It is no surprise that I have attended a lot of congregational meetings over the course of my career. The annual meeting of a congregation is generally a pretty calm affair with few surprises. Even when there is a topic that engenders disagreement, the disagreement is usually evident before the meeting and the lines of debate are well known. Of course there can be surprises whenever human beings gather and over the years I have seen some very good new ideas emerge in such meetings. In general, however, calm and even a bit boring is my preferred mode.

At its core, the church is all about relationships. Relationships are best when pursued one-on-one, little by little, rather than in general meetings.

The tradition of congregational meetings, however, is an important part of church history and a key element in our heritage. Before departing the boat that brought them to the shores of Massachusetts, the Pilgrims crafted and signed the Mayflower Compact, a key document in the development of modern democracies. The governing systems of our corner of the church grow up with this country - and with the movement toward modern democracies in general.

How we make decisions in a manner that empowers the general membership and discourages a religious hierarchy is an important part of our identity as Christians. It is hard to separate our faith from our polity.


It is also hard to understand churches without some conception of politics. The flow and distribution of power is a fascinating study. it is not, however, my preferred topic.

I used to get worked up about church meetings. Over the years I have been an active participant in church meetings at the local, Association, Conference and National arenas of our church. I have debated resolutions, campaigned for candidates and deliberated budgets. I have made motions to amend documents and tried to participate in ways that were good for the long-term health of the institution.

And, since becoming a pastor, there have been many nights before a congregational meeting where my sleep was not as comfortable as other nights. I guess that in the mix of things there are lots of things that are worse than losing a bit of sleep and if one is going to lose sleep a cause like the future of the church is worthy of the cost. I’m not the first to lose such sleep and there are many signs that such lost sleep has brought forth important contributions to church and society. Henry Martyn Robert was an engineering officer in the Army who was asked to preside over a meeting at a Congregational church. It has been reported that he didn’t know what he was doing and was embarrassed over the results. He simply couldn’t maintain order. He tried to find books to help him learn how to better conduct meetings and ended up writing Robert’s Rules of Order, which has become the primary guide for running public meetings and meetings of deliberative and legislative assemblies.

My contributions to such meetings is far more modest, but I have learned from experience a few things that I have invested in planning and equipping leaders for their position of moderating such meetings.

Decades ago I belonged to a Toastmasters club and took delight in trying to confuse the chair of the meeting with little-known parliamentary proceedings. It was part of the club to come up with motions and challenges to the order to hone the moderator’s skills as a parliamentarian. Members of the club used to carry copies of Robert’s Rules of Order to meetings with the page corners turned down to mark a particularly obscure parliamentary maneuver that might slow the meeting and provoke an opportunity to show off what they had studied.

A call for the question is technically nothing more than a rude outbreak. A motion to suspend debate can be used to close debate. A motion to the order of the day can be used to move forward to later agenda items leaving the issue at hand unresolved. A motion to suspend can remove an item from the agenda either temporarily or permanently. A motion to suspend the rules is not an invitation to chaos, but rather a formal motion with specific procedures that allows for a temporary suspension of a particular rule to enable a specific action that is desired by the majority of the assembly. Motion to suspend the rules is most often appropriately used to allow voice to a guest, to change the order of a previously-approved agenda or some other action that the assembly clearly wants to undertake.

The use of rules of order to advance the cause of a minority by clever manipulation of the rules is never in order.

A good rule of thumb when making motions is “Does this enable us to accomplish what we want to do?” I often ask myself, “Does this make the meeting longer or shorter?” Parliamentary procedure is supposed to make the gathering more, not less, efficient.

I’m not worried about today’s annual meeting of our congregation. The Board and Departments have done their homework. The reports are clear and easy to read. The budget is balanced and has responded to previously-raised concerns. The slate of nominees is full and the proposed members of Departments and committees are all well-qualified for their service. The moderator is a proven leader with sufficient skills to handle whatever may come up.

Furthermore, we are in a good place as a congregation. We are not facing a major crisis. We have some big challenges and some big dreams that lie ahead, but today’s meeting is pretty straightforward.

Still, I can tell I’m a bit nervous about the meeting. That is my sign that it is important. I get nervous before worship as well. It is not just a time of routine, life-as-usual. It is an important moment in which my participation needs to be carefully planned.

The nervous feeling in my stomach is a sign that I really care. I do.

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