How a church AGM should work

(and rarely does)

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How it should work

The church AGM is a unique opportunity to thank people.

As many as possible of those who contribute to the Church life should be named and thanked. Not just those presenting reports, but the members of various committees, the volunteers who serve morning tea, those who give Special Religious Education ("Scripture" classes) in schools, the pianists who play at services in retirement villages and nursing homes... everyone whether paid or volunteer (and it doesn't need to be spelled out whether or not they are paid).

These people should each be asked in advance whether they are comfortable to be named, and if they decline this should be respected. They should still be mentioned just not by name... For example if one SRE teacher declines, the thank you to the others should go "Our SRE teachers include..." and just name those who have agreed to be named.

And yes, some helpful individual will interject with the name of a person who has specifically asked not to be named... and the chairperson should simply offer to speak to the interjector quietly afterwards, and if they persist the meeting should adjourn for five minutes to allow the chairperson and two other elders to gently advise the interjector to desist. This will not happen every meeting but we need to be ready for it.

How it should not work 

Some nightmare stories.

One AGM I attended was on a weeknight at 7:30 pm. At 7:30 sharp the minister began to "constitute the meeting" with his prepared devotions. We did not quite have a quorum, even at 7:30. Much less at 8:15 when, most of those having turned up at 7:30 having quietly gone home, we began the agenda proper.

See also why are sermons long. This was a case in point.  

And more to follow