After the meeting
I'm pretty open about my fear of church business meetings. In my first church out of seminary - any church meeting was to be feared. The staff and church were largely antagonistic towards each other. The Senior Pastor was in conflict with some key layleaders and it just filtered down.
I spent three formative years dreading them. Then my next church was much much better. ICB is much much better. But I still fear the meeting. Today we had our annual meeting. I preached my heart out. Then 20 minutes later we were meeting. The meeting was a great example of how a church business meeting should be. It was reasonably short. It was not a "rubber" stamp. There were a few thoughtful questions. No antagonism. No distrust. Just Christians doing their best to do the work of God. Wonderful.
I spent three formative years dreading them. Then my next church was much much better. ICB is much much better. But I still fear the meeting. Today we had our annual meeting. I preached my heart out. Then 20 minutes later we were meeting. The meeting was a great example of how a church business meeting should be. It was reasonably short. It was not a "rubber" stamp. There were a few thoughtful questions. No antagonism. No distrust. Just Christians doing their best to do the work of God. Wonderful.
