Is It Time to Rethink Church Business Meetings?

It is unwise to assume all churches do things the same way. I certainly know that the readership of this blog includes leaders from tens of thousands of different churches. Even within the same denomination, there are countless different approaches to church practices.

Such is certainly the case with church business meetings. You may be in a congregation that does not have any business meetings. But if you are in a church with these meetings, please stay with me through the remainder of this post.

The Questions

I have been observing churches for decades. And I have been observing how many congregations conduct and utilize church business meetings. This process has led me to ask a few questions. Are we utilizing these meetings effectively? Should they be dramatically changed? Should they be eliminated altogether?

While I certainly don’t have the answers to these questions, I am seeing lower participation and greater dissatisfaction with business meetings in many churches. That is the reason I am asking these questions.

The Observations

While recognizing the diversity of churches represented by the readers of this blog, allow me still to make some observations about business meetings in many congregations. I make them in no particular order of priority.

  • There are still many churches today where the business meeting is primarily a gathering of critics and malcontents. The happy church member tends to avoid the meetings for obvious reasons.
  • There is a clear trend toward less frequent business meetings. Quarterly meetings are becoming common, and many churches have moved to annual meetings only.
  • Though I have not actually done a precise statistical study, I am confident in saying that there is a high correlation between the size of the church and the way a congregation does business meetings. Larger churches tend to have less frequent meetings. And smaller churches are more likely to require votes on more issues than larger churches.
  • Most pastors and staffs dislike, even dread, church business meetings.
  • The most common item covered in church business meetings is the finances of the church. For those congregations with annual meetings only, the church budget is the primary item brought as business.
  • Relatively few churches discuss ministry in these meetings.

Is There a Better Way?

I love local churches. I desire to see God’s glory manifest in these congregations. And I desire to see these churches be the best possible stewards of the resources God has given them.

With that in mind, I am asking the simple question: Is there a better way to conduct the business of the church? Some congregations have already responded by having less frequent meetings, and by empowering staff and lay leaders to make most decisions.

Should we totally rethink the way we conduct the business of our churches? Are there practices that would better protect the unity of the church while making certain accountability and decision-making are working well?

Please let me hear from you.

What is your church doing? What is it doing well in this area? What would you like to see changed?

Posted on February 18, 2015


With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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153 Comments

  • Jeanette Hawkins says on

    I’d like to know if and to what extent childcare is provided at your churches for business meetings? What ages are cared for? Who provides the care? Thank you!

  • Great article. As stated in the article, and many of the comments, business meetings are well known for their divisive nature. Therefore, I would like to ask…Where did the church ever get the idea of a business meeting from? Where is the biblical justification for it?

  • Stuart Allsop says on

    Our church has also moved away from the “bottom up” approach (with the congregation directly involved in the day-to-day decision making), towards a “top down” approach, which has a far a more solid Biblical basis in any event, and has turned out to work much, much better.

    We now have one monthly “Elder’s Meeting” where the pastors meet with the elders to take the major decisions regarding vision, mission, ministries, finances, program, events, and suchlike, as well as to discuss key spiritual issues that might be affecting the congregation or leadership. One week later we have a “Ministries Meeting”, where those decisions are passed on to the deacons and the leaders of the various ministries, feedback is received, and the program for the entire church for the next three months is checked, discussed and updated. This Ministries Meeting is a very useful time for coordinating the various upcoming activities, avoiding conflicts, and making sure everyone is on the same page regarding overall vision and direction. It is also a time for spiritual leadership training, and just plain old Christian fellowship and praying together, which is possibly the most important aspect.

    This model is working very well: the bitterness, back-stabbing, criticism, and general unpleasantness is absent, the church runs smoothly, things get done, and there is a much better atmosphere of cooperation and collaboration in the meetings. A key factor is that everyone present has already been through a discipleship program as well as Christian leadership training, and has a calling and an attitude consistent with the early church model of Acts. It seems that Jesus knew what he was doing when he trained his disciples to establish the original churches the way he did. All we have done in our church is to attempt to move back towards that “mission centric” model as closely as we can, and unsurprisingly, it works. Everything we do is centered on Matthew 28:16-20 at the core, and our leadership structure is modeled on the book of Acts as well as key parts of the rest of the NT that mention church structure, either directly or indirectly.

