Letter to All Bodies of Elders, 1999-07-01: Kingdom Hall literature inventory arrangement
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July 1, 1999
TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS IN THE UNITED STATES
Re: Kingdom Hall Literature Inventory Arrangement
Dear Brothers:
We are pleased to inform you of a new method of requesting and maintaining literature inventory in your Kingdom Hall. The purpose of this new arrangement is fourfold: (1) to reduce inventory in the congregations, (2) to simplify, (3) to save space in Kingdom Halls, and (4) to provide better oversight of our literature.
The basic concept is that congregations that share the use of a Kingdom Hall will also share a common supply of literature. This will mean that only one congregation for each Kingdom Hall, referred to as the coordinating congregation, will send monthly literature requests to the Society, instead of each congregation sending its own. This arrangement will also apply to different language congregations meeting in the same Kingdom Hall. In a multiple Kingdom Hall complex, congregations using the same auditorium will share literature inventory. Note that at this time the arrangement applies to literature only, not to shipments of Our Kingdom Ministry or magazines.
The presiding overseer, or another member of the service committee, of each congregation sharing your Kingdom Hall (or auditorium in a multiple Kingdom Hall complex) should meet together to decide which congregation will serve as the coordinating congregation. They should also appoint a capable, reliable brother with organizational abilities and good communication skills from the coordinating congregation to serve as the literature coordinator. He should be an elder or a well-qualified ministerial servant. It will be helpful if the coordinator has some experience working with congregation literature, but it is not necessary that he be one of the current literature servants. An assistant literature coordinator should also be appointed so that there is a capable backup.
Once the literature coordinator and his assistant have been selected, they along with the literature servants from each of the congregations involved should meet with the representatives of the Congregation Service Committees. At that time, this letter and the enclosed instructions should be read and discussed thoroughly to work out the details of this new procedure. This arrangement will go into effect on September 1, 1999. Therefore, please follow through on these instructions diligently.
As noted in the instructions, an arrangement must be in place so that literature can be opened and distributed as soon as possible after it is received. Therefore, it may be necessary for the literature coordinator to train the literature servants in the other congregations to handle incoming literature shipments properly. Two updated copies of the Watchtower Literature Request Guide (S(d)-15a) are provided. Please discard previous copies and follow the instructions outlined in the Introduction of this revised guide.
If your congregation does not share the Kingdom Hall with another congregation, the arrangement for selecting a coordinating congregation and appointing a literature coordinator will not apply to you. However, the matter of taking a monthly inventory count, using the revised forms that are enclosed, and discontinuing the use of the Literature Check Sheet (S(d)-61) applies to all congregations. If in the future your circumstances change because another congregation begins sharing your Kingdom Hall, the entire arrangement should be followed as outlined in the opening paragraphs of this letter.
We trust that all congregations will cooperate closely in this new system of literature distribution, as they have already been in sharing Kingdom Halls, mortgages, cleaning and maintenance, and so forth. This will result in a more efficient oversight of literature inventory and in substantial savings for the Society.
Be assured of our appreciation for your cooperation in implementing this new arrangement. We send you our warm Christian love and best wishes.
Your brothers,
Watchtower B. V. S. Society OF NEW YORK, INC.
Enclosures
P. S. to the presiding overseer: A brief meeting of the body of elders should be arranged to read this letter. However, it is not necessary to read to the body of elders the "Kingdom Hall Literature Inventory Instructions."