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Leading A Meeting

25 Principles on Leading Meetings

25 PRINCIPLES ON LEADING A MEETING These are practical points on how to lead a meeting on a Sunday.

1. START ON TIME Starting on time is crucial; punctuality honours people, glorifies God, and builds trust. Two minutes past is not on time. Being punctual builds trust with people and also gives people confidence that they can invite visitors.

2. WORSHIP IS A FORM OF LEADERSHIP Ephesians 5:19 encourages singing spiritual songs to one another and to the Lord. In other words, there are two components to worship. Worship involves proclamation to people of the truth of who God is, and it involves praising the Lord and people having intimate moments with God. You’ve got to be able to read the moment in worship as you govern the meeting. Are we proclaiming right now, or are people connecting with God? It’s important that you able to read the moment in worship.

3. SILENCE IN A MEETING Silence can be an amazing moment in a meeting. When we just pause everything and focus on God. There is a moment in the book of Revelation 8:1 that talks about silence in heaven; however, there are also loud noises. While silence can be powerful, overusing it or allowing distractions can dilute its impact. In addition, the person leading the meeting doesn’t look like he knows what to do in this moment of silence it becomes distracting. How do you know if a moment of silence is not going down well? Just simply look over your shoulder. Suppose people are not worshipping but starting to look around or at their phones; it’s probably not having the impact it could have. Well-timed and purposeful silence that builds people’s faith and deepens their worship is what we strive for.

4. CONTRIBUTION OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS Spiritual gifts should be administered in the meeting within a team. In fact, you may be leading a meeting, but we do it within a team. We decide what spiritual gifts need to be released from within a team. Sometimes we can make the mistake that many words mean that the meeting is anointed. However, sometimes the meeting just becomes swampy where there many words that are saying different things, and there is no real connection, and it seems as if the meeting has no direction. Be careful when people bring words that are causal or injured person or immature in their faith. You should be reserved about releasing those words, rather listen to their contribution before giving them the mic and probably best to share the word yourself before giving them the mic.

5. TAKING UP TITHES AND OFFERINGS Two mistakes people make when they take up the offering is firstly they can handle it flippantly. I once heard someone say, “Let’s do the tithe thing and carry on with the meeting.” Think about what people are doing; people take the first fruits of their salary and give to God as an act of worship. Offerings hold spiritual significance and should be treated with reverence. However, on the other hand, people if you spend ages talking about tithes and offerings, it can appear that you’re manipulating people and worshipping money. You’ve got to find the balance between not treating it flippantly but keeping the focus on Jesus. Now and then, we’ll teach into money in a preaching series. Make sure the offering is taken before the preaching in order for people not to feel guilt-tripped into giving. The way that giving is done well is when you yourself are generous and you do not get into manipulative games.

6. BREAKING BREAD IN A MEETING When it comes to breaking of bread in a meeting, be intentional but release people do not control them. At the same time, don’t be so unintentional that people, such as visitors, that they not too sure what to do. Lead it intentionally, like the early church who broke bread together with glad and sincere hearts (Acts 2:46). There needs to be gladness and sincerity. Use it as a moment to glorify Jesus and bring people into his presence.

7. BAPTISM Baptisms are a celebration of the goodness of God, and they should reflect that. You should ask this question publicly when someone’s getting baptised, “How did you meet Jesus?” not necessarily “Why are you getting baptised”, because the first question allows people to hear their testimony, whereas the second one is simply a biblical answer that you can give to people. It becomes a celebration when people hear how others met Jesus and make a moment where people can be ministered to. Use it as a platform to teach and to bring the Gospel. Try as much as possible to bring baptisms into the meeting.

8. BABY DEDICATIONS Don’t rush baby dedications, but at the same time, don’t bore people. Be sincere and hearty. It’s very important you remember the baby’s name and the names of the parents.

9. TESTIMONIES If you will be releasing a testimony, hear it before releasing it. Get the timing right of the testimony. Sometimes it may require coaching people on how they share their testimony.

