It is almost an unspoken phenomenon in church life.
Three decades ago, over nine of ten churches with a congregational government had a monthly business meeting. Several non-congregational churches had monthly business meetings as well.
Today, less than one-third of American Protestant churches have these monthly meetings. That is an incredible decline hardly noted by many pundits.
The monthly church business meeting is dying.
Why?
- The meeting often attracts the most negative members in the church. It becomes their place for griping and criticizing. One elder told me his church’s monthly business meeting was “the meeting from hell.”
- The negative church members have pushed the positive members out of the meetings. Healthy church members have no desire to be a part of a gripe and complain session. Most of them who do attend do so to protect the pastor and the staff.
- The frequency of the meeting leads to micromanagement. There is typically not sufficient major business to discuss every month. So the void is filled with discussions and complaints of minutiae. One monthly church meeting lasted over an hour due to disagreements regarding the quality and cost of toilet tissue in the restrooms.
- This meeting has become one of the most dreaded times for many pastors. These pastors certainly do not demonstrate excitement and anticipation in most cases. Church members typically will not follow unless leaders are enthused.
- The Millennials abhor contentious meetings. The monthly meeting thus has become one of the ways to drive off many young adults.
- The meeting often allows a few naysayers to have inordinate power. Frankly, that’s why many of them attend. A church members seeking power is a church member in need of repentance.
- The monthly business meeting is simply not necessary. It is a waste of the precious resource of time. If there is a need for the church to tend to a major issue, special meetings can always be called.
The monthly church meeting is dying.
And few tears are being shed.
Let me hear your thoughts.
Thom, do you have any suggestions for leading a church away from monthly business meetings?
Nathan –
The answer to major change in a church is not simple. If you can wait until June, I have a new book coming out on leading your church to change. I think it will answer your question in detail. If you remind me then, I will send you a complimentary signed copy.
Wow! Absolutely. Thanks so much!
Nathan – we actually rebranded our monthly business meeting and call it our “Church Council”. We use this time for ministry leads to provide an update/report/questions. We have a specific agenda for the ministry leads in each area of the Church to provide a report if available. If there are no agenda items, we don’t meet. Toilet paper discussions do no happen, those go to the trustees.
We, as a family, made the decision to do quarterly “Family Meetings” to discuss the State of The Church” in which we covered every aspect of the Ministry (business) of the Church, evaluating ourselves in every function within the Ministry ( from giving to witnessing to growth.
The concept of being a Family Meeting has eliminated the negativity and power struggles.
Definitely interested in this book. Will you post or email when available?
I am definitely interested to have one of this book Pastor Thom. Our church need this book today.
Haha, you beat me to it, man.
Nathan, I did this early on at my new church. I thought it would be tricky because in truth the monthly meeting is enshrined into our constitution. I gave the church a reason for change-namely, the meeting hindered spiritual momentum because we held it in liu of Sunday night service. The only question that was raised was 1) what if something comes up. Answer was obvious; we have a special called meeting. One lady said something about the constitution but no one listened to her or responded. It was a unanimous vote to “try out quarterly meetings”. We have been trying them out for 15 months. No one has complained.
Also makes easier for clergy to take over and keep congregation in the dark.
Our has always had meetings as needed rather than monthly. As a result on business is discussed. To date our longest business meeting lasted only seven minutes.
That is a great reflection of trust and unity in the church, Douglas.
Our church has always had meetings as needed rather than monthly. As a result only business is discussed. To date our longest business meeting lasted only seven minutes.
I have reading this blog for awhile and I realize really that the majority of the problems that are identified and addressed here are really the symptoms of one main problem that the church refuses to address or will never admit, that is the fact that the church worldwide across all denominations are dying spiritually and as a result dwindling in numbers and not making any spiritual impact on the culture and society.
Take this article for example. I would suspect that church committee meetings 50 or even 30 years ago would be dominated by well-intentioned members who genuinely like to help improve the church. The fact that the most of them are the most negative members today is not something has changed in the nature of committees and committee meetings, but rather the general spiritual state of the church has declined resulting in a low level of spiritual life of the members. Just like people get the government they deserve, a church gets the committee it deserves.
I have enjoyed coming to websites like this and I find it useful, but spiritual problems ultimately cannot be solved by church growth solutions. And until Christian leaders like yourself admit that low spirituality and lack of life transformations are happening all across of the world resulting from a lack of the presence of God, then the problem will remain.
If you genuinely want ideas, as seemed to be the case long ago, then have a meeting periodically and solicit them. However today, it seems like ideas are neither wanted nor appreciated. I think a lot of the people who are accused of being the most negative are the ones who had their ideas shot down but are trying to get the committee to consider anything they offer or even tell them why their idea was so bad.
