Watchtower Bible School of Gilead

Watchtower Bible School of Gilead is the formal name of the missionary school of Jehovah's Witnesses, typically referred to simply as Gilead or Gilead School. Gilead is the flagship school at the Watchtower Educational Center at Patterson, New York, USA.

In 1942, Nathan H. Knorr, then president of the Watchtower Society, proposed the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead as an opportunity to expand their global preaching efforts. Originally intended as a temporary program, the first class began on February 1, 1943. No tuition was to be charged. Five months later, graduating students began to move out to their assignments in nine Latin-American countries, including Cuba. As early as 1956, graduates were serving "in about a hundred different lands".

Gilead School has held classes at several of the facilities operated by the Watchtower Society:

As of 2014, Gilead has trained 136 classes. In 2008, Gilead School surpassed 8000 students.Encyclopædia Britannica notes that Gilead was intended to train "missionaries and leaders"; two current members of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses are Gilead graduates, as were four deceased members.

In 1987, an ancillary 8½ week Bible School for Single Brothers was introduced for single elders and ministerial servants (their term for deacons). A similar Bible School for Christian Couples was introduced in 2010 for wives to attend with their husbands.

Theology lecturer George D. Chryssides writes that the initial Gilead syllabus was "described as the Advanced Course in Theocratic Ministry"; within months the program led to "similar training" in congregations as the Theocratic Ministry School. Female Witnesses could enroll in Gilead school and present talks since its inception in 1943, but could not enroll in congregation schools until 1959.

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