Corporations of Jehovah's Witnesses
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A number of corporations are in use by Jehovah's Witnesses. They carry out publishing and other operational and administrative functions, representing the interests of the religious organization. "Watchtower Society" is often used as the collective name for those corporations.
The term "Watchtower Society" has also been used synonymously with the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, even in their own literature, such as in the book Worldwide Security Under the Prince of Peace (1986) (OCLC 15485620). Particularly since 2001, Jehovah's Witnesses indicate a distinction between the Watchtower Society and the religious organization.
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[edit] Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania is a non-stock, not-for-profit organization[1] headquartered in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, United States. It is the main legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses, often referred to as "The Society". It holds copyrights to most of the literature published by Jehovah's Witnesses.
[edit] Foundation
The Bible Students began organizing the Society in 1881 with William Henry Conley, a Pittsburgh businessman, as the first President and Charles Taze Russell as Secretary-Treasurer.[2] The Society was officially registered in Pennsylvania as a non-profit, non-stock corporation on December 15, 1884, with Russell as President.[3] The corporation name was legally changed to add the words "Bible and" (and remove "Zion's") in 1896; unofficially, names such as "Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society" (and even Tower Bible and Tract Society) had already been in use for years by 1892.[4]
[edit] Personnel (as of September 1, 2005)
- President: Don A. Adams
- Vice Presidents: Robert W. Wallen, William F. Malenfant
- Secretary/Treasurer: Richard E. Abrahamson
- Directors: Danny L. Bland, Philip D. Wilcox, John N. Wischuk
[edit] Name changes
- Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society (1881-1896)
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (1896-1955)
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (since 1955)
[edit] Presidents
| # | Name of President | Date of birth | Date of death | Started | Ended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | William Henry Conley | June 11, 1840 | July 25, 1897 | February 16, 1881 | December, 1884 |
| 2. | Charles Taze Russell | February 16, 1852 | October 31, 1916 | December 15, 1884 | October 31, 1916 |
| 3. | Joseph Franklin Rutherford | November 8, 1869 | January 8, 1942 | January 6, 1917 | January 8, 1942 |
| 4. | Nathan Homer Knorr | April 23, 1905 | June 8, 1977 | January 13, 1942 | June 8, 1977 |
| 5. | Frederick William Franz | September 12, 1893 | December 22, 1992 | June 22, 1977 | December 22, 1992 |
| 6. | Milton George Henschel | August 9, 1920 | March 22, 2003 | December 30, 1992 | October 7, 2000 |
| 7. | Don Alden Adams | 1925 | - | October 7, 2000 | incumbent |
[edit] International Bible Students Association
International Bible Students Association (IBSA) is a not-for-profit organization used by Jehovah's Witnesses in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1914 by Pastor Russell in London, England, and was the first legal corporation representing Pastor Russell's ministry in Europe. Followers of the Watchtower movement worldwide had been known as International Bible Students until 1931, after which they became known as Jehovah's Witnesses.
[edit] Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses
Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Inc. was established to organize and administer the congregational affairs of Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States.[5][6] It filed for incorporation on August 21, 2000 in New York State as a “domestic non-profit corporation” in Putnam County, New York.[7] An incorporation record was also filed with the State of Florida on March 3, 2006, as a "foreign non profit corporation" with agency in Collier County, Florida.[8]
As announced to congregations in January 2001, the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses is a corporation used by their United States Branch Committee, which oversees the preaching work of Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States, Bermuda, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.[9] All Branch Committee members are appointed by and report to the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses.[10][11]
As with other agencies of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses may correspond directly with any district overseer, circuit overseer, local body of elders, or individual, or it may assign someone else to communicate on its behalf. Any of these persons or groups may function as an agency acting at the explicit direction of the Governing Body[12][13].
[edit] Other corporate use
Jehovah's Witnesses sometimes use this corporation name in other countries, or a similar name translated into the local language. In 2005, their branch in Canada began using the separate Canadian entity, Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, for most correspondence, while retaining Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada for other matters. In Mexico the corporation, Congregación Cristiana de los Testigos de Jehová, is used.