  • Our church is using business meetings as a way to organize ministry with the congregation. Once a month we have about a one hour meeting that gives a chance for ministries to report and seek participation. We have been able to get so much more done in ministry by using the business meetings in this way. Committees and ministries are held to a higher accountability because of these types of business meetings. There is a PowerPoint presentation up front that emphasizes our ministry goals, information that the congregation needs to know, upcoming events that are being planned for, etc. We have been able to mobilize the church in its purpose in ministry more effectively by using this method. We are a smaller church under the size of 140. I certainly understand that this would not work in every church, but it has been working for us. When we have an explosive issue, we turn it back into its committee for review and recommendation at the next meeting. I would be happy to send anyone who wants a sample business meeting with our PowerPoint for them to review for ideas.

  • Mark Dance says on

    Great post!

    We made the move to an annual business mtg about ten years ago, and simultaneously added a quarterly “Family Roundtable.” (It helps to add something of real value as you take something away of perceived value). The roundtable’s primary purpose is vision casting, but sometimes there are also new ministry updates, receptions, dinners, and seasonal outdoor baptisms. Occasionally something will require a vote from the church between annual mtgs, so the “Family Roundtable” is where we do it.

  • The church I serve has a history of experiencing many divisive business meetings. The year before I came, the church had nearly 50% of its active members to leave as a result of another divisive meeting. One of the first things I did when I became pastor was to sit down with Leadership and discuss what could be learned from these previous divisive meetings and what could be done to discourage another divisive meeting from occurring. The result? The Deacons unanimously recommended to the church the following: 1) That we have only one scheduled business meeting annually (although we can call for a meeting whenever we deem it necessary). Previously, business meetings had been held once every month on Sunday mornings. 2) That we allow for no discussion on any motion in the church sanctuary. 3) That we provide an opportunity for members to ask questions or give input regarding all matters to be brought before the church in Conference beforehand in another facility, most often on another day. The church overwhelmingly approved the recommendation and dare I say that things are much improved?!!

  • Phil Ellenburg says on

    I pastor a small (declining) church in the low country of SC. we are the typical SBC who has refused to change over the years. our business meetings are monthly, and net everyone of them is contentious but enough are. once a lady stood and asked why the “hired help” which is myself and the minister of music/education were a part of the deacons meetings and why we had a vote (can’t make this stuff up). and unfortunately i as the pastor am the moderator of the business meetings.

  • Hey Tom,
    I’ve been in pastoral ministry since 1996 in several capacities including youth pastor, senior pastor, and two church plants. I’ve served in each of the scenarios you describe. I’m currently preparing another church plant in the Florida panhandle. Based upon my experience, I will establish the church with the plan to have one annual congregational meeting. In keeping with the spirit of Acts 15:22, where the leaders spear headed the direction and together with the whole church determined a course of action, I believe for the sake of communication and unity it is helpful to meet with the church concerning significant issues. The meeting should cover the annual budget and ministry changes that effect the overall DNA of the church so that everyone can move forward on the same page. Apart from this meeting I would provide regular PNL’s and updates for the congregation to see, but no more meetings unless something significant outside the budget or effecting the DNA of the ministry needed to be addressed. This is the imperfect model that has worked best in the past for me and seems to minimize the negatives of the drudgery of “church business.” Thank you for your important work.

    Godspeed,
    Russell

  • I left a church that very seldom if ever had a business meeting and as the Lord led me to start a church one of the first things we did was institute monthly business meetings. I had heard horror stories about business meetings and being a SBC church I thought we would experience the same thing. We have not for over 11 years now. I think the issue that comes to my mind is that we call them business meetings and that is what they should be. Complaints should be dealt with in Administrative meetings and committee functions should be dealt with in committee meetings. Even the need for additional facilities should not be discussed in the business meeting until every facet of the project is determined. Is it truly needed or just wanted. What is the long term maintenance cost instead of just the cost to repair. How many of the congregation are willing to commit to the long term financial burden. When these are considered then the business meeting comes into play. If we would be clear about this then we could head off some of the problems that have no place in the business meeting. The quickest way for someone to get their hands in the till is to extend the business meetings. Every business that watches their books has monthly reports and watches them closely. A church should be just as responsible.

