Business Meetings: Pain or Privilege?

Friends,

On one brisk Wednesday night several years ago I was leading the church in our normal prayer meeting and Bible study. A certain man was present in the meeting who had recently begun attending our church with his wife. I had gotten to know the couple in the time they had been with us and his story particularly fascinated me. In his lengthy and diverse career he had served in the Army and in retail car sales. A diligent worker, he had climbed the ladder at one particular car dealership and had earned a place second to the owner. At one point in his life he suffered a massive heart attack and had nearly succumbed to the injuries inflected by it. But, by the grace and mercy of God, he recovered and in the recovery had recommitted himself to God in a new way. Part of that committal included serving God, which he was zealous to do. We quickly became friends. Yet in the course of that Wednesday night study, a small, seemingly insignificant event occurred which would not only test our friendship, but his faith and service to God. He had posed a statement and asked me to evaluate it. I wasn’t entirely clear on his statement, so I restated it and asked if my restatement was exactly what he meant. He said "yes" and I responded and we moved on with the study.

This brings us to the next Wednesday night, which happened to be business meeting. In the course of handling our business, the man stood to speak. I will spare you all the details of his speech, save to say that he had evidently been gravely offended that I had restated his question to him in the previous Wednesday night Bible study. Before the end of the night all (and I mean all) the ladies of our church gathered in the meeting were in tears- I don’t think they had ever heard or ever known that someone could speak about a pastor like this man had done. All my deacons were up in arms, coming to their pastor’s defense and ready to haul this gentleman out of the assembly. Our church had always had a history of very peaceful and blessed business meetings, and this one definitely rocked the historical boat.

Business meetings are part of Baptist life- as Vader told Luke- "you know it be true." The purpose of this blog article is to discuss business meetings from the point of view of their presence and practice within the local Baptist church. I hope to offer the readers of this blog a way in which they can better approach and handle business meetings, keep the performance of business meetings done "in decency and order," and realize the blessings of business meetings.

So let’s discuss the relevancy of business meetings first. The truth of the matter is that some of us would just as soon not have them precisely because of opportunities for the flesh (as mentioned above). In fact, surprisingly perhaps, Danny Akin advocates holding no business meetings because they lack biblical warrant and afford opportunities for the flesh of man to drive the church rather than the Word of God (Five Perspectives on Church Government). It is sad, frankly, to hear a Baptist speak like this, because business meetings play a valid part in the overall ministry of the church and the accountability the church so desperately needs to keep its ministry Christ focused, gospel centered and God honoring. Business meetings also reveal the depths to which Baptists take our doctrine of the church. We believe the church is governed by the congregation and that there is no higher human court for the church than the congregation. In no place of Baptist ministry is that more apparent than in the business meeting. Baptists believe that Christ is in every detail of the church and we should cherish the truth that Christ can and does manage every detail in the church by Himself being vested in the church through its members. Southern Baptists confess this premise in Article VI, The Church, of The Baptist Faith and Message 2000. "Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord."

This statement leads us to secondly consider the actual performance of business meetings. If business meetings are to become a blessing and not a burden to the church it shall require every participant in the meeting to be a member in good standing with the church. The reason required for such members to participate is that as "each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord," each member needs to reveal that truth in their life by being in good covenant standing with the church. Ultimately, a local Baptist church is a theocracy under Christ Who Himself works His will democratically through His people. It seems both logical and biblical, then, that His will can only be demonstrated through us when we are devoting our lives, hearts, minds, bodies and souls to knowing Him and His will. Membership in the local church welcomes one to a business meeting, but a faithful life to Christ and His Church earns one the privilege of participating in that meeting. Granted, the judgement of a church regarding who is and who is not evidencing the Lordship of Christ in their lives is not infallible- mistakes can be made and even members in good standing can still be good sinners in our weakness. Nevertheless, the premise of only members in good standing participating in the business meeting will more often than not serve the church better than allowing any member in any standing to come in and vote as they wish. I am sure all of us have heard of how churches fill up with people who haven’t been to church in years to vote on a matter of importance. These same "members" usually vote and go back out from among the congregation, leaving the members in good standing to deal with the aftermath. This is neither acceptable nor conducive to the purpose of Christ in the church gathering to seek Him and conduct business. We should also encourage and expect children, youth and those who are very young in the faith to guard themselves carefully if they do attend business meetings to train themselves more in the discipline of listening and observing rather than speaking and voting.

In the same vein, business meetings should be performed in a manner and rules of parliament that everyone knows and everyone follows. Some churches outline in their constitutions how business meetings should be performed while others rely upon books such as "Robert’s Rules of Order." In either case, the handling of all business should be in accord to the method in which the church has chosen. A great deal of this actually being performed will rely upon the moderator, who should be a man capable and ready to conduct business as so prescribed. The moderator can be the pastor. However, in my opinion, it is preferable if it is another man, as the pastor may need to speak to the spiritual ramifications of an issue, which is something frowned upon for moderators. The manner of making motions, voting on them, discussing them and so forth will be served well by a common and enforced set of rules. Speaking of which, one-problem congregations sometimes encounter with motions is that motions are made but nothing is said about who will actually carry them out. This needs to be made clear in the motion so as to avoid confusion and the retarding of the church’s work.

Lastly, we can consider the overall blessings and burdens of business meetings. The blessings of the business meeting are that the church is made to discuss its progress, its hopes and its future. In doing so, we seek Christ’s will and we formally agree to go in the direction we believe He is giving us. Business meetings are a way in which Christ works in and through His people and offers times in which we can give Him much glory and praise for what He has done as well as earnest prayer and hope for what He desires to do among us. Likewise, business meetings offer everyone an opportunity to see a church’s real spiritual position. I thoroughly believe that one of the strongest indicators of a church’s love for Christ and each other can be located in how the church conducts itself in a business meeting. The burdens of business meetings are that often we get off topic; often we don’t give Christ the credit we should for what He has done; and often we don’t seek Christ for what we should do. Prayer and Scripture are often woefully absent in business meetings- and this to our detriment. Business meetings do open opportunities for fleshly power plays and painful criticisms, but just by the possibility we should not ditch the practice. With our attitudes and wills directed at Christ, our discussion lead by the Spirit and our decisions based on God's Word, the business meeting can more often than not be a source of great ministry and wonderful blessings.

In case you’re wondering about how everything eventually turned out with that opening story, I can fill you in. Upon realizing that my own ministry had been defended and upon seeing that the congregation, though visibly upset with the indictments, did not believe them, I simply lead the church to pray for the man even as he and his wife were walking out the door. We asked God to give them peace, to the bless them, to guide them as only He can. And, after about a year of the couple visiting and becoming members of a few other local churches, they came back to New Hope. I believe the man felt and remembered that closing prayer and the actions of the church that night and couldn’t shake it from his soul. We once again came into full fellowship with them and were all mightily blessed by Christ and loved by one another. The couple eventually went to live in another part of the state to care for an ailing brother, but we still correspond and pray for each other.

Business meetings can be burdensome, but let us never forget the real hope we have in Christ for Him to turn even the burdens to blessings to the glory of His name.

Blessings,
TJ