Ministerial Training School​—An International Door Opens

During the 1991 service year, the Ministerial Training School was conducted for the first time in languages besides English. These were French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The United States had its seventh class convene in Belleville, Michigan, and the eighth class in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The second and third classes in Britain were conducted in Surrey and Manchester. Foreign-language classes were held in Creil, France; Möllbergen, Germany; Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy; and Barcelona, Spain.

Each morning the students assemble in a dining room at the school location, usually an Assembly Hall or a Kingdom Hall with auxiliary rooms, to consider the daily text as it is done in all the Society’s branches. As part of their training, students are assigned to comment on the daily text or to offer prayer at mealtimes. After breakfast, school begins at 8:30 a.m. There is a one-hour break for the noon meal, and then from one to two in the afternoon, the students engage in their work assignments, which may involve cleaning, washing the dishes from the noon meal, taking care of maintenance and repair jobs at the facility, or caring for the grounds outside. At 2:00 p.m. they resume their classroom activities. After classes they enjoy the evening meal at their accommodations, and they finish the evening with three hours of homework.

In harmony with the school’s purpose, these graduates are encouraged to be found faithful in doing the will of God whole-souled as they dutifully care for their various congregation responsibilities and other assignments.​—1 Cor. 4:2; Eph. 6:6.

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Most of the graduates of the eight classes held this year are now serving in the six countries where the school has been held, but others have taken up assignments in the following countries: Austria, Benin, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Caledonia, Portugal, and Romania. Shown above is the first class in France and in Germany

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All the ministerial servants and elders who graduated from the school this year have been assigned different service privileges. Depending on their previous experience and present qualifications, these include special pioneer assignments, missionary service, circuit work, and branch work. Shown above is the first class in Italy and the first one in Spain