Annual Meeting

Have you ever been to a church's annual meeting?  Growing up it was rather mundane.  Pass out a double-sided paper with the budget, follow Robert's Rules of Order, read last year's minutes, vote, adjourn, and pray. 

Then I went to Japan.  A lot of churches there call it an AGM (Annual General Meeting), which has more of a corporate feel unfortunately.  

It was my first introduction to a booklet, summarizing a year in the life of the church, including reports by the pastor, by the elders, & by the deacons, and reports of the Sunday school, the prayer meetings, the missions committee, etc.  Graphs, charts, lists & spreadsheets.  Amazing cover art incorporating a verse.  Etc.! 

And in the weeks leading up to the annual meeting, there would be "setsumei-kai," explanation meetings led by the pastor &/or elders on various days and at various times, so that everyone could attend one that worked for their schedule.  In these small group settings, there was ample opportunity for questions to be asked, concerns to be addressed, and information to be shared, so that the meeting itself wasn't made exponentially longer by answering everyone's questions.  It usually worked very well!  

I have grown to love a good annual meeting!  It's a wonderful time for the congregation as a whole to pause and consider the work God has done in the past year and to look ahead to His continued faithfulness to His promise to build His Church!