Healthy Church Practice for Decisions
A camel is a horse designed by a committee, or so goes the saying oft used to point out that all of us can sometimes be less clever than any of us. Yet, one the greatest works of English lituerature was the work of a committee. The King James Bible remains perhaps our church’s greatest gifts to the English speaking world and it was the end result of committee work.
The simple fact is that the Rector, Wardens, and Vestry should not consider every detail of church life in their meetings. Except in very specific and limited circumstances, vestries ought not function as a committee-of-the-whole. Committees are the better places to look at details. Hours devoted to fact-finding followed by thoughtful discussion including hearing varying viewpoints and weighing the alternatives can be handled there, so that the recommendation to the vestry will carry more weight and need less detail work. Functioning in this way makes vestry meeting time more productive.
As a parish priest, I loved many (perhaps all) things much more than a committee meeting. However, the work accomplished in our Finance Committee or Memorial Garden Committee and the work of so many other event-oriented committees and groups not only allowed us to function better as a vestry, but they also offered a way in to church leadership for members who gifts were needed by the church, but who either did not care to run for vestry or who, by virture of not having had a place to exercise leadership in the parish, were not yet likely to be elected. Asking someone to serve on a committee whose work really matters to the congregation is a great way to encourage someone into more involvement. The key is for the committee members to see a return on investment in that the time spent in the committee meeting matters to the church.
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This week’s convention will demonstrate the power of committees. Without the advance work by the Diocesan Council, the Committee on Constitution and Canons, the Finance Committee and others, the work of the convention would take far longer. But by having fully worked through the key legislation over the past year, we are now at the point to consider the matters before us more productively. We know that our work will not result in something so wonderful as the King James translation. But, we also know that the matters tended to in advance by our committees will make it possible for the Diocese as a whole to tend to the issues that will make spiritual and numeric growth of the Diocese not only possible, but more likely. This is a great return on investment for those who gave of their time to prepare for our meeting.
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon for Congregational Ministries
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