Seasons 4 Meetings

The season for meetings and AGMs is almost over. The church's AGM went for 6 hours from 10.10am to 4.10pm today. That was the fifth and last AGM after four AGMs within 6 weeks for the four ministry wings, children's, youths', men's and women's fellowships. There were meetings in preparation of the meeting.
The election of deacons took more than 2 hours today as the congregation overruled the council's decision to have nominations closed for candidates a week before. Our constitution gives ultimate power to the congregation as a whole in an AGM and this makes life interesting and unpredictable for leaders and pastors alike. But there were no major surprises today and almost 90 members attended the AGM and that was a huge turnout for a small church. A total of 64 adults stayed behind to the end when election of deacons took place after lunch. Yet it was good to see how a pekan (township) church operate in its AGM. In many ways a local church after in existence for 70 years (though the church I pastor is only 8 years old) becomes an organisation and an institution with its rules and regulations. If applied with a light touch according to its context and needs of the church, then rules serve as guide and give form to church order, discipline and leadership. But if it is applied too rigidly it can squeeze the life out of a ministry or church. The church should always be a movement first and foremost and only an organisation in the secondary sense because the unity of the faith is achieved in the Spirit and outward forms cannot measure the internal dynamics of the life and ministry of a church. Yet organisation is not unimportant since with proper organization comes solidity and structure that can support the growth of a church better than one which is too loose with its rules. All the same I am glad at the local church level the season of meetings is over and only the District level AGM remains in May and the State-wide AGM for the denomination is scheduled at the end of November.