Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses

The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the ruling council of Jehovah’s Witnesses based in Brooklyn, New York. The body formulates doctrines, oversees the production of written material for publications and conventions, and administers the group’s worldwide operations. Official publications refer to members of the Governing Body as followers of Christ rather than religious leaders.

Its size has varied, from seven (2014–present) to eighteen (1974–1980) members. New members of the Governing Body are selected by existing members.

Since its incorporation in 1884, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania has been directed by a president and board of directors. Until January 1976, the president exercised complete control of doctrines, publications and activities of the Watch Tower Society and the religious denominations with which it was connected—the Bible Students and Jehovah’s Witnesses. When the Society’s second president, J. F. Rutherford, encountered opposition from directors in 1917, he dismissed them. In 1925 he overruled the Watch Tower Society’s editorial committee when it opposed publication of an article about disputed doctrines regarding the year 1914. In 1931, the editorial committee was dissolved.

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Keywords: 1914, Charles Taze Russell, Russell, Charles Tazz Russell, JW, Jehovah, Jehovah's Witness, Jehovah witnesses, Jehovah's witnesses, Watchtower, Watchtower organization, world translation, Student movement, Rutherford, Judge Rutherford, Watchtower society

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