A better way of doing church staff meetings?

I recently spoke with a friend of mine after a long absence. Both our families had attended church together in the 1990s but had lost touch after we both moved on to new congregations. I recognized the church he said he was now attending as one with a great reputation in the community. I asked him how things were going.

"Great!" he replied. "I stay away from committees and boards and just enjoy myself now!"

We shared a chuckle at the expense of our previous church. In its denomination, that congregation is known as one of the most traditional churches in the nation. My friend and I were both veterans of the "worship wars" of the mid 90s. We joked about numerous wasted evenings wrestling with critical issues like the color of carpeting and the menu of the annual church picnic.

I have lived through my share of crazy power struggles, too, so I empathize with my friend. However, I also feel sad for him and his church. He is an individual at the "top of his game" and the congregation would surely benefit from his experience and insight.

Mark Yaconelli, founder of the Sabbath retreats and co-director of the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project, addressed the need for a more contemplative approach to the staff meeting in a 2003 Youthworker Journal article. Although Yaconelli never directly states the words "spiritual direction" he describes a group discernment process.

The process doesn't fit into either the informal or business models in practice at churches today. Rather, it "...seeks to assign prayer, relationships, and discernment as the primary tasks of a Christian meeting."

The beginning of the meeting features a short opening ritual that consecrates the meeting, changing the context from ordinary to sacred time and space." The meeting then proceeds into steps of relating, receiving, ruminating, and reflecting. These steps will be familiar to anyone who has ever practiced lectio divina, except that it is played out in a group setting. Only after this process are the business items on the agenda addressed. The meeting ends with prayers of thanksgiving and blessing. It is suggested that the leadership of the meeting is shared or rotated. Yaconelli states that two criticisms of taking this approach over more common models will be "lack of productivity" and "wasted time."

Anticipated criticism aside, I am interested in participating in a meeting with this structure. There is no denying that current models leave much to be desired, so why not try something that may allow for a better discernment process? An attitude of expectation may go a long way in snuffing out the sometimes adversarial relationships that are often evidenced on boards. It may also have the benefit of coaxing good people like my friend back into leadership!

Work Cited
Yaconelli, Mark. "Staff Meetings: A Contemplative Approach." Youthworker 2003.