  • I grew up in a church with monthly meetings. Always the lowest attendance of any service. Now, as a pastor, I’m part of a church which does monthly meetings as well. I just left a church which did quarterly church conferences – much the same agenda and tone but it was a sweet tone!

    I agree we should change, but it is most difficult for any pastor to lead effective change in an established church where the attenders at business meetings are primarily older…especially in relation to a business meeting (I know many senior adults who only attend business meetings for the sake of the finance report). While candidating with my present church, I asked about moving to quarterly meetings. There seemed to be some interest…until I actually arrived on the field. The two meetings I’ve moderated so far have been fine – and everyone tells me there is always a sense of peace in the meetings, which does encourage me.

    If we were to change the format of the meeting, I would suggest, as has been stated, that we “celebrate” more than merely “manage.” While there needs to be sound managerial practices on the part of the secretary and the finance team there can be additional information shared that could be in the form of ministry reports and celebrations of ministry actions and effectiveness (whatever that looks like).

    For most of us pastors, this can be a VERY tricky and even “risky” change to attempt. I’d only suggest it if the leadership (deacons, finance, staff) were on board and will attempt to “calm some of the nerves” of those who will immediately question such a change.

    Should we change? – possibly. Can we change? – that all depends upon the “spirit” in which the leader makes such a suggestion. Change merely for the sake of change is almost never a good idea, but if there is a clear reason for the change, it might just make for a sweet service in which the kingdom of God is advanced and our loving God celebrated. Just my two cents.

    • In most Chinese churches, the annual budget and year-to-date spending (by category) is posted on the church bulletin boards, and weekly giving for the past month is printed in the bulletin along with attendance. I think this helps keep everyone accountable and avoids surprises and acrimony in the congregational meetings.

  • Our form of government leans towards a representative/Presbyterian format where the congregation annually elects an Administrative Council to make administrative decisions for them and affirms Elders to shepherd and lead the congregation spiritually. The “business” of the annual meeting is there for to elect and affirm its leadership and approve the proposed budget for the year. The other element in our constitution is that property can be purchased, sold or encumbered only by congregational vote. So that item calls for a special meeting of the membership.
    Since debate and discussion on administrative matters is minimized by the process, We’re able to focus on ministry issues at the congregational meeting. We often will focus on a particular aspect of ministry and have sometimes done a survey prior to or at the annual meeting focused on a ministry issue. We’ve also broken the large group into small discussion groups and asked them to address specific issues and then present their groups resolution or ideas to the entire group. We work very hard to make the annual meeting a “controlled” town hall experience where people sense that they are being heard and are giving real input into the ministry focus of the church.
    We have had some malcontents at the meeting and they’ve tried their best to hijack the meeting. It’s been very encouraging to see people not allow that to happen.

  • The SBC affiliated church of 250 that I pastor is Elder-led, Deacon-served, and congregationally affirmed. We hold an annual meeting after the morning service by providing lunch so that the maximum amount of members will partipate. At the meeting, we approve the budget, bylaws, and building issues, along with affirming new Elders and Deacons. We also give out a book of reports with a 1-page summery of each ministry, remember those who’ve passed away and new births that year, celebrate new or expanded ministries, and cast vision for the coming year. Very limited voting.

    Once a quarter, we hold an Elders Forum for the entire congregation to communicate ministry accomplishments, share stories from the previous quarter, and indicate opportunities and direction for the next quarter. There is also an opportunity for members to ask questions or give suggestions. We provide dessert at this gathering.

    Open communication is the key. And celebrating what God has done and is doing brings unity and excitement as we move forward.

    Chris Jordan

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