Quarterly Meetings

Can you believe it? We just closed the books on March and we are one quarter through the year. How are those New Year resolutions? Getting everything done that you had hoped? God willing, I’ll soon be posting some project managment techniques that are useful for managing those small and large projects that are on your list. For now, it is time to schedule a quarterly meeting with your ministry. Why? Several reasons:

1. Revisit your ministry vision and purpose
2. Review what the team accomplished over the last three months
3. Provide time for volunteers to fellowship, especially those with opposite schedules
4. Allow for the introduction of new volunteers to the entire team
5. Outline the next three months and put them into context with the big picture vision

These meetings can be informal at someone’s house (be sure to rotate homes if you do this) or a big meeting room, over snacks or over dinner, and using Powerpoint slides or sticky notes. The biggest rule is this: make it different than your average week. Make it stand out, as it will be better remembered later in the quarter when needed the most. Have fun with it, and encourage the group to open up and share ideas that they’ve had but didn’t have the right forum to bring up. Allow for a brainstorming period, and allow time for everyone to spend time just chatting about off-topic stuff. If you have quiet people, which is often the case for tech ministries, start with an ice breaker. Get people talking and laughing. And pray. Start with prayer, end with prayer, and get people praying for one another. These meetings can sometimes build a bond that will last for months, recharge everyone, and break the monotony.

One final rule: for a week before and after the meeting, lighten everyone’s load. Set expectations with staff and others that response times may be a little slower. Give them time to get their requests in beforehand, or set timelines for delivery a little longer than normal. This will prevent the meeting from being “one more thing” for volunteers to shuffle during a week, and will give them a well needed rest.

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