So goes the sentiment of millions of busy Americans every day. In the wake of COVID-19, “Zoom fatigue” has become a problem responsible companies must guard against. The current weariness with meetings is perhaps rivaled only by our wariness toward meetings. If we are not exhausted by them, we are certainly skeptical of their importance and benefits.
Religious people have good reasons to second-guess their exhaustion or skepticism about meetings. For example, most churches use confessions, constitutions, and/or covenants that express a commitment to gather regularly as the local body of Christ. While this commitment is first to come together for worship, the congregation experiences other kinds of gatherings.
Most Christians identify other meetings or gatherings as business meetings, member meetings, and/or denominational meetings. Such gatherings are at least implied in their church’s stated commitments. For example, here is an excerpt from the covenant of a historic Baptist church:
We will walk together in brotherly love, as becomes the members of a Christian Church, exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully admonish and entreat one another as occasion may require….We will work together for the continuance of a faithful evangelical ministry in this church, as we sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines.
Where does this endeavor happen? In a church hallway? During an in-home visit? Over the phone or through a text thread? Most would answer, “All of the above.” However, what about a special-called meeting? That is to ask, are there times the church family needs to come together to care, faithfully admonish, or work together to sustain our discipline or doctrine? Can we imagine a pressing question to be answered, a dispute to be resolved, or a crossroads to navigate? For whatever difficulties accompany meetings with our church family or sister churches, gathering to express our obedience to God and commitment to one another is essential. Wherever we differ on the how, when, or what, we should not doubt the why.
In the face of our weariness or wariness, I suggest four reasons why we meet as churches, reasons that clarify both the what and the why.
Strengthen Ties. It is next-to-impossible to grow together in love if we are never together in person. How often do preachers challenge those attending online church to return to in-person services? How often have they privately or publicly questioned absentee members’ commitment to grow and serve? Yet the same could be said of countless Christian leaders and laymen with respect to meetings. When we neglect meetings, we undermine our ability to strengthen relationships. Relational ties do more than help us stay informed, as valuable as that is. They help us grow in understanding, sympathy, concern, and trust.
Sometimes, the most surprising opportunity for strengthening these bonds is not even the meeting itself. Traveling to and from meetings with others provides personal opportunities to get to know one another better. Often, as we head home from a meeting, we need help thinking through what we have heard and seen. Sometimes the “water cooler” conversations during breaks provide similar opportunities to exchange notes. Whenever or wherever, no one would be coming together were it not for the meeting.
Discern and Decide. Most organizational documents require constituents to be physically present to make decisions. Some things simply cannot be mailed in.
Meetings give constituents, delegates, or members a chance to participate in a public hearing where a question, problem, or opportunity is presented. The issue can be debated, supported, opposed, or investigated. The toxicity of online culture does not provide adequate space for such deliberations. We need to be together. The closer the proximity, the less likely words will be twisted, nuance will be abandoned, and vital context will be overlooked.
The alternative is hearing everything second-, third-, or fourth-hand, and expecting to know what really happened and what was really said. Discernment and decision-making require presence. While we may not understand the stakes of every issue, we have no grounds to complain about decisions made in meetings we did not attend. Meetings provide the occasion to execute the will of a group of people — that is to say, the group that shows up.
Yet, showing up does not automatically convey we are already entrenched on any one side of the issue. Showing up conveys we cared enough to attend. Ideally, it shows we are prepared to be good-faith participants in the discussion and discernment of weighty concerns. We need to meet to discern and decide in wise, transparent, and healthy ways.
Clarify and Guard Identity. Assumed in a meeting is that it exists for a specific group of people. Presbyterians do not attend Baptist meetings and vice versa. Democrats do not attend Republican meetings and vice versa. Notwithstanding the handwringing over identity issues in the modern world, we would not have debates, conferences, podcasts, and publications if we did not think identity was somehow real and observable.
However, identity is not always static. It is dynamic, changing as the individuals who comprise the group change. Depending on the type of entity, the group likely has a core document to ground their identity over time. Still, anytime people and circumstances change, perspectives change. Focus shifts. Priorities migrate. Whether this reality is ideal or desirable is an entirely different question. Identity must be clarified, maintained, and even guarded.
How can we clarify and guard our identity if we never gather? If we never gather, how can we say with one voice, “This is where we stand,” or, “This is where we’re headed”? And, if we never gather, how do we know who “we” even is?
Test Ideas and Build Consensus. Many opt out of meetings because of the messiness and complexity of difficult issues. However, the stakes are not always high or overly ambiguous. Sometimes, a meeting agenda is not full of potential landmines. Instead, a regularly scheduled meeting is an opportunity for people to gather to test ideas and potentially build consensus.
Recently I enjoyed Cal Newport’s book Slow Productivity. Newport emphasizes the need for those in “knowledge work” to do fewer things and work at a natural pace (opposed to a frenetic one). This approach paves the way to focus more on quality not quantity. The author provides numerous examples of some of the greatest and most fruitful breakthroughs happening through a slower, more deliberate process. Meetings provide space for that deliberation.
Unfortunately, people often attend a meeting without a clear agenda, and they leave frustrated or bored. Other times, people are not prepared to participate in an honest exchange of ideas on substantive issues. They just want to move quickly through an agenda, enjoy a free meal and fellowship, and head home. This mindset misses the vital opportunity to test ideas and build consensus.
A Problem of Thirds
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges to meeting is not simply the lack of a clear why but the who. Three groups exist in most every Christian entity, whether church, denominational body, or parachurch organization.
First, the establishment shows up for everything, seldom rocks the boat, and often pays the minimal dues (literally or otherwise). If nothing else, they are reliable. But their greatest weakness is to assume the organization will always be around. They often exist blissfully unaware as problems slowly multiply below the surface.
Second, the disengaged take part in as little as possible. They are often uninformed or misinformed. When asked to participate, they ask — aloud or to themselves — “What’s in it for me?” Their greatest weakness is a willingness to benefit directly or indirectly from something to which they are unwilling to commit, while withholding valuable input, energy, and resources.
The final group holds the most promise but may be at most risk: leaders. They are involved. They contribute. They labor. They care. But they are tired, pulled in too many directions. They try to pick up more and more slack while the establishment gradually recedes from participation and the disengaged remain skeptical, cynical, or aloof on the sidelines.
The strengths and contributions of leadership are clear, but the weaknesses nearly overshadow them: if something does not change, leaders will transition to the establishment, or worse yet, disengage completely. This is a direct result of divided focus, frustration, and disappointment. Without a clear understanding of meetings and their purpose, no one will be a healthy, long-term participant at the table.
A commitment to a Christian organization is not only a commitment to God, but is also a commitment to others and generations yet unborn. If we do not steward our ministries wisely, caring especially about the parts that require patience, organization, and vision (meetings), then we will not leave healthy ministries for our descendants to steward. We owe our descendants more than that.
About the Writer: W. Jackson Watts, Ph.D has been the pastor of Grace Free Will Baptist Church in Arnold, Missouri, since 2011. He and his wife Mckensie have two children. His other writings can be found at www.churchatopia.com.
