To Church Leaders: Read This Concerning Your Meetings

I came across an article entitled “On Process: Finding Ways to Make Progress as a Community” by Neil de Koning that focused on what Christians should strive after in their meetings. It is so good that I will not make any comment, except to highlight the article’s main points. Instead, just go read it.

On Process:

1. Every good process respects the people involved….

2. Every good process demands that the participants commit to respect others in it and the community which engages it….

3. Every good process is designed according to the outcomes desires….

4. Every good process needs to include a way of listening to the voice of God….

On Robert’s Rules of Order:

Robert’s Rules are not designed to foster prayerful listening to God, discernment processes that include times of silence, or a discussion on the meaning of a particular passage of Scripture. For these things to take place, we need to break out of the pattern of debate and into another process.

On Discernment:

What is particularly helpful is the deliberate desire and focus on discerning the will of God and the desire to submit to it. It tries to remove the “I want” from the conversation. Because the constant question is “what does God desire?” this process demands a willingness to set aside our desire. The communal process means that the outcome is based more on developing unity in our call to serve Christ than debating difference.

…

Sometimes “God-language” can be manipulative. Some people can be skilled at using their authority and knowledge or guilt and shame to manipulate others into silence. Difference can then be understood as disobedience to God.

Again, go read it.