Tuesday Report #6 Attend A Board Meeting

This past Tuesday (February 17th) I attended a board meeting at College Wesleyan Church. At 7:00PM both the Elder Board and the Deacon Board met for a casual dinner. At 7:30PM the members of the Elder Board left and the Deacon Board began there proceedings. I left at 8:00PM. (*Note* I got permission to do this blog late from Coach)

I would describe the decision-making of this board as casual parliamentary procedure. When an item (such as paying for a pastor's cell phone bill) was brought up a casual discussion ensued. Once everyone on the board had a clear understanding of the topic/issue Drury would ask for a motion to vote on the item. He then proceeded to ask for a second. Once, the second was acknowledged he asked that all would vote by saying "I" and then asked for any "Nays". The decision making of the board was slightly different from regular parliamentary procedure in the fact that the discussion was at the beginning instead of after the motion and the second. In general, the decision making was calm. There was not frustration or tension amongst the group in there decision making process. Once the topic was clearly understood, a vote was cast (which was always unanimous). In this sense, the board's decision making reflected a Consensus Model rather than a Parliamentary Model.

I learned that when a board (especially a board with few members) meets, Parliamentary Law is used in a more casual manner. Before attending this meeting I assumed when PL was used, it was used in a more direct and intense manner. Another thing I learned was that Parliamentary Law and Consensus Model Decision-making both are incorporated in the churches board meeting.