Business meetings should not be about “business” when it comes to the local church. “Do all things decently and in order” is a misapplied and underwhelming approach to church business meetings. Misapplied because those words actually refer to not allowing tongues to confuse the worship service and stand as an exegetical leap to apply to a business meeting. Underwhelming in the sense the phrase to do things “decently and in order” falls well short of a worthy accomplishment of a business meeting. Sure our meetings should be decent and in order but they should also be much more!
Business meetings should be about the biblical business of the church and the biblical business of the church according to Scripture is to make more and better disciples (Matt. 16:18; 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; 2:47; 16:5). Business meetings then should be considered successful, not if they are done decently and in order, but if they advance the biblical mission of the church.
Last night, in my opinion, Grace had a successful business meeting. Not because the budget passed with 98% support but because the mission of the church was the focus. There were two events in particular last evening which exemplified the centrality of our mission for more and better disciples.
The first event was our taking on the Kosiorek family heading to Togo, Africa as missionaries. This is the first time in many years Grace has had the privilege of seeing one of our own called to the mission field. Last night we made a commitment to the advancement of the gospel in Africa. What a joy it is to see such purposeful ministry be a part of the budget.
The second event was our prayer time. Senior Pastor Don Shirk led the congregation out to our new auditorium (still under construction) to pray for our future. To illustrate and focus our prayer, we circled around the children and teens that were there. We then prayed not only for these teens and children but for our responsibility as a church to remain an example of faith to them and to train them in the Scriptures. Here is a video of a portion of our prayer time (turn the volume way up to hear the audio).
Business meetings should be about much more than “business.” They should be about the mission of the church both present and future. Colossians 3:2 counsels, “Set your mind on things above and not on the earth.” A successful business meeting will do just that!
“The most powerful preacher I have ever heard!” is the testimony of Denny Morrill upon hearing who will be this year’ s speaker for the Men’s Adventure. I’m sure he means next to Pastor Shirk, of course. Dr. David C. Gibbs Jr. founder and president of the Christian Law Association will address the 800 men expected at Central Baptist Church in Binghamton February 17th and 18th . Dr. Gibbs has authored several books most notable of which is “One Nation Under God: Ten Things Every Christian Should Know About the Founding of America.”
