I’ve been there. Maybe you have too. A discussion about a $100 expense swirls around the committee for thirty minutes. Someone believes they can save ten percent. You work hard to hold back the desire to slap a ten-dollar bill on the table.
When meetings turn sour, everyone gets agitated. These meetings keep you on the edge of your seat. But it’s more likely a church meeting will drone on. So how can these meetings be less of a snooze fest and more engaging and valuable?
No matter what your polity, every church will need meetings. Some are virtual. Some are in person. But it’s difficult to operate without some form of a meeting. There are formal meetings with committees, chairs, and Robert’s Rules of Order. Others are more informal with teams and gatekeepers. Regardless of the level of formality, every church will have groups of people who need to meet.
Not every meeting needs to begin with a 10-minute devotional. And nobody wants corn hole and ice breakers. What’s the balance between obligatory piety and church cheesiness?
Make your meetings future-oriented rather than reactive to past issues. Most meetings should be proactive, not reactive. Go back and review your previous agendas to see what drives the meeting. Are you using the time in a reactive way, responding to issues that have surfaced since the previous meeting? Is the agenda filled with what others have brought you or what you want to bring others? The most engaging and useful meetings are oriented toward the future. Meetings devolve when you use them to respond to things in the past.
Make your meetings about complex decisions, not simple ones. Easy decisions do not need to be collaborative. If there is only one option, then there is no reason to discuss it. Simple decisions can be made offline and should not require the gathering of the minds. Church meetings should be used for challenging decisions. Use the group setting to build support for the more complicated issues.
Make your meetings more action-oriented and less discussion-based. There are times to meet and talk, but a series of all-talk meetings wastes time. Do you use the meeting to delegate work, or do people leave with few action items? Some meetings need to be informative. But leaders should use these opportunities to assign critical tasks.
Make your meetings more about collaboration and less about debate. You can lose the room when meeting after meeting is a debate. The loudest voices tend to dominate debate meetings. Collaboration requires people to listen to each other. The more people listen, the more they are engaged with each other.
As you structure a meeting, consider what I’ll call the 10-30-10 Rule.
- Keep your meetings to a maximum of 50 minutes.
- Use the first 10 minutes to pray, catch up on personal items, and enjoy fellowship.
- Spend 30 minutes on getting the agenda items accomplished. Always send an agenda ahead of time and stick with it. When someone wants to veer away, keep them on task.
- The last 10 minutes should be spent on Q&A, reviewing assigned tasks, and ensuring everyone understands the path forward.
I was once held hostage in a meeting about official holidays for the church staff. The debate lasted for a couple of hours. Nobody could come to terms with what days in the year needed to be recognized by the church. Out of boredom, someone started reading the personnel manual. The recognized holidays were already there and approved by the previous committee.
Posted on August 10, 2022
As President of Church Answers, Sam Rainer wears many hats. From podcast co-host to full-time Pastor at West Bradenton Baptist Church, Sam’s heart for ministry and revitalization are evident in all he does.
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5 Comments
Stellar stuff brother. I am presently leading the revitalization of First Baptist Church, Perry, IA. Our congregation was established on January 9, 1869. It has endured many problems and splits over the years. The Lord has truly blessed our ministry over the past 4 years and seven months. At our annual business meeting this year, I outlined three major goals for the church. (1) update our church bylaws. (2) Establish a Christian school. (3) Call an assistant pastor. It is the second month of the year and we are now working on the first stated goal. The most contentious issue with our bylaws is our members’ meetings. Thus, it is the one item we are studying in the evening services for the next two weeks. Thank you for all the work you have done to think seriously about this issue. I have been greatly assisted by this material. We are going to discuss your 2015 post “Is It Time to Rethink Church Business Meetings?”, tomorrow evening. Then the deacons will be sending each member home with the post above. Thank you once again Thom. Your ministry is a blessing to this young pastor.
Thanks for reading, Andres!
My deacon meetings last for between 1 1/2 to 2 Hours. If we keep it to an hour and half that is a good night. I am curious to know what the age range is on your boards or teams. I listen to you say before that you were born in 1980 so I did not know if you considered yourself a young generation Xer or old millennial. I was just wondering because I am 48 years old and I am the youngest person on most of my leadership teams and boards. My church is older and I am considered a “young” pastor to them. I have 20 years of experience but people do not care about that anymore. I have one guy who can become very aggressive and can get loud and condescending. He was once in ministry but now is a computer programmer. He is very influential and can take over a meeting. I often wonder how I can reign him in because he has no problem calling me out when he does not like how I am doing something. Enough griping. Enjoyed the article very much
Thanks William! I consider myself an older Millennial. But I can relate to a lot of Gen Xers too. The best way to prevent someone from taking over a meeting is to stick to the agenda and not allow for discussions around items outside the scope of the meeting. If there are insults (or condescension), then calmly remind the person not to bring others down. If he directs aggression at you, then simply tell him to talk to you offline and not in front of everyone. Then move on quickly.
Our church leadership is on the older side (age range 40 – 74, with 4 out of 7, 60+). Sam offers good advice to control your “bully.” Might be beneficial to enlist his help with a pre-meeting one-on-one discussion. One way to stick to the agenda is to have a hard stop: “I must be home by…” “I have another meeting with someone who needs my help…” or similar will be welcomed if your team knows about it in advance (not when you start the meeting!). The 10-30-10 rule seems reasonable for most meetings.