Perfect! May be the problem not is exactly the meetings…
hello
i have been involved in monthly church “business meetings for more than 35 years . i have experienced both routine financial reports as well as deep doctrinal discussions and individual member disputes i do support the need for continued meetings whether monthly or quarterly does not concern me what does is a quote from an old elder that has stuck with me through life ” the church is the highest tribunal on earth” the Gospel steps advice given by the scriptures for members who have conflicts between one another to “take it to the church ” leads me to believe that the business meeting should inspire the church members to look to no other authority other than the majority consensuses and advice of the body of the church. it is the pastor who sets the tone of these meetings which can be a very useful tool in teaching especially young converts to rely on the church system of government rather than the ” law of the unjust ” to settle their problems. i am afraid if we begin to abandon this time proven method of church discipline that we risk losing the importance of church in all aspects of our every day life. many churches teach that your personal life and your church life are separate we should strive to teach that there is no other life other than being a member of that one body in particular. . church business meetings can be a great vehicle for teaching if governed by a spiritual pastor .
Jim, tell us more about this “lack of the presence of God” that you mention. Is God any less present today? Is this a result of, as you say; God’s followers are not as spiritually transformed? How are you measuring all this? Are you assuming a cause? Seems pretty subjective.
I think God is as active in the world as ever. One might also say that since there is less social pressure to conform to a set of “fundamentals” God’s children are free to express the Spirits genuine activity in their lives in equally genuine, albeit non-traditional ways. It is also true that we are also more socially free to rebel from the institution that held so many in tight dogmatic boxes. This surely takes both positive and negative forms. IMHO the country and the world is NOT going to hell in a handbasket. We are slowly seeking universal human rights and dignity and creating the Kingdom of God here on earth. The Trumps of this world are just loud because they feel threatened.
I wholeheartedly agree with your points here. I have served in a few churches that held these monthly meetings. The worst was when I pastored a church. There was a 20-minute discussion over what to do since Sunday School attendance pins were no longer available. Business meeting night was a great opportunity for those who did not normally attend on Wednesday nights to let their voice be heard. I am glad churches are seeing the light on this subject, and I’m praying more will.
I must be blessed for the last 18 years we have had monthly business meetings they are short and to the point and very Christ like with love shown for each other and the business to care for our Lord’s work. I always bring a short message before each meeting.
For us monthly meetings in the country works. I know nothing about big city churches.
We have quarterly meetings that are normally quick and thoughtful–rarely lasting more than fifteen to twenty minutes. The “business” of the church is carried on through committees and staff members-mostly we trust each other. A church is a family and should never have “ugly” meetings. You should never say anything to a church member you wouldn’t say to your mother!
Have you listened to the way people talk to their mother’s now days?
Amen brother! I echo your response.
Given these reasons that you’ve shared, do you think that it’s healthier for a church to transitional out of the traditional business meeting format? And what might be a better way to lead through that while still allowing members to feel that they are heard?
Spot on Thom!
Dr. Rainer,
In the last 5 years that I have been pastor of LBC, we have twice addressed this issue with no success (as of yet!!) to make the switch.
We continue to have monthly business meetings, which is now in its 61st year of “how things are done”.
However, this meeting that once was 25 strong 5 years ago, is now struggling to see 15 who participate. This is evident to all, and has raised some concern by a few.
To me, the obvious is disheartening, but reality. Micromanagement, lack of trust, lack of excitement, and worse yet…lack of authority in those appointed to serve the congregation has become the norm.
Though our meetings are respectful in tone, and character, the underlying, silent “health concerns ” still abound.
Pray for us.
Comments # 1, #2 and #6 do not have to be a reality in every church. We’ve refused to allow those “Negative Nancys” and “Negative Nates” to dominate or to commandeer the opportunities to reveal ministry challenges or to revel in ministry celebrations. If the elder/leaders will set the tone, then #4 doesn’t have to be the result. As pastor, I have to possess the courage to lead according to the mantra “What does the text say?”
I don’t censor everything the “Negative Nancys” and “Negative Nates” share because they may just expose a leadership weakness or ministry opportunity that needs addressing. But I don’t give them a format where they can selfishly manipulate the direction of the church’s purpose – “to make disciples.” If such control agents are not allowed to dominate the meetings, then they often cease attending when their fleshly agendas are not considered by the elders/leaders and church body.
Excellent points! Business meetings are necessary evils, I suppose. My least favorite thing about ministry.
I abhor business meetings. I pastor a small, country church (which are usually known for their long, detailed, and boring monthly business meetings). A few years ago we implemented a new budgeting process, and moved our business meetings to quarterly. Since doing that, our longest business meeting has been 6 minutes. It has made my life much happier!
We use business meetings as an opportunity for fellowship including sandwiches and deserts. This mitigates some of the time wasting. My biggest gripe at our meetings is reading the minutes from the last meeting. It’s tedious enough to deal with the current agenda without having to rehash the last agenda.
