience, but focus attention primarily on points that develop the assigned theme. While it is not required in each case, you may wish to build the presentation involving a modern-day experience around an appropriate scripture. In relating such experiences be alert and watch for opportunities to involve your assistant.
3 As you recall from the schedule for 1972, the Bible reading assignments were shorter than previously. Many brothers took advantage of this to develop meaningful introductions and conclusions that really highlighted the value of the material. And opportunities were utilized to make explanatory comments during the course of their reading.
4 This coming year the reading assignments will again be comparatively short. So, we encourage you to make good use of the available time to present helpful clarifying information or to show how the scriptures being read personally benefit us. As you know, many fine points can be found by doing research with the aid of the Watch Tower Publications Indexes.
5 Those of you who are younger in years can also make your assignments more meaningful by doing research. Talk to your parents or the school overseer to get suggestions on how scriptures can be explained briefly. Then when giving your talks, make practical application of scriptures used, doing so in your own words. But, of course, be careful not to make it appear that you are counseling older, experienced ones in the audience.
6 The school overseer and other elders who may give counsel can also contribute much in helping us to get the most benefit from the School. Counsel on speech qualities can be beneficial, but it does not always have to be extensive. A few well-chosen remarks on the application of suggestions on speech counsel in the School Guidebook may suffice. Of course, where necessary, private counsel can always be given on points the student may beneficially work on for improvement. It is not necessary in each case to announce whether a certain point is being marked “G,” “I” or “W.” The school overseer may frequently find it more beneficial to use most of the two minutes allotted to him after each student talk to direct attention to some outstanding point from the material assigned for use in the talk itself. By drawing attention to its practical value, it will be more deeply impressed on the audience. So, when preparing for the School, he may find it helpful to pick out from each assignment one point that will be particularly beneficial to the audience and that he can comment on if it is not covered extensively by the student. If the student does cover the point well, there is no need for the school overseer to do it again. But his simply expressing appreciation for how it was handled will help to impress it on the minds of those in the audience.
7 Truly, if we all prepare well for our assignments in the School, everyone will reap the greatest benefit from the many good things provided.