Law Meets Gospel Josh S. Tatum

Based on my experience with meetings good and bad, I’ve compiled some tips from both practical and parliamentary sources to get any group on the right track.

Start on time. Identify the meeting’s goals and each agenda item’s goal ahead of time. Set time limits for each agenda item. Have all reports submitted in writing with enough advance time for board members to read them, and have any recommendations for action highlighted in the reports. Use unanimous consent for uncontroversial questions. Don’t vote on minutes. Ask for any changes. If there are none, the minutes are adopted by unanimous consent. When a report contains only information and not any recommendations for action, don’t vote on it. When a motion comes from a committee, don’t ask for a second. The committee is presumed to include at least two in favor of its consideration. (Also, in small boards—about a dozen or fewer—motions need not be seconded.) Clearly articulate any desired action, typically in the form of a motion, to focus discussion. Don’t wait until the end of discussion to make a motion. If you’ve finished all business contained in the agenda, don’t vote to adjourn. After giving everyone an opportunity to present additional business, just adjourn.

Josh concludes his conversation with Derek Nelson, coauthor of Resilient Reformer: The Life and Thought of Martin Luther, this time exploring the legacy of Luther's thought on Western society's concepts of religion and government.

Josh continues his conversation with Derek Nelson, coauthor of Resilient Reformer: The Life and Thought of Martin Luther, this time focusing on Luther’s attitudes about government’s role in governing religion.

Derek Nelson, coauthor of Resilient Reformer: The Life and Thought of Martin Luther, shares some of the attitudes and work of Martin Luther toward the relationship of Church and government.

Before Martin Luther became a monk, he was a rather successful student whose father encouraged his path into the study of law. Informed in part by his brief stint in law school and other encounters with lawyers in his day, he developed a distaste and distrust for the profession as a whole. Derek Nelson, coauthor of Resilient Reformer: The Life and Thought of Martin Luther, helps explain what a lawyer did in sixteenth-century Germany, what studying the law would have been like, and what Luther thought about the law. Subscribe to the Law Meets Gospel Podcast iTunes Google Play RSS Support the Law Meets Gospel Podcast Patreon.com Sign up to contribute an amount you choose for each episode the Law Meets Gospel Podcast publishes.

When organizations lack accountability mechanisms, they can become stagnant. When someone suggests implementing some accountability or asks specific questions about current practices, the person responsible for that aspect of the faith community's life often takes it as a personal attack. But when a community values accountability as a necessary part of good stewardship, moments of accountability can serve to improve the organization's mission. Developing a culture of accountability takes time, but the process can be served by bringing in an outsider without personal connections to share what best practices look like. The three areas to focus on first in developing this culture are finances, child protection, and employee evaluation. Subscribe to the Law Meets Gospel Podcast iTunes Google Play RSS Support the Law Meets Gospel Podcast Patreon.com Sign up to contribute an amount you choose for each episode the Law Meets Gospel Podcast publishes.