Print last month’s minutes and move that they be accepted as printed. Reading minutes is a killer.
H$
Thom,
Just to clarify – these monthly meetings of which you write are general “congregational” meetings and not boards or councils, correct? The church board or council still meet monthly, correct?
Another question: what is your read on how many congregations have adopted some form of “policy-based” governance?
Dan
Dan –
You are correct. I am referring to general congregational meetings. I don’t know the answer to the second question.
I remember telling my wife that boring business meetings (with no fighting, etc.) are usually a sign of a healthy church.
LOL
I feel when there is TRUST in the leadership – a church can forego the business mtg. I’ve been in a church where there was NO trust – and the business meetings were even “staged” to prove “all is well.” Painful to say the least when we knew the “real story.” Currently, in a church where the leadership from the Pastor down is trustworthy, has the best for the church in their hearts and actions. So there is no concern and everyone relaxes in that. When we’re together it’s time for prayer, worship and the Word. Not the “word” from trouble makers. (As far back as my childhood, I recall those “scary business meetings.” So I’m grateful NOT to have them anymore.
As Baptists, we strongly believe in congregational polity, but that has to come mean only one thing for most people, that is the business meeting where they get to debate and vote. But we need to teach and disciple church members on a better understanding of congregational polity and that the most important element of that is not in the business meeting, but what happens before the business meeting where church members serve in their area of giftedness in ministry areas and on ministry teams and committees and have opportunities to make decisions based on approved ministry plans and budgets. Then we only need a few business meetings a year, to approve ministry plans and budgets and for any special needs. The rest of the time can be reporting and celebration and fellowship based on what God is doing in our ministries.
In 2007 we considered several amendments to our Bylaws that were sorely needed. Many were voted down. One I was able to get passed allowed for us to change the time and frequency of the business meeting. Unfortunately, the older members still have not relinquished the monthly meeting, which interrupts ongoing studies and are a total waste of time. Most months we have only the regular reports from standing committees and ministry teams along with the minutes and monthly financial report – all of which could easily be printed and made available on a monthly basis without the need for a meeting. Very seldom do we have actual business items to be considered. The biggest barrier to eliminate the monthly meeting and going to a quarterly or semi-annual meeting is the attitude of the long-term members that this is how Baptists do church governance. It is the “seven last words of the church” ruling – We’ve always done it this way before!
We did away with monthly business meetings years ago. We now have quarterly business meetings and do so after our Wed. evening activities. We have to have a quorum of at least 20 people present. The meetings last less than 10 minutes and most of that is me encouraging or bragging on a ministry. I am working on getting to an agenda based business meeting which will prevent random things from being brought up – although that has not been a problem . The longest business meeting we have is when we respond to questions about the budget. My thoughts are this: If the church approves a budget once a year – the staff and ministry leaders are bound to work within the budget – that takes a lot of need for monthly meetings out of the way. I call special business meetings from time to time to vote on staff; or other issues such as major renovations to buildings and etc. I have learned this when presenting something major: do your home work; get a team of laymen to write out the reasoning and resent it to the church; and get it done asap. Also, the church voting on certain things is a good thing – I would rather say, “This is the policy of the church, I have to carry it out” rather than, “This is just the way we do things.”
I suppose I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been in Baptist (non-SBC) churches all of my ministerial career (over 30 years) and I’ve never had to endure monthly meetings. For a good portion of my career, I was on the West Coast where things seem to be a bit more progressive. My experience has always been quarterly meetings and, generally speaking, they’re non-events, short, and somewhat tedious. Occasionally, we have a real issue that we need to deal with. Though I’m not a fan of these meetings, they do keep people updated with financials and any other initiatives the leadership is considering.
If you are “stuck” with monthly meetings, some in the comments have suggested reframing them as congregational ministry updates…in other words, frame them spiritually rather than as a “business meeting.” The church is not a business, but a Spirit-empowered enterprise. These meetings are difficult because Jesus doesn’t get a vote. In many places, he may not even attend!
Thanks for this post. I wasn’t aware that so many were still having monthly meetings.
Over a period of time, our church transitioned from monthly business meetings to now only an annual business meeting (to discuss the proposed budget for the year to come) plus occasional called business meetings to deal with specific needs. This change happened primarily when we stopped doing Sunday night worship services; small groups began on Sunday nights instead. (This had been the time we did our monthly business meetings.) I have to say, it’s so much less stressful to not do monthly meetings. And now to stir the pot a bit, at some point it occurred to me that while many churches come from a tradition of voting on things–lots of things–to make church decisions, there is not a single example of a New Testament church making any decision by a congregational vote. So why do so many of our churches choose to vote on things to make decisions? My guess would be that we are more influenced by our American culture than we are by the example of Scripture. Thoughts?
