Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Gilead School in Patterson, New York, Trains Students from 29 Countries, Funded by Donations

The Watchtower Bible School of Gilead is held each year at the Watchtower Educational Center in Patterson, New York, and invites a number of special full-time servants from around the world. According to the source, students learn how to be more effective in their assignments within Jehovah’s organization. The training is described as helping to strengthen and stabilize congregations and branch organizations around the globe.

The school is international in scope. The source states that the 147th class, held in 2019, had 56 students from 29 countries. Students who attend have served in some form of special full-time service, including as Bethelites, circuit overseers, missionaries, or special pioneers.

The source describes preparations that begin well before classes start. The World Headquarters Travel Department, known as WHQ Travel, purchases flights for those invited. For the 147th class, the average cost of getting each foreign student to and from Patterson was $1,075 (U.S.). The source gives the example of students from the Solomon Islands, who took four flights to reach Patterson and three more to return home, a total of over 35,400 kilometers (22,000 miles), at a cost of $2,300 (U.S.) per student. To conserve costs, WHQ Travel uses a computer booking tool to find reasonably priced tickets, and the program continues checking for weeks or months to see whether prices fall. The department also uses donated airline credits and mileage to obtain tickets. Careful use of donated funds reflects faithful stewardship (Luke 12:48).

Many students need visas to enter the United States, and the World Headquarters Legal Department helps them obtain student visas. The source states that visa and registration fees cost an average of $510 (U.S.) per student.

The source also includes comments from members about the training’s effect on their congregations. Hendra Gunawan, who serves as an elder in Southeast Asia, says his congregation, which includes a married couple who graduated from Gilead, previously had no regular pioneers. He says the graduates’ “zealous and willing spirit” spread to others, who then decided to start pioneering, and that one sister in the congregation later attended the School for Kingdom Evangelizers.

Sergio Panjaitan, who works alongside Gilead graduates at a Bethel in Southeast Asia, says the training has been a blessing to the graduates and to his own group. He says the graduates share what they learned rather than trying to stand out because of it, which he describes as creating a “ripple effect of spiritual encouragement.”

According to the source, the school is funded by donations to the worldwide work, many of which are made through methods listed at donate.jw.org. A footnote states that the school’s curriculum is developed and maintained by the Theocratic Schools Department under the direction of the Teaching Committee of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The school is taught by instructors from that department as well as guest instructors, including members of the Governing Body.

Source: Read the original report