10. VISION ANNOUNCEMENTS When you are trying to take people in a certain direction. We have to be careful that vision announcements are not simply an announcement that dispenses information. You’ve got to envision people embracing it, loving it, attending it, praying for it, talking about it. Be careful what you’re asking people to go to; if it’s badly planned and a disaster, they may not be too keen to go. Think through very carefully what you’re asking people to go to since it will build trust. There should be no more than 3 announcements on a Sunday, including “Church News”. If it doesn’t pertain to more than 50% of the church, it should not be shared from the pulpit. It’s better to send a personal Whatsapp. In addition, pick your words wisely and move people to a clear cause of action. For example, “Sign up for the course at the involvement desk.” Consider also what motivates people; some people are motivated by logic. In other words, they’re thinking to themselves as they’re listening, “Does this make sense?” other’s are motivated by emotion and heart, “How does this make me feel?” still others are motivated by a spiritual significance, “Where do we see this in Scripture?” Think through how people are motivated when giving visionary announcements.

11. INTRODUCING GUEST SPEAKERS When introducing guest speakers, it’s important to honour them but don’t overdo it. Make sure the focus is on Jesus, not necessarily the guest speaker.

12. ENDING A MEETING When you end a meeting, stick to the time. If you feel like God is still ministering and people are being prayed for, then close the meeting for everyone else and continue ministering to people. If you end on time, you’ll continue to build long-term trust with people who will feel confident to invite others.

13. TRANSITIONING A MEETING Consider how you move from one element of the meeting to another, it takes a bit of skill, and it helps to know in advance what the different components are of a meeting and to make sure you’ve considered how you will transition between them. Be decisive, be filled with faith and know where you going.

14. PULL VS PUSHING PEOPLE When leading a meeting, don’t push people to do things. Rather draw them in by painting what you see God doing rather than pushing them around. This is a good principle when it comes to leading a meeting.

15. CALLING PEOPLE TO THE FRONT When calling people to the front, honour them. It’s taken courage to come to the front. Treat them with dignity and respect. Don’t expose them or parade them on the stage. In addition, remove the surprise factor when calling people to the front. Prime people that you will call them to the fact rather than surprising them.

16. DON’T OVERKILL SOMETHING A meeting is like a wave, it’s important to jump off at the right time. Rather than leave the people hungry for more, dragging something out for hours,

17. DON’T COMMAND PEOPLE Don’t command people. Don’t force them to kneel or raise their hands. Rather invite them to but make people feel free in a meeting. This is not the army.

18. WHEN TECHNOLOGY CRASHES When technology fails, don’t blame the sound team or the volunteers working behind the scenes. Simply acknowledge that they’re working hard to fix the issue, celebrate them and move on.

19. LEARN TO CELEBRATE Learn to celebrate! Smile! God is on the throne he is good, there is something to celebrate.

20. DISTRACTIONS IN A MEETING If there is a distraction in a meeting, kill it with neglect. It’s better not to draw attention to it over the microphone.

21. THEOLOGICAL HERESY If there’s heresy over the microphone. You’ve got to talk about it! For instance, if someone says, “We can’t really believe the Bible” – You’ve got to get up and change that. If someone says, “We don’t really believe miracles are for today” You’ve got to get up and change that. Do it gracefully! You can say something like, “That guy has got his opinion but as a church, this is what we believe” and then quote a Scripture.

22. WHEN SUPERNATURAL EVENT TAKES PLACE Explain it! Use it as a teaching moment, but keep the focus on Jesus.

23. BE A TEAM Use the other elders on the team to sort out disturbances or things that are happening maybe behind the scenes. Not everything has to be sorted out from the microphone.

24.KEEP YOUR EYE’S OPEN Keep your eyes open, including the worship leader. We work as a team and we sense the atmosphere with our eyes open.

25. DON’T LET THE MINORTY HIGHJACK THE MAJORITY Just because three very enthusiastic people are in the front doesn’t mean everyone is. Consider the majority and how they perceive the meeting. These are three questions you should ask when leading a meeting. Are the people involved? Is Jesus glorified? Are people meeting with God?