[edit] Non-corporate use of term
In the decades prior to the corporation’s formation, and since then, Jehovah’s Witnesses have referred to themselves globally as the “Christian congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses”.[14] Even in their own recent publications, use of the term has not been restricted to the formal legal entities.[15][16]
[edit] Other corporations
In addition to the Pennsylvania and New York corporations, other corporations sanctioned by the Governing Body exist, some with specific tasks and others to further the Witnesses' interests outside the United States.[17]
- Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses, New York. Incorporated in 2000 to give particular attention to those in special full-time service: Bethel volunteers, missionaries, traveling overseers, special pioneers; and assembly halls.
- Kingdom Support Services, Incorporated, New York. Incorporated in 2000 to deal with construction of Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls, other engineering needs, and vehicles.
Since the formation of the International Bible Students Association, some 20 other corporations have been created throughout the world.
In addition to these, many other legal entities are used throughout the world to further the interests of Jehovah's Witnesses. Typically these are synonymous with the branch offices in various countries, such as:
- Wachtturm-Gesellschaft, Selters/Taunus, Germany;
- Jehovas vittnen - Bibelsällskapet Vakttornet, Sweden;
- Watchtower Bible & Tract Society Of Australia, Inc., Australia;
- Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Britain, Inc., England;
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada, Inc., Ontario.
There are currently branch offices in over 100 countries and territories through out the world.
[edit] Revenue
Watchtower magazines, and all Jehovah's Witnesses' literature, were sold at cost around the world until the early 1990s. The Watchtower is now distributed for free, though donations can be given by those who are willing. The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of NY, Inc., not-for-profit publisher of The Watchtower, was as of 2001 one of the 40 largest revenue-generating companies in New York City, reporting an annual revenue of about $951 million US dollars. These funds are used in the printing of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines (which number around 60,000,000 per month), in the publication of bibles and other literature, funding missionary and traveling overseers travel expenses and/or vehicles, the construction and maintenance of Kingdom Halls worldwide, and for the hire of stadiums or assembly halls in which they conduct annual conventions.[18] The corporation is now officially headquartered in Patterson, New York.[19] Its yearly report is different from a Wall Street company as the company's employees are volunteers who live and work in the Brooklyn complex. A small portion of the funds contribute towards the living expenses of these full time volunteers.
[edit] References
- ^ Pennsylvania Department of State.
- ^ Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (Watchtower, 1993), p. 576.
- ^ J. Rutherford, A Great Battle in the Ecclesiastical Heavens, 1915, p. 14.
- ^ "Printing and Distributing God’s Own Sacred Word", Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, page 603, "As shown by the Watch Tower of July 15, 1892 (p. 210), the name Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society had been used for a number of years before that name was legally registered. A tract published in 1890 in the Old Theology series identified the publishers as Tower Bible and Tract Society.
- ^ Letter from Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., to All Bodies of Elders in the United States, dated February 27, 2001.
- ^ Our Kingdom Ministry, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., 2002 January p7
- ^ NYS Dept of State, Division of Corporations, site retrieved March 23, 2009 http://appsext8.dos.state.ny.us/corp_public/CORPSEARCH.ENTITY_INFORMATION?p_nameid=2575466&p_corpid=2544464&p_entity_name=jehovah%27s%20witnesses&p_name_type=A&p_search_type=CONTAINS&p_srch_results_page=0
- ^ Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, site retrieved March 23, 2009 http://sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?action=DETFIL&inq_doc_number=F06000001390&inq_came_from=NAMFWD&cor_web_names_seq_number=0000&names_name_ind=N&names_cor_number=&names_name_seq=&names_name_ind=&names_comp_name=CHRISTIANCONGREGATIONJEHOVAHSW&names_filing_type=
- ^ Our Kingdom Ministry, September 2005, page 1
- ^ The Watchtower, January 15, 2001, page 14-15
- ^ The Watchtower, July 15, 2006, page 20
- ^ Awake!, June 2006, page 19
- ^ The Watchtower, April 1, 2007, page 25
- ^ The Watchtower, August 1, 2004, page 6
- ^ Awake!, January 22, 2005, page 21
- ^ Awake!, June 8, 2002, page 11
- ^ Our Kingdom Ministry brochure, distributed by Watchtower only to active Jehovah's Witnesses, January 2002, page 7.
- ^ Newsday.com article
- ^ NY State document library
[edit] See also
- Organizational Structure of Jehovah's Witnesses
- Beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses
- List of Watchtower publications
