As a Baptist, I am committed to congregational church government. Unfortunately, some churches practice an unhealthy form of church government which does more harm than good. In these cases, acrimonious business meetings are usually a clear sign of a church that has an unhealthy inward focus and is in decline, and such hostile meetings are counterproductive to fulfilling the Great Commission. Thom Rainer comments on this problem: “Church business meetings become arguments over preferences and desires.”[1] While business meetings can be a great cause for anxiety, they need not be. Here are some ideas for avoiding acrimonious business meetings in a local church: 1. Don’t have monthly business meetings. Quarterly business meetings are more than sufficient to address a church’s needs. When business meetings are held too frequently, committed members become weary of another request by the church for their time and they often stop attending. Unfortunately, highly motivated and divisive peopl...