December 11, 2006
Short Changed
Our church Bylaws require we hold a congregational business meeting once a year. Over the years the annual meeting has taken on various shapes, everything from lengthy dinners to quick gatherings in-between the worship services. This year’s annual meeting, to my knowledge, will be the first of its kind. In a letter to the membership the elders have explained that since we now have three services, “…there will not be enough time in between services to hold the meeting.” Their solution is, “…adding the meeting to the already existing Sunday morning service times. Basically that means that we will spend a portion our time in each of the services …. to conduct the Annual Meeting.” It seems to me that squeezing a business meeting into the worship service short changes both events.
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Gail;
----I remember last year's annual business meeting. It was held between the first and second service. There weren't very many people attending it, maybe two dozen at most. And there wasn't much business discussed, either. The then current budget, $ 50,000 or so excess contributions over expenditures, and the confirmation of the new elder selections were the only significant issues addressed.
----The elders have made it known that their vision for the church is supreme and their authority to actualize it is certain. Their need to involve the congregation in any of the decision making process is not a concept to them. So the necessity of the business meeting is reduced to fulfilling a Colorado regulation and putting on a bit of a show.
----According to preachers, Jesus' objective for the Sermon on the Mount was to present the internalization of the law. Paul told the Phillipians to look to others' interests as well as their own. He told the Romans to each please his neighbor for his neighbor's good and edification. And he told the Galations to do good to all men, especially to those of the faith. Certainly, these are principles extending from internalized law. But when I presented to the head elder the need to internalize these scriptural principles into the hearts of the congregation so that everyone could find meaningful participation in the worship services, I was told that these concepts applied only between individuals. They had no place in the congregation as a whole is what the head elder told me. And while Jesus unequivocally stated that whoever desired to be great had to become a servant to all, the head elder affirmed numerous times that the elders serve God, not men.
----It is then apparent that the very essence of fellowship - the care, concern, and serving one another from sincere and loving hearts - does not form the essence of the gathering at that church. The essence of gathering together there remains what the elders have so clearly stated before: the direction for the church as agreed upon by the elders in accordance with their vision, and some talk of maturing disciples.
----What is actual is that the nature of that gathering's being for one another as well as it's being for the Lord is a forbidden ideology. "Give all your attention to the Lord because it is not about you," was the common mantra that I remember. The heart of fellowship as described by the Bible is unattended as the leaders strain to produce, "Love your God," in the attendees, but fail to celebrate, "Love your neighbor," with actual practise.
----Therefore, since neither the business of the church nor the principles of its fellowship receive much honest regard in either the business meeting or the worship service, I do not see where much of anything is lost by the combination of the two.
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