Posted by Amazing [Anointed] on November 24, 1999 at 12:00:36 {BlpRHB6gpcgU8XyG8q46ASIIcexUto}:
To Active Cong Elders:
A thread below about a cong breaking away from the Society resulted in threads about elders resigning or being deleted. Because of the way many of these are handled, needless rumors get started about an elder who may have done no wrong.
Example: In one cong where I served we had an MS who resigned for personal reasons. His resignation / deletion announcement was withheld for nearly 6 months. In the meantime another brother was privately reproved for child abuse and possible molestation. The elders liked this brother and did not want to disfellowship him or report him to the Authorities.
The evening they read the announcement about the deletion of the MS I mentioned, they gave a special service meeting talk on the wickedness of abuse and molestation. The cong then associated the deletion of the MS with the sins of the other brother privately reproved for the sinful conduct. This connection resulted in such heavy handed rumors that the MS eventually left the org.
Moral of the story is, if you want to keep brothers in the org and not stumble them or wrongly ruin their reputations, then be please be wise in how you handle announcements and special talks about wrong conduct.
Just a suggestion - Simply Amazing