-
The Unity of God’s Visible OrganizationThe Watchtower—1952 | January 1
-
-
28. Where do we find such a visible, working organization today, and who may be in it and how?
28 Then do Paul’s wise words that Jehovah would have an active, working visible organization find fulfillment today? Where is there an organization today like the congregation about which Paul was talking? Could there possibly be a group of people today who have one Father, the Father of all the persons in the congregation, a Father who is over all, through all and in all, a Father who is caring for his children and keeping them together in the pure way of worship? What a privilege and pleasure it is to answer Yes, yes, there is such an organization. In the apostles’ day you could find such a visible organization in the early congregation of Christ. In this year of 1952 you will find it in a group of Christian people known as Jehovah’s witnesses. They make up Jehovah’s visible organization. What is more, YOU can be in that organization if you think like Paul and have faith like his.
29. How are Jehovah’s witnesses today like the early congregation?
29 Note how Jehovah’s witnesses today are like the early congregations of Jehovah’s faithful witnesses: Jehovah’s witnesses are firm believers in God’s Word. They study it, they preach it, and they live it. They are “putting up with one another in love”, even though their customs and habits of life and the tongues they speak in their daily conversation are different in all parts of the world. They ARE fulfilling the command to preach the Kingdom in all the world for a witness. (Matt. 24:14, NW) Thus in all parts of the earth they demonstrate the unity of God’s visible organization.
-
-
Organizing for the MinistryThe Watchtower—1952 | January 1
-
-
Organizing for the Ministry
1. What did Jehovah teach his Son to do, and so what did the Son arrange for?
JEHOVAH is the greatest organizer and he taught his Son Christ Jesus how to organize. When on earth Christ selected disciples and taught them how to gather more workers who loved truth and righteousness. At that time it meant a “little flock”; now it means the gathering of a “great crowd” of “other sheep”. So as to assemble the “little flock” Jesus arranged for organizing the congregation and developed that into a strong working unit, with competent servants. Hence the apostle Paul quotes Psalm 68:18 and says: “He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as missionaries, some as shepherds and teachers, with a view to the training of the holy ones for ministerial work, for the building up of the body of the Christ, until we all attain to the oneness in the faith and in the accurate knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of growth that belongs to the fullness of the Christ; in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of craftiness in contriving error.”—Eph. 4:11-14, NW.
2. What was the purpose of all this organizing, and accordingly, whom is the congregation aiding today?
2 Jehovah God was very much interested in the proper organization and care of the early congregation. The Son Christ Jesus meted out the gifts of the spirit to his followers so that some could act as apostles, others as prophets and missionaries and still others as able teachers. But what was the purpose of all this in the body of Christ? This: “The training of the holy ones for ministerial work, for the building up of the body of the Christ, until we all attain to the oneness in the faith.” Today this visible organization is also being used to aid the “great crowd” of “other sheep”. These are not of the “little flock”, but they must be brought to maturity in the accurate knowledge of the Son of God. These are not the ones to be joint heirs with him in the heavenly kingdom, but they will gain life under it in the new world of righteousness.
-