Church Forms Committee to Reduce Meetings, Immediately Runs Out of Meeting Rooms
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA — A local congregation's newly formed Committee for Fewer Meetings has requested three additional meeting rooms after discovering that reducing meetings would require considerably more meetings than originally projected.
“Our volunteers are exhausted,” said committee chair Dennis Pruitt, distributing a 47-page agenda titled Making Space for What Matters. “We need to give them their evenings back. Is everybody available Tuesday, Thursday, and the first three Saturdays?”
The initiative began after a church survey found that 83 percent of respondents wanted fewer surveys, shorter meetings, and an opportunity to finish the sandwich they had brought from work.
Leaders responded by scheduling a listening session to determine whether respondents meant fewer meetings numerically or spiritually.
By the end of its first gathering, the committee had established subcommittees for Scheduling, Agenda Simplification, and Prayerfully Determining Whether This Needs a Subcommittee.
The last group will meet twice weekly until it reaches consensus.
Volunteer Marlene Voss proposed canceling the following meeting as a practical first step. Her motion was warmly received and referred to the Cancellation Discernment Team, whose next available appointment is in February.
“We don't want to rush into less rushing,” Pruitt explained.
To demonstrate immediate progress, the committee shortened its name to CFM. The resulting 11 minutes of saved typing were allocated to a special session on whether the abbreviation adequately communicated the ministry's heart.
Meanwhile, the fellowship hall's wall calendar has been replaced with a second wall.
Pastor Glenn Haskett praised the committee's commitment to protecting family time, speaking briefly before leaving to chair an emergency meeting about why nobody was home.
Members remain optimistic. Voss said the group had already identified one activity that could be eliminated without affecting the church's mission.
“Dinner,” she said.
At press time, the committee had agreed that the entire discussion could have been an email and appointed six people to draft it.
