Meetings Take To Long

[Suzie]

Ok.

 

 

You likewise seem fixated in trying to add your personal interpretation of things, which I guess it's fine as long as you are also aware it is just your opinion.

 

 

 

 

I shared my personal experience, of course I will add my personal interpretation. What you did with MOE's post was a little different. In my opinion, one has to be very careful in not trying to interpret the personal experiences of others (unless the person makes such request) and particularly those of a religious nature and in a way that can hurt others.

 

In my view, when you are telling a poster (someone you probably never met) that their thoughts/feelings mean they know better than God, you are directly or indirectly passing judgement about that person's attitude towards God.What kind of individual think they know better than God? The humble and teachable or the proud and arrogant?

 

Perhaps you are unaware of it but in my view, statements like that can make you sound like a jerk even if you had the best of intentions.

 

Everyone else who maintains a position doesn't get the talking-down-to, in spite of the fact that they're all just as "fixated" on their ideas and just as opinionated. Why are you singling me out?

 

Why pointing out something about your manner of speech equals to talking-down to? That's certainly not the purpose. Is that how you see it when others disagree with you or point something out for your analysis and consideration? I would sincerely hope, you would take my opinion (even if you disagree) coming from a good place, with the purpose of trying to help you.

[The Folk Prophet]

I shared my personal experience, of course I will add my personal interpretation. What you did with MOE's post was a little different. In my opinion, one has to be very careful in not trying to interpret the personal experiences of others (unless the person makes such request) and particularly those of a religious nature and in a way that can hurt others.

 

In my view, when you are telling a poster (someone you probably never met) that their thoughts/feelings mean they know better than God, you are directly or indirectly passing judgement about that person's attitude towards God.What kind of individual think they know better than God? The humble and teachable or the proud and arrogant?

 

Perhaps you are unaware of it but in my view, statements like that can make you sound like a jerk even if you had the best of intentions.

 

 

 

 

Why pointing out something about your manner of speech equals to talking-down to? That's certainly not the purpose. Is that how you see it when others disagree with you or point something out for your analysis and consideration? I would sincerely hope, you would take my opinion (even if you disagree) coming from a good place, with the purpose of trying to help you.

 

Whereas you passing judgment on me is perfectly acceptable? How is it you are not seeing the hypocrisy?

 

Yeah...you all are always trying to "help" me. My opinions are judgmental but yours are only a sincere effort, coming from a good place, just trying to help out the poor, sinful "jerk"?  

 

There are a few who take everything I say this way. And surprise, surprise, those few are those who have issues with conservative Mormonism.

 

Still...fair enough. I can admit that MoE's viewpoints often brings out the worst in me. I can work on that. I will try and express my responses in ways that are less likely to come across "like a jerk".

 

This will be my last post on this. I'm trying hard to avoid hostility and contention.

[Suzie]

Whereas you passing judgment on me is perfectly acceptable? How is it you are not seeing the hypocrisy?

 

Yeah...you all are always trying to "help" me. My opinions are judgmental but yours are only a sincere effort, coming from a good place, just trying to help out the poor, sinful "jerk"?  

 

There are a few who take everything I say this way. And surprise, surprise, those few are those who have issues with conservative Mormonism.

 

Still...fair enough. I can admit that MoE's viewpoints often brings out the worst in me. I can work on that. I will try and express my responses in ways that are less likely to come across "like a jerk".

 

This will be my last post on this. I'm trying hard to avoid hostility and contention.

 

I wasn't passing judgment on you but if you felt I did, I sincerely apologize. Certainly, I don't see you as a " poor sinful jerk", that statement left me discombobulated. I don't have issues with your conservative mormonism approach to things at all, I can disagree with your points of view without becoming disagreeable.

[skippy740]

Getting back on topic... I would be curious as to the real ROOT reason as to why there are long discussions going on.

 

Ineffective meetings = ineffective leadership & stewardship.

 

Perhaps this Bishop is more of a "how is everyone feeling" versus "we gotta get this done" leadership style.