“Stir the pot,” Joe? You must be a bit “touched” to post such an observation on a Baptist blog! (Smile here…) I’m somewhat of the same mind as you. Though a life-long committed Baptist, I favor a church polity “ruled” by a group (plurality) of spiritual leaders. Whether you call them “elders” or “deacons” is not as important as their character qualities. (I Timothy 3:1-7) I do prefer the term, “elder,” because I believe it is more descriptive of the role they serve and the accountability/burden they carry.
I remember back in the 70’s when Gene Getz was introducing the concept of elder-leadership to congregational churches. A number of churches adopted elder rule and quickly split the church. The primary reason, it seemed to me, was because the elders didn’t listen to the people. The people lost their voice and their power and it was quite divisive.
In several places when major decisions had to be made in the Book of Acts (Chapters 6 & 15, among others), Luke records the phrase, “it seemed good to the people.” Now, I don’t believe they took a vote, but they found a way to build consensus. In a democratic culture like ours, voting is the primary way to build consensus and I don’t find it contrary to the New Testament. In America, its culturally sensitive. Those churches that split when they went to elder rule failed to set up a structure to hear the people and build consensus. I don’t think “elder rule” and “congregational rule” are necessarily exclusive to each other. There is a way to have spiritual leadership that leads the people in consensus.
If you want to get Baptists going, Dr. Rainer, put up a post on governance. That might be very interesting!
Am an Associate Pastor of a church around 600 and we have gone to having business meetings every 3 months. This has been a huge blessing to the staff and still gives the congregation a opportunity to be involved in the business of the church. We typically hold them on Wednesday nights and they only last about 15 minutes. Each staff individual develops a page of things that have happened in their ministries in the past 3 months and every member gets a copy of the staffs pages.
Some change requires thought and process. Several years ago when I approached the church about changing our monthly format to something more productive, we discovered that our church constitution required a monthly business meeting. We made a change to the constitution that reads the church “will hold at least one business meeting during the calendar year.” This change allows us to hold business meetings as often or as infrequently as is necessary. It recognizes that we need to address some things (like church budget) at least annually, but frees us up to use our time more wisely. As a rule of thumb, we schedule a business meeting at least once a quarter now, but we could easily add more or reduce the number when there are major issues to address. With this wording we also would not be required to re-write the constitution again if the leadership and congregation decided that we should have monthly business meetings again at a later date.
It is up to each organization to interpret their own bylaws, but I see potential problems. For one, it isn’t clear when this meeting will be. For another, it seems that the church is afraid to change the bylaws. Bylaws aren’t intended to be set in stone. When an organization is afraid to change their bylaws, they start looking for loopholes in their bylaws, and that can make it difficult for people to know what is going on.
I think church size makes a big difference. I grew up in a small church. We were small enough that the whole church participated in the same conversation before each worship service. We had monthly business meetings. Somehow we had enough business for them to last about an hour, but we seldom had committees and any complaints would’ve already been voiced. I’m now in a church that is several times that size and our business meetings take less time. Most things are handled by the church staff, the deacons, or various committees. We get a few grumblers, from time to time, but not often. We’ve gone to quarterly meetings, so a business meetings are longer than when they were monthly. In a large church, I don’t think it would be possible for the church to function if individuals, committees, and boards were not authorized to make decisions between church business meetings. But I see church business meetings as a means to inform church members and to hold church leadership accountable. Good leadership has nothing to fear about being held accountable. Bad leadership that isn’t held accountable can ruin a church.
I am assuming your post has to do with governing board meetings, not general membership meetings. Our parish by-laws require the vestry (Episcopal Church governing board) to meet every month and so the practice continues; these are open meetings to which members of the congregation are welcome. Ours have not suffered any of the negativity that you detail, in part because we have intentionally moved away from “micromanagent” of church business.
Our meetings start with prayer and bible study. Lessons from the Daily Office Lectionary are chosen and each month our two principal questions are: How does this passage speak to you as an individual leader in the church? How does this passage speak to us as a leadership team? We also ask each member to share “where they have seen God” in the past month. After that each month one member of the vestry shares a part of his or her personal spiritual story.
Then we quickly dispatch the minutes of the past meeting and the monthly financial statements (which are circulated well ahead of time so questions can be addressed by the treasurer and staff before the meeting). Vestry members with particular oversight of on-going ministries or projects give highlight reports, as needed.
And then we move into a “leadership school” in which we discuss either a book we are reading together or an article on church ministry and leadership that has been circulated for the members to read. (Sometimes even an article by Thom Rainer!)
We conclude with a sharing of prayer concerns and requests, both personal and pastoral, and a prayer (usually the Our Father). Our meetings last no more than two hours.
