Fun question

[heirmiles]

Over the years I've been to many church business meetings. On quite a few occasions "points of order" became more important than the issues being discussed. So my question is:

Do we as Baptists consider Robert's Rules of Order to be Deutero-canonical?

 

[Striver]

Only the portions about committees are canonized!

 

[heirmiles]

 

[cow451]

There has to be some structure to manage the long-winded control freaks. Because RRoO are so widely used, it's just easier to go that way. The real solution to Baptist Business meeting problems is (per my own experience) to avoid them.

 

[USCGrad90]

I think sometimes RRO may seem overwhelming, but I have been in enough heated meetings to know that there needs to be an established set of rules on how to conduct a civil meeting. People in business meetings sometimes vent on subjects that have nothing to do with the business at hand and are better dealt with in one-on-one consultation rather than in that setting. One thing I have found problematic for most churches is that the moderator typically is either the chairman of Deacons or the Pastor. This can prove problematic, because both are not typically neutral in the issues at hand. Our church recently changed our Bylaws to include a nominated Moderator, who directs meetings. This avoids conflicts of interest and gives you a neutral party to guide the meeting. Maybe harder to do in a small church, but it has served well in ours.