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Development of the Organization StructureJehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom
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Traveling Overseers Strengthen the Congregations
Organizational ties were further fortified as a result of the service of traveling overseers. In the first century, the apostle Paul outstandingly engaged in such activity. At times, such men as Barnabas, Timothy, and Titus also shared. (Acts 15:36; Phil. 2:19, 20; Titus 1:4, 5) They were all zealous evangelizers. In addition, they encouraged the congregations by their discourses. When issues arose that could affect the unity of the congregations, these were submitted to the central governing body. Then, “as they traveled on through the cities,” those entrusted with the responsibility “would deliver to those there for observance the decrees that had been decided upon by the apostles and older men who were in Jerusalem.” The result? “The congregations continued to be made firm in the faith and to increase in number from day to day.”—Acts 15:1–16:5; 2 Cor. 11:28.
Already in the 1870’s, Brother Russell was visiting the groups of Bible Students—the twos and the threes as well as larger groups—to upbuild them spiritually. A few other brothers shared in the 1880’s. Then, in 1894, arrangements were made for the Society to have well-qualified speakers travel more regularly to help the Bible Students to grow in knowledge and appreciation for the truth and to draw them closer together.
If possible, the speaker would spend a day or perhaps several days with a group, giving one or two public discourses and then visiting smaller groups and individuals for discussion of some of the deeper things of God’s Word. An effort was made to have each group in the United States and Canada visited twice a year, though not usually by the same brother. In selecting these traveling speakers, emphasis was placed on meekness, humility, and clear understanding of the truth as well as loyal adherence to it and ability to teach it with clarity. Theirs was by no means a paid ministry. They were simply provided with food and lodging by the local brothers, and to the extent necessary, the Society helped them with travel expenses. They came to be known as pilgrims.
Many of these traveling representatives of the Society were dearly loved by those whom they served. A. H. Macmillan, a Canadian, is remembered as a brother to whom God’s Word proved to be “like a burning fire.” (Jer. 20:9) He just had to talk about it, and he did, speaking to audiences not only in Canada but also in many parts of the United States and in other lands. William Hersee, another pilgrim, is fondly remembered because of the special attention that he gave to young folks. His prayers also made a lasting impression because they reflected a depth of spirituality that touched the hearts of young and old alike.
Travel was not easy for the pilgrims in the early days. To serve the group near Klamath Falls, Oregon, for example, Edward Brenisen journeyed first by train, then overnight by stagecoach, and finally by bone-jarring buckboard wagon out into the mountains to the farm where they would be meeting. Early in the morning, the day after their meeting, a brother provided a horse for him to ride some 60 miles [100 km] to the nearest railroad station so that he could travel to his next assignment. It was a strenuous life, but good results came from the efforts of the pilgrims. Jehovah’s people were strengthened, unified in their understanding of God’s Word, and drawn closer together even though widely dispersed geographically.
In 1926, Brother Rutherford began to implement arrangements that changed the work of the pilgrims from that of simply traveling speakers into that of traveling supervisors and promoters of field service by the congregations. To emphasize their new responsibilities, in 1928 they were called regional service directors. They worked right along with the local brothers, giving them personal instruction in the field service. At this time it was possible for them to reach each congregation in the United States and in some other lands about once a year, while also keeping in touch with individuals and small groups that had not yet been organized for service.
During the years that followed, the work of traveling overseers underwent various modifications.a It was greatly intensified in 1938 when all the servants in the congregations were appointed theocratically. Visits to the congregations at regular intervals during the next few years afforded opportunity to provide personal training to each of the appointed servants and increased help in the field service for everyone. In 1942, before traveling overseers were again sent out to the congregations, they were given some intensive schooling; as a result, their work was carried out with greater uniformity. Their visits were quite brief (one to three days, depending on the size of the congregation). During that time they checked the congregation records, met with all the servants to offer any needed counsel, gave one or more talks to the congregation, and took the lead in field service. In 1946 the visits were lengthened to one week for each congregation.