This format has allowed us to focus on the leadership team’s role as exemplars of spiritual formation and mutual ministry. It has done a good deal to do away with any sense that the meeting is time for airing of complaints and negativity, focusing instead on the work of the Holy Spirit in our church. I recommend it to any governing board.
You are correct. Thank you!
We didn’t struggle with this at all. Starting with the meeting during the month ending our fiscal year, we simply changed to quarterly meetings. Nobody even noticed, and if they did call the office to check, they were simply told that quarterly was enough.
I think it was announced at the last monthly meeting, to no objections.
I believe our church stopped worrying about upsetting those who were looking for things to be upset about. That may be because we have a lot of old members who are happy. I know, since I’m one of them.
The whole SBC only meets once a year, fer cryin’ out loud ….
Most every comment from all pastors are about how distasteful the meetings are .very little about actually solving problems.my solution for all pastors is to remove themselves and leave all business to be chaired by the chairman of deacons or finance committee .the truth a of the matter is that most pastors do not Want give up control .
Biblically, pastors ARE to have control. Biblically, there are no “Chairman” of deacons…and deacons are to serve the Body by taking care of widows, orphans, etc. Giving control to anyone but called Pastor/Bishop/Elders is one of the major problems in many churches today. I can’t recall from scripture, a congregation voting on anything.
Oof. The polity downgrade continues at full speed. I’m not saying monthly meetings are required (we have many more tools today to communicate). But a religious assembly that never makes decisions together is more like a theater audience, not a church.
Consider that, in Acts 6, the Apostles handed back the work of the counting table, not waitressing, to the Congregation. The Congregation then selected Deacons somehow — probably voting. Those leaders had seen Jesus cleanse the Temple, and heard him caution against the religious leaders who devoured widows’ houses and mites. Luke 20:45 – 21:4. They wanted out of the money business, in order to advance the gospel.
And that feeling survived generations, especially in Baptist reformed churches. As far as I can tell, Spurgeon preached until his Deacons were persuaded to expand his building. He did not demand his Deacons give him control of church finances and ministry.
In addition to being Biblical, church member meetings are a way to disciple believers about Biblical, group decision-making. Especially about leadership and money issues.
Is it absolutely efficient? No, sanctification is rarely efficient. But given today’s polls, I can’t help but think American Christians could use that discipling regularly and more often, not less.
Amen!
You sir are very ignorant and judgmental. You’re judging people You have never met and you are judging their motives. May God help you.
After reading most of these replies it seems the overwhelming theme is to make sure the church staff is happy and they don’t want to be accountable to their churches. Having been an active member of a SBC for over forty years I don’t think members really care how often business meeting are held or when they are held. They just want to be informed as to what is going on in the church ministries or how monies or spent.
I don’t like to hear from a non-member what has happened or going on in my church, and that has happened to me on a few occasions. So if this happens someone in regular church attendance of all services how are we suppose to react. I love my church family, but I also want to feel a part of this family.
Another reason why I’m Presbyterian and not a Congregationalist.
Last year we amended ALL of our By-Laws which included monthly business meetings. We now meet quarterly and the meetings are called “Church Conference”. Names and titles carry great significance. We “conference” now, instead of “doing business”. Semantics? Yes – but it works! Our “By-Laws Nazi” voted against it; but he voted against most every amendment (usually all alone). We are also working toward leading the church to the place where all the church votes on are 4 things: (1) The Pastor of the Church; (2) Those who will serve as Deacons; (3) Those who will serve on committees; (4) the church budget. We are not quite there – but close. Of course, anything of a major decision (relocation, new buildings, etc…) will require and include church approval.
If a church has good vision, all actions should support the vision. Finances are only a vehicle to accomplish the vision.
Trust your deacons and don’t micromanage.
Take the time to work out issues in committees and other gatherings, not in the business meetings.
Pray for miracles. God may surprise you.
I have never attended a men’s business meeting and walked away thinking that my attendance was a great use of my time. More often, I felt like I was in a group of men who had “no business” trying to meet.
I haven’t read these comments, but years ago we went to quarterly business meetings for the very reasons you mentioned. There are times that you seem to have multiple called meetings, but overall it’s much better than monthly business meetings. We left this particular church and came back after 10 years. Haven’t caught up yet, but in this past year they went from May 2015 until January without a business meeting.
Does this refer to meetings the whole congregation and/or membership are invited to or a leadership meeting?
I’ve proposed quarterly or less meetings, but our board seems to be under the impression the state requires it, no matter how much I say otherwise.
Tom, when is your new book coming out and where can it be purchased on changing the church?
The book will be out in June. It can be purchased at LifeWay or any place that sells Christian books like CBD or Amazon.
