Church Staff Meetings

One of the things I never thought much about when I began full time ministry was the prospect of spending up to 5 hours a week (sometimes more) sitting in administration meetings. I think it’s fair to say that few people like meetings. Most people see them as a necessary task probably designed to teach us endurance.

Knowing that most people don't want to be at meetings should shape the way we run them, so here are my 6 tips for people running church staff administration meetings.

1. Make sure that your staff team read the Bible together at least once in the week. And I mean really read it. If you've done anything right with the people you've hired, your staff team will most likely be filled with people who love Jesus and want to read his word - so this shouldn't be too unrealistic a goal. Reading the Bible as a team brings Jesus to the forefront of whatever plans you're about to make, helps establish team unity, and helps the staff team to encourage each other on the important stuff. Doing this regularly will help set the tone of the way in which a staff team relate - and Godly people in meetings will make meetings far more bearable.
As an aside - I think staff Bible time needs to be more than just reviewing a sermon, or thinking through a point of application for an upcoming talk. These things need to be done, but cannot and should not be substitutes for sitting under the scriptures together.

2. Have an agenda. There is nothing worse than fronting up to a meeting, knowing that something needs to be discussed today, and not getting to that important issue because everyone wants to give their opinion on the way supper should be handed out next week. As you set the agenda think about how important each issue is. If it's not that important does it need to be the on the agenda at all? (can you just take it up at another time with the person involved?) Perhaps it can have a limited time slot in the meeting. Explain your agenda to your team at the start, and if you're no good at keeping time, ask someone to make sure that the meeting moves along as it should.

3. Have some items on the agenda that are open to discussion, and others that are not. Some things simply need to be reported and prayed about, and then moved on from. If you don't make it clear that a certain item is not being discussed, you fall behind time from agenda item one. Some issues need all minds to be engaged on them, others only need a few. If you are in charge of the meeting explain to people what kind of agenda item you are dealing with.

4. Don't make meetings too long. Most attention spans are only an hour, an hour and a half at best. This will mean you might have to have more smaller meetings through the week, rather than just one big all in nightmare. Items that come to be discussed after the 1.5 hour mark just won't get the attention or creativity of thought that they deserve.

5. Think about where your meetings are held. Is the atmosphere conducive to what you're trying to do? Meeting in an enormous room with everyone sitting far apart won't help you to do intimate Bible study. Sitting in a poorly lit or cold room won't help people be creative and come up with exciting new ventures for the church. Some meetings work better in a lounge room, others need to be around a table. Have more than one meeting space for your meetings. Some suggestions: Book a regular table at a cafe, meet in the church hall, meet at someone's house etc. Don't do meetings outside. It just doesn't work.

6. Deal with distractions. It is impossible to have an effective staff meeting if people are distracted. Have a clear policy on laptops and enforce it. Ask people to turn off their phones during the meeting. Ask people to save their private discussions until after the meeting has finished. Don't feel like you have to answer every question that someone raises. Often people distract the whole meeting from an agenda by asking questions that could be asked later.