Kickstart 6 Session

A quick Google search will show how controversial and challenging meetings can be. One leader shares his experience: “I’ve participated in a meeting where our parish leadership team developed a new staff structure which clarified responsibilities, empowered employees, and enabled us to cast vision and mission throughout the parish. I have also been in a two-hour meeting where sixteen people debated the right place and time for our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to use hand sanitizer… and this was years before the Covid-19 pandemic!” The question, it seems, is not whether we should have meetings, but instead, how we should have meetings.

v5

We want to avoid meetings that lack focus, purpose, and follow through. Often, we gather for meetings without identifying the type of meeting we are about to have. Without clarifying why we are meeting, we often disengage people with the default to “going around the table” and having everyone make a report. No attention is given to time, priorities are not set, and ultimately nothing gets done. It no surprise that meetings are often resented. Despite this, we believe that meetings have the potential to be engaging, impactful, and even fun! When we take the time to form healthy practices around how we meet and why we meet, we open ourselves up to the power of the Holy Spirit enabling the fruit of our renewal to blossom.