I have seen things go on in church business meeting that should never have happened inside a church building. We are the body of Christ, and the Lord calls and commands us to love one another. Name calling, yelling at each other, and putting the pastor on public trial are the opposite of Christ’s command that we love one another. Monthly business meetings, or BM’s as I like to call them, are the bane of church life.
All of your observations are spot on – thanks for bringing this issue out into the light.
Nathan Rose asked about suggestions to move away from the monthly meeting. I’ve seen a well-organized church council go a long way toward managing the negative issues listed in the article and possibly making the church-wide business meeting unnecessary. The church council I sat on meet one week ahead of the scheduled business meeting so the leadership had pretty much had the discussions and made all important decisions and the congregational meeting was a formality. Unless something major were to come up, that full meeting could have been done away with completely.
The more my church has done away with our church business meeting, the more it has begun to seem like a . . . a cult of personality. Older members do not feel wanted and attend less and less. The church is governed by a little group of members who seem very concerned with stroking the pastor’s ego. He’s a pretty good guy, but watching this ego-stroking little cadre is a little sickening.
I believe that business meetings are a sign of the health of the church. If business meetings have become sick, then identify the problem and work to fix it. Don’t simply do away with business meetings, so that you don’t have to hear how sick the church has become.
The church is not a business, it’s a family. However, there is a business life to the church. When it’s time for us to do business we should set a biblical example for how business should be done. Because of the practice of Scriptural principles, the church should be so good at business that the business world stops to notice and is compelled to imitate our practice.
Keys to a good business meeting:
1. A great system that clearly defines when you meet, for what purpose, the matters you vote on, and why. Suggestion – vote on core matters (staffing, budget, disposition of land, etc…), empower leaders and volunteers to make decisions about secondary matters or preferences.
2. Periodic, but not frequent. Quarterly or less is often enough.
3. Minimal discussion. This is only possible if you possible if you present information to the church in layers. It should be part of your system. When there is a new idea or change in direction share the information in layers. Let the idea move from staff to deacons, or other key leaders, into key leadership teams, then into the general population of the church. Give the idea time to develop. Let people, in smaller, more personal groups, even one-on-one, ask questions, and give feedback. Let them see that their feedback influences details of the idea. If this is done well then the business meeting becomes a place to make a decision about something people have already considered rather than a discussion about something they’ve not yet thought through.
4. Celebrate the good things God has done.
5. Cast vision for the things God is leading you into.
6. Make it fellowship focused. Food helps. Informal helps.
We call our business meetings Family Matters. We had one Sunday night. 257 people attended. We took time to celebrate the good things that have happened so far this year, report on a current building project, and cast vision for an approach to giving that will, over time, reshape our culture of generosity. We didn’t need to vote on anything this time. We spent the last 15 minutes praying in groups around tables about an event we’ll do leading into Easter and the people God will entrust to us Easter Sunday morning. It was a great meeting that built significant momentum for our next season of ministry together.
Thom,
I usually get a twist in my stomach on the day of a monthly business meeting. I know many pastors, who like me, find it contentious and a source of division within the body. And, that is when there is nothing controversial on the agenda. I am working with our people at my current church to move from a monthly meeting to a semi-annual meeting.
“A church members seeking power is a church member in need of repentance.”
The #1 reason I have been given for meeting monthly relates to power, although along a spectrum from a sincere concern about cronyism to an insistence that every member should have a say in every decision the church makes.
We found changing to quarterly Business Meetings to be effective – and use the Church Council to accomplish monthly decision-making. That’s why we put them in office in the first place – to lead and decide. That filters out a great deal of minutiae . Indeed, we sometimes find getting ANYTHING on a quarterly business meeting agenda to be challenging when the calendar, budget, and officer installation are not concerns. We might even move to a Bi-Annual Business Meeting format in the future.
Tom – Does this article apply to the monthly meeting of a Vestry, Council, or the like in non-congregational churches?
Thanks
Ed –
I am referring only to congregational meetings in this article.
At my current church we have quarterly business meetings where a layman presides. Most of them last ten to fifteen minutes. I think the longest one we’ve had since I’ve been here is maybe 30 minutes. At my last church we had monthly business meetings where I had to preside, and they typically lasted 45 minutes. Needless to say, when I came to my current church, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven!
In some churches, in reaction to the boring troublesome monthly business meetings, the reactive opposite has occurred and now all decisions are made by staff without input from the congregation or they are presented quickly and “rubber stamped”. When staff dominates the decision making process and input, the congregation becomes the “cheering section”. ( “Good luck guys, hope you make it.”) When the congregation is an integral part of the decision making, they buy into the process and will become participants rather than just cheering the staff on. (“Yes, we can do this together.”) Monthly business meetings are far too often and will add to the negative attitudes and lack of attendance. A well planned, well controlled, well publicized quarterly business meeting, planned for the same evening as other church activities for convenience, can become the catalyst for success in driving the church forward.
