Organizational Structure of Jehovah's Witnesses - Traveling Overseers

Traveling Overseers

Jehovah's Witnesses use the term traveling overseer to refer to either a zone, circuit or district overseer. All overseers are elders; zone, district and circuit overseers are directly appointed by the Governing Body. A branch may appoint any local elder as a "temporary" or "substitute" circuit overseer; circuit overseers typically perform such substitute assignments for several years before receiving a regular appointment. Additional training is provided at their School for Traveling Overseers, and ongoing pastoral care is provided to them by typically elderly former traveling overseers. In 1995, Witnesses reported that 4374 district and circuit overseers cared for 78,620 congregations, an average of about 18 congregations each.

The majority of traveling overseers are circuit overseers; they oversee circuits of about twenty congregations, performing twice-yearly week-long visits with each. During his visit, the circuit overseer delivers talks to the congregation and meets with the elders, ministerial servants and pioneers. He typically works with various members of the congregation in the house-to-house preaching work, and may also conduct personal Bible studies and pastoral calls. District overseers are appointed to oversee a number of circuits; his responsibilities include spending a week with the circuit overseer of each circuit, and teaching students of the Watch Tower Society's Bible School for Single Brothers. District overseers have a large role in planning and presenting circuit assemblies. A district overseer may also care for a small circuit, and a circuit overseer may occasionally serve as a district overseer.

Jehovah's Witnesses are instructed to "participate in a joyful interchange of encouragement" with traveling overseers, and to render them "double honor", a biblical term they believe includes cooperation and hospitality. Traveling overseers are generally members of a religious order who have taken a vow of poverty; they are provided with vehicles, healthcare, and lodging, and their expenses are reimbursed by the branch office. Congregations are encouraged to contribute to a specific fund for that purpose.