Gradations of Glory

Although brethren are all just brethren, and everybody is nominally on the same ground, some are actually more equal than others.

I don't think anybody would be surprised at this apart from the way that brethren are adamant there is no such variety of position. Since the previous lot of important people were deposed and sidelined, it has become crucial that you deny all knowledge of any personal importance when gaining a bit of power. If you look as if you know you're important, you're on thin ice.

It will be clear that I don't have any direct experience of the upper levels of the fellowship. For one thing, I'm not married, and one must be both male and a householder to advance above the plain membership in the smallest degree. That's quite apart from my reluctance to toe the line. So, more than usual, my observations are just that.

These days, at least, the rungs of the ladder upwards are practical rather than ministerial. So the tasks that come the way of most brethren are the key. If a person can gain responsibility for something quite visible, they will gain in importance as a result. Within one's own meeting, this is not too hard to do, as there are plenty of jobs to go round, and most people notice who does them. Anything with wider responsibility than that is more difficult to come by for those who want it. The person will need to have demonstrated competence in something local first, but it is even more important that they did the job obediently than effectively. They will also need to have time and resources to spare, which means normally that they will be the owner of a successful business. Technically, if they are merely extremely capable but still employees, their bosses could allow them the time and resources, but most seem oddly reluctant to do so. Last but not least, they will need to have good connections with others on the rungs above so as to get their name attached to the particular responsibility desired.

I've condensed two levels into one discussion point there, but that's OK because neither of them have names. There are enough people in the local responsibility group that it could probably be considered the normal level of householder membership.

When somebody has hung onto their extra-local task for a while, it will begin to be noticed that they have a little bit of power, and they will get respect for it. They will be known, and will be higher up the list of desirable people when somebody is needed to address the brethren in one way or another. They will also be likely to get small gifts of money from meetings around. Once the person is secure at this level, he is a "help". He is known to be "joined in the work and labouring".

The more visible a responsibility, the more likely a person is to be put to ministerial use, which is more prestigious and comes with more recognisable benefits such as regular travel and increased contact with the brethren who count for something. I'm never entirely sure on what grounds anybody progresses from level to level, but it has something to do with capability in practical affairs, a lot to do with whether they're acceptable to those already in those kinds of positions, and very little to do with their gift for ministry.

A while ago, a person could (without admitting it) aspire to the level of an "area man". This has been thoroughly discredited. There should be nobody between the brethren anywhere and the man at the top. Unless he puts them there for his own convenience, and then that's not the same thing at all.

The only clear upper level is now the one of "three day meeting man", and even that isn't as clear as it was. It used to be a designation for life, once achieved, unless disaster occurred. Now, it arrives with a bang when a person is named as ministering for a weekend at a meeting, then fades away if they don't do more. The benefit at this level, apart from prestige, is that the gifts of money are doubled in size, and will probably arrive more often, too.

Beyond that is a secretive world I know little about with a small circle of favourites. I have no idea what qualifications they have apart from the fact that someone likes them. Maybe that's enough.

Does this sound like politics?