A well informed congregation will be the staff’s driving force to accomplish great things for the kingdom.
Thom, I’ll look forward to reading your new work on change. We are just a few weeks out from a series of church wide Sunday evening discussions of Simple Church, and those who have read it are already asking, “how do we navigate the path of change?”
Regarding business meetings in general, the largest and fastest growing congregation in Alabama (non-denominational, but mostly Baptist in theology) has one annual meeting of the members, and that meeting is scheduled on an afternoon as to not interfere with worship or ministry priorities. Obviously such an approach to the administrative and financial matters of a congregation can’t work – that’s why they have + or – 34,000 people attending 11 campuses around the state.
Most of the membership of the congregation I serve does not have a pastor’s awareness of what that or other such congregations are doing; that is simply an observation and is not offered as a criticism. However, and with that said, there is a distinct interest within our congregation for doing away with the monthly meeting in favor of a quarterly meeting. Additionally, the leadership structure may end up as something functioning in a manner akin to the way an associational executive board functions. The staff and volunteer leadership will do the bulk of the business management transparently, but with as little bureaucracy as possible. The monthly reports will be available to the membership, but the worship and disciple-making initiatives will not be interrupted. This interest pre-dates my tenure; I’ll be interested to see how it shakes out. Our present meeting is on Sunday evening and takes maybe 10 minutes, so at the bottom line I’m not going to make business meeting or no business meeting a hill to die on, because eventually it will die on the vine by attrition.
You are a wise man.
Our church still has monthly business meeting, however, our Wednesday night service is dedicated to intercessory prayer. Following our prayer time – where we divide up into small groups and assign each person a group to pray for – we have either a brief devotional or once a month conduct business meeting. Focusing on prayer and prayer needs sets the tone for business meeting. We recently revised our church constitution and the committee overwhelming wanted to keep our monthly business meeting.
Amen. I’m now pastoring my first church that doesn’t do monthly meetings. We have them every other month, and that seems to work well for us so far. Thankfully, most of our meetings have been quite pleasant. I would love, however, as I’m here longer to move these meetings to a quarterly basis.
Our church has quarterly business meetings. This is something that began well before I became pastor here 13 years ago. Meetings usually last about an hour and are always positive. Various committees and teams report at least twice each year in celebration of recent ministry involvement and in anticipation of upcoming opportunities. As some others have indicated, financials are reviewed at each meeting.
As pastor, I set the agenda but our meetings are presided over by an elected moderator. I advise the moderator in advance regarding issues and perspectives on issues that may come up. We all operate in an atmosphere of great trust and transparency. I always come away from our meetings feeling thankful and blessed.
As pastor I have lead the church I am now at (19 years) to have quarterly meetings. I have emphasized that if we elect committees then we need to let the committees do their job that they were elected to do. And that is exactly what the church has done. We also have meal at our Business Meeting (which is in lieu of our evening service) in which we fellowship with one another and I remind people as I pray that this isn’t our church, it is God’s. We have had quarterly business meetings for over 8 years now and in that hour meeting we average eating for about 40 minutes and going over the ministries of the church for about 20 minutes. I’ve gotten to where I enjoy these meetings!
Also in my past church, to keep contentious or damaging surprise motions from coming up, all motions must have been in the church office 10 days ahead of time so that they could be printed and in the church foyer for members to pick up and pray over. If it was an emergency, that a committee could not handle, we had a called business meeting to deal with that subject only. I’ve never understood why motions are made and quickly passed or voted down without thoughtful consideration and prayer from the members. As a pastor, this does away with the surprise motions.
I assume this is a church (all members) meeting not a leadership meeting or regular meeting that is needed to address the affairs and day to day operations of the church.
Our quarterly “business” meeting took place exactly as you stated, with members who were the loudest and had the most complaints speaking to much for too long.
When I started I was shocked. Having never been on the inside of a church meeting, but having had tons of business meeting experience, I could not believe what went on and was said by at these meetings.
What made our meeting more difficult, a few of the “Leaders” agreed with some of those who were causing issues, and would not change any part of the meeting especially the section titled open discussion, which is not a good idea.
So, after I started working in the office, and had the responsibility of preparing the agenda, thought it would be best to move all the business items to the front of the meeting. Messy topics like “open” discussion were last.
What has happened, those members who were interested in hearing the business items, financial reports, state of the church, etc… and not the mess, would leave after the reports and new business related items were presented. Those who like to bring out negative items, were left with an audience of less than 10 people sometimes, and after about 3 meetings of not having anyone around to listen to them, they stopped. Our last 3 meetings, were about 15 minutes. No open discussion topics were brought up. (Applause, Applause) 🙂
Praying we change to a once a year state of the church celebrations! Like the idea of involving food. People are happy when they eat, especially desserts!! 🙂
Nicky,
This seems like a manipulative tactic being used to silence those you disagree with rather than patiently and lovingly work with them.
