Sorry to hear that some of you were unable to attend what I found to be a very interesting church family meeting. The evening was a very busy one with lots for us to pray, think and discuss about.
During the evening some of what was looked at during the church conference was discussed again, i.e the urgent need to address the lack of potential leaders coming forward. It was brought to our attention that time and time again we have struggled to nominate enough people for election into leadership, consequently we now find ourselves in the position of not fulfilling the required number of leaders as set out in our own church rules. We discussed various reasons why this has been a problem and suggestions were made as to how we can try and address this. One of the encouraging points that was put forward was the need for potential leaders to be equipped and helped in the task that they were being asked to take on.
We also discussed the poor attendance at church family meetings and how very important decisions were being made by only about 20% of the church. I felt that this is an area that really needs to be taken seriously because it has such a huge knock on affect for the rest of the church. How can we expect such a small group to represent the commitment and thoughts of the whole family? Yet the outcome of all discussions in one way of another impact the whole church family. An example of this is our alarming financial position. As a church 20% of us have voted on issues of spending on behalf of the rest, as a result it appears that responsiblilty to meet our budgeted commitments have not been grasped by all. How sad it was to hear last night that this has been an ongoing problem for the last six years.
It was put forward that we should trial a different way of doing church family meetings. Following on from the Sunday lunch and family meeting we had a while back and the encouraging turn out, we voted to trial for a year church family meetings held on a Sunday over lunch and also perhaps in the hall as apposed to moving into the church. This was in response to a number of brothers and sisters commenting on how when we moved from the hall area to the church the feeling of freedom to speak out was somehow lost.
The number of meetings held like this would change to three a year which meant that the meeting wouldn't clash with other groups which need to use the hall on a Sunday. If there was a need to call an extra meeting for urgent business that could not wait then special church meetings would still be called just as they always have been. I have to admit that I was overjoyed with these suggestions because they were a clear indication that as a church we long to be inclusive. I sat and wondered how many of our family had for years felt excluded from an important part of our family life because they were unable to make church in the evening. With the discussions that we had had on belonging during the church conference I have to admit it did put a smile on my face. So I look forward to bringing my packed lunch to share with others while we worship Our Father in another aspect of our church life.
We were asked if we had any more thoughts on clusters following on from our conference, and if we did what sort of shape they may take. It was an interesting discussion but one that made just so much sense. We have to grasp that we are a large church and that brings it's joys and it's problems. One of the major problems we have is the sense of responsibility. The larger the group the easier it is not to take personal responsibility for what goes on in the life of the church and the phrase "someone, somewhere, will do something" if we are not careful, can become a large church motto.
It is impossible for such a huge family to really get to know everyone, therefore the sense of belonging becomes harder. However, for groups ranging between 50-70 in number, who meet on a regular basis, the sense of belonging is stronger which in turn leads to all taking seriously their role within that group. Apathy is so much harder in a small group, but, accountability and involvement is so much easier. This is a discussion that will continue and we were encouraged to continue thinking and praying on this topic.
We touched on mentoring and as a result of the conference those that would like to mentor others will be helped with this and a day has been set aside for this so check out those dates on Sunday because I didn't write them down
Well I hope this has given a small insight into last night for those who were unable to attend. There's lots I haven't mentioned so if you were there last night and want to add more or want to add your thought on what was discussed why not add a comment.
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3 comments:
Thank you so much, Michelle, for that summary. I obviously did get some feedback from the meeting from John (thank you for transporting him to and fro - much appreciated).
Just to clarify so there's no confusion, the decision we took with regard to church meetings was that they'd be three monthly, so four a year.
I found it a good meeting to be at (but then, i guess i would say that), but i did feel a genuine sense of openness to God and each other, and we even had a prophetic word in the middle of the meeting, as Nathanael might say "How cool is that?"
I'm all for having fewer meetings and for experimenting with the lunchtime meetings. However, there will inevitably be some people who can come to a Wednesday evening meeting but are unable to be there Sunday lunchtime due to family or other commitments. To be truly inclusive I think we should have a mixture of both - perhaps alternate.
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