mgpcpastor's blog

Last night the mgpc elders met for fellowship, study, pastoral care and prayer. Typically we do this in the lounge room of one of our homes.
In a couple of weeks we’ll meet for policy, business and prayer. This meeting occurs at the mgpc property, in our fellowship room around the table.
We moved to two designated meetings a month a year or two ago (time flies).
One meeting a month was problematic on a number of levels.
First, they generally go too long. After a day at work I don’t want these guys in full meeting mode after 9.00 or 9.30pm. (Let alone 10.30 or 11.00 *shudder*) They’re too tired, they have to get to work the next day, and having lots going on in their minds is not conducive to a good night’s sleep, even when they get home.
Second, the situation in which a meeting takes place helps that meeting flow. It’s hard to do formal decision based work in a room where everyone’s seated around the perimeter of the room in armchairs. Get around a table (preferably square or round) and get papers in front of you. But it’s hard to relate and fellowship around that same table. Much better in the less formal surroundings of a home. There’s a sort of beverage based indicator about this, too. If you’re drinking coffee and sharing food while doing it, it’s more likely to be fellowship, if you’re not, it’s more likely to be business.
Third, the temptation is to do the formal business, look at the clock and see it’s either already late, or that there’s the chance for an early night and to clam up and not add new business or ideas to the meeting. Watch someone who’s sat on a new item all night realise there’s not point raising it at the end of the meeting because it’s pushing up toward 11.00pm. Not good.
Extending meeting times or starting earlier usually doesn’t work, because most people fall into a pattern of having the (‘important and necessary’) business expand to fill whatever time is allowed, with that which is deemed optional falling off the agenda or being remaindered to the next meeting.
Longer meetings are not the answer. (Better chairing of meetings does help though.)
A change of culture is required so people’s attitude to what outcomes are being sought and what their contribution will be are much clearer.
So, we split our Elders Meetings, and meet twice a month.
They start at 7.30, and typically the guys have the option to be away somewhere before 9.30. I don’t think our overall time spent in meeting is actually much longer than when I arrived, but this system has proved a lot more efficient and beneficial for us and for our leadership of mgpc.
I haven’t noticed anyone falling asleep for a while now.
I’d recommend any church leaders consider a similar path.

I read an article by Ryan Huguley where he describes a three meeting pattern which the eldership at his church use.
Note the underlying purpose inherent in the sentence: ‘We meet multiple times monthly and work to insure that our meetings add value not only to the individuals present in the meetings, but also the congregation at large that the Lord has entrusted to our care.’
Do our meetings add value, or do they simply exist to take up our time?
A lot of frustration with meetings is because of the conscious or subconscious conviction that we are not adding value; our two meeting strategy has helped us address that problem.
In this excerpt he describes the distinct purpose of each meeting:

Because of the sheer number of necessary meetings and the unhealthy nature of many “leadership team meetings”, we’ve given great attention to our elder meetings. Elders are the leaders of the church, also called pastors, bishops, and overseers in the New Testament (Eph 4:11; 1 Pet 5:2; Acts 20:28). We meet multiple times monthly and work to insure that our meetings add value not only to the individuals present in the meetings, but also the congregation at large that the Lord has entrusted to our care.

After much trial and error, exploring what other churches are doing, and studying the Biblical role of eldership, we’ve landed on three types of elder meetings that take place each month.

1. Action Meetings

Our Action Meetings are about leading Redemption at large and focus on three spheres – Doctrine, Direction, and Discipline.
– Doctrinally we may deal with any false teaching threatening our people, work toward greater clarity in various theological issues, or discuss how to more Biblically structure our church.
– Directionally we assess the execution of the vision God has given us and work to more effectively implement our ministry strategy.
– In addition, we discuss any areas of church discipline that may be looming and require our attention.
We’ve designated our Action Meetings as the time we make decisions (through unanimous vote), discuss policy, and love our church through intentional leadership.

2. Shepherding Meetings
Where Action Meetings are about leading the church, Shepherding Meetings are about leading our leaders, in our case, the pastor/elders. We don’t vote and we don’t make decisions. Shepherding Meetings are an opportunity to look at the hearts and lives of our leaders and challenge, train, and grow together. We discuss personal pursuit of Jesus, marriage, parenting, and the skills necessary to shepherd the people God has entrusted to us.
In our last Shepherding Meeting, for example, we gave great attention to and had fierce conversation around how to best share the gospel with those who don’t know Jesus. It stretched, challenged, and blessed each of us personally and will inevitably translate into greater fruit for Redemption at large.

3. Coaching Meetings
Action Meetings are about the church, shepherding meetings are about the team, and coaching meetings are about the individual. I meet regularly (typically monthly) for specific and one-on-one coaching with each of our pastors. We discuss how to apply individually, the things we’re discussing corporately. We talk about the pastor’s heart and relationship with Jesus, his wife, his kids, and the ministry he is particularly responsible for at Redemption.