I would suggest using Robert’s Rules of Order to conduct your meetings. A church meeting should have a clear call to order and a clear time at which it is adjourned. Ideally, all members in attendance would remain in attendance for the duration of the meeting. Rearranging the format of the meeting in order to accomplish your goals sounds a lot like dirty politics to me. It may be effective to get done what you want to get done, but that doesn’t make it the best way to patiently work through the ideas, concerns, proposals, and grievances of those that you disagree with. Also, if people leave the meeting early and negative people stick around, then negative people may be able to vote on something and have their proposal carry, because others didn’t stick around and were therefore not present for the vote.
I so want to “kill” our monthly business meeting. Being a paid staff member in churches for over 30 years, I have been to countless of these. I can count the spiritually uplifting ones on one hand. I would love changing it and having us move to a different format. In 5 years or less it will do so out of necessity anyway as those coming will be dead or unable to get out at night anymore. But I would rather have a plan in place now then wait till then.
We do once a Quarter meeting to update how the budget going , how many joined etc along with ministry reports last 10-15 minutes . We have called meetings as need . We have a deep level of Trust with our Deacons and Committee system.
I think a lot of this has to do with how well meetings are planned and run. Most of my committee members look forward to the monthly meetings now because we are talking about what is coming up and not about what has past (though some review for critique is done and is important). We are focused on strategic goals and a vision of how we are making God’s word known in the community. Naysayers are voted off the committees and critical comments are used to improve the ideas. Not every meeting goes smoothly and not everything we do is without wrinkles, but the monthly meeting is a sign of a healthy church that people want to get together and work on things. Meetings for the purpose of having a meeting are counter-productive and certainly fit the description you portray in this article. I completely agree that some churches (and other organizations) suffer from these maladies, but not meeting monthly sends a signal about church health and about management skills.
We have monthly business meeting every month and we really don’t have any arguments. We do have a complaint from someone every now and then but for the most part they are actually very informative and a lot of new ideas are presented and agreed upon. I love my church family and my pastor! I am blessed to have such a loving church that is all about doing God’s work!
I so appreciate this discussion and forthcoming book. As a new pastor, I inherited a very contentious once a month council meeting. I Interject a devotional at the beginning of every meeting but want to reduce the number of meetings as those who don’t attend worship tend to speak the loudest and longest. Its a power play…
Thank you for your wisdom.
I have found that very few lay people are trained in how to participate in a business meeting. This should be part of new board members orientation. Is this even taught in seminary? How about How to read your church budget?
I would bet that the people commenting on not having these meeting are clergy. It’s one less committment they have to attend. Our ELCA church has a trust problem and the council can’t do anything without having the congregation’s approval on very trivial things. We’ve had meeting with the trouble makers and they are a major reason there is such low attendance at the meeting. We even had one of the troublemakers make a motion to display the American flag in front of the church by the pulpit. General “spirituality” in this country may be on the rise but Spirituality in the Church is falling. Church attendance is falling throughout all denominations. Until people start trusting the elected council or church body is allowed to take care of church business and the Church itself goes about the “business” of being the Church of Christ, things will never change.
Our church stopped having council meetings altogether because our Pastor deemed them unnecessary. Now he Lords over the church and makes all the decisions regarding anything. Lack of communication within the church prevent church growth and causes disunity because no one knows what is going on. Lack of meetings gives pastors too much control.
Interesting. I was drawn to this site, because tonight is my church’s annual business meeting, and I have an issue that I wish to raise.
There is a Proverb that says, “The first to present his case seems right, until a second comes forward and questions him.”
This particular blog entry obviously take the side of pastors and elders rather than “naysayers.”
But here is the thing: While pastors and elders should be honored and respected, all Christians should listen well in a spirit of true humility to the ideas, questions, concerns, and grievances of church members. A negative individual should be rebuked, but he should not be prejudged. By what objective standard is a person deemed negative? Likewise, pastors and elders should not always insist on their way, and they should listen to the ideas that individuals of the congregation have.
Throughout history, way too many leaders who have been zealous for the peace, the good, and the order of the community have erred in their judgment by thinking too highly of their own opinions and not listening well with proper humility to the opinions of those who disagree with them. Surely this is a temptation for all elders and pastors.
Henry Robert, who wrote Robert’s Rules of Order, once said, “Once can scarcely have had much experience in deliberative meetings of Christians without realizing that the best of men, having wills of their own, are liable to attempt to carry out their own views without paying sufficient respect to the rights of their opponents.” God help us!
That said, in most cases, I think that a monthly meeting is too frequent. But I think an annual meeting is too infrequent. A quarterly meeting sounds about right to me.