Can someone tell me whether the church is unique in holding meetings in which the amount of time devoted to meeting vastly outweighs the amount of business that is done? I’ve a suspicion that the church is far from unique in this but also that others also must know better how to manage business than we often do.
Of my last working week, I’ve given 11 hours to diocesan meetings and my estimate is that the amount of time needed during them for actual essential business was about 30 minutes – 45 minutes at the most. Even though I’m quite a believer in meetings and like keeping company with people and even though much of that time has been quite convivial, I do find myself questioning whether this was actually necessary. (I’m not including in that time the diocesan theology seminar either, which I think was worthwhile and also allowed me to meet someone interesting from the states for a good discussion about ministry. Curiously, we tend to regard such learning events as optional. The seminar and subsequent meal did take another four hours from the week).
Included within the 30 minutes quoted above is business that I (or as a cathedral, we) generated and I’m grateful for the responses of those with whom that business was discussed. However, I’d go so far as to suggest that the meetings have, generally speaking, neither helped me to run a busy cathedral church nor engage in the business of bringing a kingdom in.
I wonder whether I am mistaken in thinking that this is directly related to our abilities and capacity for mission.
Dah.veed, I’m not sure that Fr Kelvin owns a nice ‘T’ and did you know he knits his own pullovers? No end to this man’s talents.
I have thought for some time that meetings are all a conspiracy to keep us off the streets.
The worst thing, working in the university sector, is when the VC gets over-excited and bans biscuits in a cost-cutting measure. Then meetings are just a bunch of sad folk sitting in a room wishing they didn’t have to resort to the 200 for 29p teabags.