This arrangement for visits to the congregations was supplemented in 1938 by the service of the regional servant in a new role. He covered a larger area, periodically spending a week with each of the brothers who were traveling in a zone (circuit) to visit the congregations. During his visit he served on the program of an assembly that was attended by all the congregations in that zone.b This arrangement was a great stimulus to the brothers and provided regular opportunity for baptism of new disciples.
“Someone Who Loves the Service”
Among those who shared in this service starting in 1936 was John Booth, who, in 1974, became a member of the Governing Body. When being interviewed as a potential traveling supervisor, he was told: “Eloquent speakers are not what is needed, just someone who loves the service and will take the lead in it and will talk about service at the meetings.” Brother Booth had that love for Jehovah’s service, as evidenced by his zealous pioneer service since 1928, and he stirred up a zeal for evangelizing in others by both example and words of encouragement.
The first congregation that he visited, in March 1936, was in Easton, Pennsylvania. He later wrote: “I would usually arrive at a place in time for field service in the morning, have a meeting with the servants of the company in the early evening and afterward another with the whole company. Usually I would spend just two days with a company and only one day with a smaller group, at times visiting six such groups a week. I was continually on the move.”
Two years later, in 1938, he was assigned, as a regional servant, to care for a zone assembly (now known as circuit assembly) every week. These helped to strengthen the brothers during a time when persecution was becoming intense in some areas. Recalling those days and his varied responsibilities, Brother Booth said: “The very week [in which I was a witness in a court case involving some 60 Witnesses in Indianapolis, Indiana] I was a defendant in another case in Joliet, Illinois, an attorney for a brother in yet another one in Madison, Indiana, and, in addition, had charge of a zone assembly each weekend.”
Two years after these zone assemblies were revived in 1946 (now as circuit assemblies), Carey Barber was among those assigned as district servants. He had already been a member of the Bethel family in Brooklyn, New York, for 25 years. His first district covered the entire western part of the United States. At first, travel between assemblies was about 1,000 miles [1,600 km] each week. As the number and the size of congregations multiplied, those distances shrank, and numerous circuit assemblies were often held within a single metropolitan area. After 29 years of experience as a traveling overseer, Brother Barber was invited to return to the world headquarters in 1977 as a member of the Governing Body.
During times of war and of intense persecution, traveling overseers frequently risked their freedom and their lives to care for the spiritual well-being of their brothers. During the time of the Nazi occupation of Belgium, André Wozniak continued to visit the congregations and helped to supply them with literature. The Gestapo were frequently hot on his heels but never succeeded in seizing him.
In Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe) in the late 1970’s, people lived in fear, and travel was curtailed during a period of internal war. But traveling overseers of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as loving shepherds and overseers, proved to be “like a hiding place from the wind” to their brothers. (Isa. 32:2) Some would walk for days through bush country, traveling up and down mountains, crossing dangerous rivers, sleeping at night in the open—all in order to reach isolated congregations and publishers, to encourage them to remain firm in the faith. Among these was Isaiah Makore, who narrowly escaped when bullets whistled over his head during a battle between government soldiers and “freedom fighters.”
Other traveling overseers have for many years served the organization on an international basis. The presidents of the Watch Tower Society have frequently traveled to other lands to give attention to organizational needs and to speak at conventions. Such visits have done much to keep Jehovah’s Witnesses everywhere keenly aware of their international brotherhood. Brother Knorr especially pursued this activity on a regular basis, visiting each branch and missionary home. As the organization grew, the world was divided into ten international zones, and beginning on January 1, 1956, qualified brothers, under the direction of the president, started to assist with this service so that it could be given regular attention. Those zone visits, now carried on under the direction of the Service Committee of the Governing Body, continue to contribute to the global unity and forward movement of the entire organization.
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Development of the Organization StructureJehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom
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[Box/Pictures on page 224, 225]
Traveling Overseers A Few of the Thousands Who Have Served
Canada, 1905-33
England, 1920-32
Finland, 1921-26, 1947-70
United States, 1907-15
Traveling between congregations—
Greenland
Venezuela
Lesotho
Mexico
Peru
Sierra Leone
Mobile accommodations in Namibia
Sharing with local Witnesses in field service in Japan
Meeting with local elders in Germany
Providing practical counsel to pioneers in Hawaii
Instructing a congregation in France
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