The NFL Teaches the Church Education Committee
How to Do Committees Better, #1
Your Christian Education committee meets ten times a year. Do these meetings have a purpose? What if they did? What if the co-chairs implemented a plan to use these ten meetings to advance the ministry area?
As my beloved Cleveland Browns seek to be relevant in the NFL, I have spent hours of car time listening to the podcast Cleveland Browns Daily. Every single interview with Head Coach Kevin Stefanski1 involves him talking of the plan. They use a plan for every practice and EVERY meeting.
Plan the Meeting, Work the Plan
Wow, that is a lot of plans. What we are seeking to do in Christian Education is just as important. Our purpose is to create opportunities for the spiritual growth of the worshipping congregation and those they invite to such opportunities.2
The 10 Committee Meeting Plan
Here is the plan we used at two churches to ensure a growing Christian Education ministry. This plan begins July 1 with committee member rotation by calendar year. Members serve on staggered 3-year terms with a five-year limit.
July - A two-hour meeting to confirm plans for Fall Launch on the second Sunday of September.3
August - No meeting. The committee is encouraged to meet with their area of assistance like the Sunday School leaders, youth leaders, or leaders of a variety of adult classes/small groups.
September - A 90-minute meeting to discuss and problem-solve rough spots in the fall ministry launch.
October - a 90-minute meeting to:
a. Receive with encouragement launch updates4
b. Discuss and problem-solve issues
c. Organize special meetings for Advent and Christmas special events
November - Dinner out at a restaurant (or at someone’s home). New committee members are encouraged to come. Outgoing members share their learnings. Everyone pays their way. The church covers outgoing members’ dinner.
December - No meeting, enjoy the season.
January - A 60-90-minute meeting to receive updates, problem-solve issues, and confirm leadership decisions for summer trips and ministry.
The Most Important Meeting of the Year
February - Arguably the most important meeting of the year. This is another dinner out or at someone’s home. It is fully brainstorming for the type of ministry we would love to see in 5 years. What creative ideas do we have for our ministry? Where do we want to be?
March - A 60-90-minute meeting to receive ministry updates, discuss and problem-solve issues, and form pairs/trios to explore some of the promising ideas from the February brainstorming time. Ask them to report in May.
April is for Recruitment for Next Year
April - A 60-minute meeting to discuss recruiting for the next year’s ministry leaders. Recruitment happens in May when spring is here, and people are happy about their ministries. Do plan for thanking present leaders.
May - A 60-minute meeting to:
a. Discuss recruitment issues
b. Discuss supporting summer events/trips.
c. Receive plans from the brainstorming groups. Hopefully, choose one to implement.5
June - No Meeting, enjoy summer.
In Conclusion
With this organizational model, we can envision how to plan each meeting to use the minutes together to support and grow the ministry. This model sees the committee as people involved in the ministries but not a group of all the leaders themselves. The committee sets goals, funds, and encourages ministry leaders.
The committee looks to the future and plans how to get there. Then we work to turn that plan into reality.
2020-Present. His favorite words are plan and scheme.
Future posts will explore the purpose of our churches and their ministries.
I have sometimes suggested we should launch on the 3rd Sunday if our church family is part of cottage culture. People in Michigan are still at the cottages the second weekend of September. The reason to start the week after Labor Day weekend is to set good patterns before the fall goes too far. Both arguments have merit.
This is not the time for critical probing questions. When we dig with critical questions we can unnerve our leaders. Ask probing questions with kindness. If you read a report that opens questions, email them to the leader who submitted the report ahead of time so they can answer those questions at the meeting with confidence.
Choose one or more. If you have a small committee, hold yourself to one new initiative and do that one well. If the committee is larger, maybe you can do two or three new initiatives.