6 Ideas for Connecting with God in Meetings [Fall Focus Ideas – 2]

This is in a 3-part series on “Fall Focus Ideas” to encourage us to pause and see what new ways we can change to finish the year well.

• 2 Ideas To Not Waste Fall’s Opportunity For Change
• 6 Ideas For Connecting With God In Meetings
• 2 Questions to Refocus on God in Everyday Life

Connecting with God in Meetings?

Meetings can be difficult. Dry. Impersonal. Driven by an issue or a particular person. Boring.

And that includes in the church.

I know because I’ve led some of those. So I find myself regularly experimenting on what it looks like to be turned toward the presence of God and His work in a meeting. Where we are drawn to Him. And we are drawn together in the team. 

In this, it helps to remind myself that a meeting is another expression of the life lived in Christ. It carries all the elements of our personal spiritual lives into our life together. And it is good for us to look for such moments in the middle of a meeting. Challenges or change come for various reasons but the Holy Spirit may lead us into something new if we listen.

There’s a good chance that how you lead a meeting may reflect how you live your devotional life.

There’s a good chance that how you lead a meeting may reflect how you live your devotional life.

How can we work more with God and not just do the work of God in our meetings? 

There are a number of ways we can encourage and nurture a sense of God’s presence in our meetings. A particular note is to know when something should possibly interrupt the agenda or even a conversation. 

• Expressing (or reminding or reading Scripture) of God’s goodness in a tumultuous moment.
• Pausing to listen for the Holy Spirit over an issue or problem, especially where consensus may be difficult.
• Personal (or as a team) confession on things done wrong, poor motives, etc.
• Giving thanks and celebrating! (There are plenty of problems so celebrate the victories!)
• Being overwhelmed in the moment by a sense of who God is in some way (such as His goodness or generosity). 
• Slowing down conversation with emphasis on listening (even silence) and exploring with non-leading questions.

Bringing these type of things “in the moment” is great. But if this is new for a team, here are some practical questions I’ve found useful that can be good prompts to enter your team into God’s work already done or coming:

• As you prayerfully reflect, what in our work in the past few weeks prompts joy and gratitude? What left you with the least joy or gratitude?
• In prayerful reflection, what in our budget brings gratitude and joy? What brings least?
• As you served or visited people, where did you experience a sense of Christ’s presence coming through you? How about from them to you?

Yes, meetings do need to happen — but how can be an exciting place. One that nourishes and inspires the spiritual life of the whole team. 

Check out some other ideas for change, whether in the fall or not, in the series:

• 2 Ideas To Not Waste Fall’s Opportunity For Change
• 6 Ideas For Connecting With God In Meetings
• 2 Questions to Refocus on God in Everyday Life

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