Meetings in the local church are a source of much frustration to many people. “Too many”, they moan. “too long”, “too boring”, ”too unproductive”. “Why can’t we just do the work and not have to talk about it?”

In this series of blogs we look at why we have church meetings, some useful characteristics of meetings, and how to manage them more productively.

First, we need to stop complaining.  In the Uniting Church we are very fortunate to be governed by councils rather than autocratic individuals. The Body of Christ which is the local church, actually has a chance to determine its own destiny. Even the most lowly members, including children, can be included in the working of the church and in its decision making. When the system works properly everyone can make a contribution.

In my Ph.D research I sat in on many many meetings in human service organisations, and I was able to observe meetings that worked well and meetings that didn’t work so well. I was also able to observe what happened when there were too few meetings or even none at all. I have also observed many years of meetings in the church. Some of the insights in this series of blogs come from the social sciences and have been adapted to provide meaning to the situation in the local church.

Different Types of Church Meetings – Formal and Informal

Some meetings are actually the church in action, doing its work, e.g. bible study groups, prayer groups, gathered worship. These blogs do not concern meetings of this kind.

Other meetings are held to organise the work of the church. For example the worship planning committee makes sure that gathered worship occurs on time, at the right place, with the Service prepared. The Property committee meeting decides what to do about the rising damp and the leak in the roof. These are decision making meetings that organise the structure of the church and its missional work. These meetings make sure everything is arranged appropriately, paid for with sufficient funds, and with personnel to do the job.

These latter decision-making meetings provide a window into the workings of the local church. Through reports and discussion in the meeting, what has previously been largely invisible to the congregation as a whole, becomes visible. The work can be assessed, decisions can be made to provide necessary resources and so on. These meetings are part of the formal structure of the church. They are called formal meetings.

The local church is also an intertwined complex network of relationships between members who are family and friends. These people also discuss the workings of the church. These discussions may occur, for example, during supper after bible study or during morning tea after church, when two members run into one another in the supermarket, or around the family dinner table. Such meetings offer an opportunity for people to “fly kites” –  to try out ideas for change without the commitment of making a decision. They offer people an opportunity to express opinions and chew things over without being held accountable for what they have said. Whenever people “talk shop”, a meeting has occurred which provides a window into the workings of the church. These are called informal meetings. 

When formal and informal meetings are used together well, change can be successfully effected. For example, new ideas for change can be introduced gradually through informal gatherings. When people have discussed an idea and “chewed it over”, if they seem to feel favourably toward it, the idea can then be introduced to the formal meeting e.g. Church council, with some chance of success.

When formal and informal meetings are not handled together well, then chaos and conflict can result.

More of this in subsequent blogs.