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Clergy and leadership

Jehovah's Witnesses have no professional clergy, so there is no distinction between clergy and lay people. All baptised members are considered ordained ministers.

All members take on the missionary work of telling outsiders about Witness beliefs. Witnesses are trained from their youth to work as part-time missionaries for the whole of their lives. Witnesses believe that the first-century Christian congregation was primarily a preaching organisation, and they try to follow that example.

Local communities

Jehovah's Witness local congregations generally have fewer than 200 members each. Most Witnesses attend the Kingdom Hall closest to their home. Often, several congregations share a single Kingdom Hall by alternating meeting times.

Religion occupies much of the time of each Witness. They attend meetings regularly, and read and study their faith intensely, both on their own and in home groups.

Local organisation

Congregations are led by a body of "elders", who are men chosen on the recommendation of local elders based on Scriptural qualifications, and appointed by the Governing Body as their direct representatives in the local congregation.

This is not as autocratic as it may sound because there are multiple leadership roles in local communities; regular turnover ensures that many members get to play a part in leading the community.

Copies of Watchtower magazine. Photo: Joseph Yarrow ©

District organisation

About 20 congregations make up a circuit and are supervised by a circuit overseer, who will visit the congregations twice each year, on average, and take part in the recommendation of new elders and other matters.

About ten circuits make up a district and are managed by a district overseer who could be responsible for the spiritual welfare of up to 40,000 people.

National organisation

The national headquarters for each country is called the Bethel. Volunteers both live and work in the Bethel, publishing and printing the organisation's books and magazines. There are about 500 people living and working in the Bethel in London and over 5,000 in the New York Bethel.

Movement leadership

Jehovah's Witnesses have a tradition of obedience to a strong central leadership for the movement as a whole. They see this as entirely logical.

The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society - one of a number of corporate entities that Jehovah's Witnesses use to accomplish their ministry - is controlled by the Governing Body, which Witnesses believe is commissioned by Jehovah (i.e. by God).

The Governing Body of the movement currently has 12 members, and concentrates on Bible doctrine, evangelising, and pastoral care.

In 2000 the Witnesses set up three additional non-profit corporations in the United States to take over much of the business and administrative work of the movement, and free the Governing Body to concentrate more on spiritual matters.

These corporations are

• Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, which deals with religious and educational issues
• Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses, which deals with full-time workers
• Kingdom Support Services, Inc, which dealings with buildings and vehicles

The headquarters in New York gives instructions or 'directives' to the ordinary publishers (members) through letters to the elders, through their publications, through regular assemblies at circuit level, and through the conventions held every summer around the world.

The Watchtower

The Watchtower is the Witnesses' magazine and the primary Bible study aid for members of the faith. It contains a great deal of doctrinal content.

It is published in 152 languages in either semi-monthly or monthly editions and has an average printing of 27 million, giving it the largest circulation of any religious magazine in the world. (As of January 15, 2006 edition)

The Watch Tower Society also publishes spiritual works in over 400 languages (including more than 122 million copies of the Bible in 45 languages) and calls on the services of more than 1,950 volunteers to assist with translation worldwide.

Find out more

• History of Jehovah's Witnesses