 

Perhaps this Bishop has had to participate in other Stake Leadership meetings and needs to spend more time on more important priorities.

 

All these things can be legitimate.

 

However, as part of stewardship, we must practice the principle of setting priorities and then "return and report".  

 

But until the leader of the WC (Bishop) can conduct a concise meeting... it's going to be the same.

 

Has someone met with the Bishop and talked about the number of meetings and the amount of time being spent in them? 

 

The nicer thing to do is to set an appointment to beep your smartphone, and then to leave.  "Where are you going?"  "Gotta go.  I've been paged (or I'm late to another appointment).  If someone could email me whatever you volunteer me for, that would be great."

 

Ever notice that when you miss a meeting, that someone else can summarize it for you in 5 minutes?  You won't miss much by leaving early.

[Palerider]

Sounds like the Stake Leaders need to provide training on running an effective Ward Council

[mdfxdb]

Update. I spoke with the Bishop this morning about the meetings. He agreed with me that we should be more respectful of others time. He also said we would see how things went. To which I responded that he was the one with total control over the meeting. I also had the ex sec change up the agenda a little bit to leave of the calendar items.

WC took 1 hour 15 min

[pam]

Update. I spoke with the Bishop this morning about the meetings. He agreed with me that we should be more respectful of others time. He also said we would see how things went. To which I responded that he was the one with total control over the meeting. I also had the ex sec change up the agenda a little bit to leave of the calendar items.

WC took 1 hour 15 min

When I was the ward activities chairman, I would make a calendar that included all of the auxiliaries activities for the month and pass it out at our ward correlation meeting.  That way we didn't have to go over all of the calendar items unless there was a huge activity that needed some coordination.

[FunkyTown]

Timely meetings is a pet peeve of mine. Mormons have a terrible tendency to assume that what they're saying is far more important than anything else that could be going on.

 

Their sacrament talk? Way more important than the poor guy in Priesthood. Or if Sacrament is last, way more important than the sanity of the people handling nursery callings.

 

Their Sunday School lesson? Way more important than the Priesthood lesson. Priesthood lesson? Way more important than getting your kids home before they start crying.

 

Heck - It's so important that they don't need to start on time, end on time or do anything in a timely manner.

 

It's almost as if Mormons think, "Eh. We have eternity. Better fill it ALL WITH MY SACRAMENT TALK."

[pam]

I hate the term "Mormon time."  If you have had to make a name for it something is wrong right there.

[Guest rstevenhanson]

To all those following this conversation (or anyone else who wants to chime in),

 

I am curious as to how often your ward council meets. I have heard once or twice a month from several people in this thread. Is this pretty typical? The 2010 Handbook 2 says, "The ward council meets regularly (at least monthly). The meeting usually lasts 60 to 90 minutes" (4.6).

 

I ask because we have had some strange goings on in our stake these past few months. Our newly called bishop showed mercy on us and dropped ward council from twice per month (with PEC in between) to once per month. I felt it was a truly inspired move, but just weeks into the new schedule, we were told that "the Brethren" have requested that we hold ward council EVERY WEEK!

 

Not only is this new frequency disconcerting, but also the number of attendees. Our ward council has about 14 to 16 people every week and we simply cannot find a room in our building to accommodate all of us on a weekly basis.

 

I am in the Salt Lake area. Perhaps this is just a regional adaptation? Has anyone else heard about this new directive to meet every week?

 

I sustain my leaders, but that doesn't mean I don't question things from time to time. If this is the new direction the church is moving toward, I would just like some of your ideas on how to implement this without all the baggage that has already been discussed in this thread. 

[Guest]

Once a month on Fast Sundays here.  One hour before Sacrament Meeting - so we can't go over because then the Bishop will be late for Church.  And yeah, we get a lot of attendees too.

[john doe]

Ours meets twice a month. The first one is to conduct business and go over calendars, the second one is a training meeting involving either reading out of the CHI or watching a training video on LDS.org and discussing it. This is in the Salt Lake Valley.