Even the best-run associational meetings can seem a little long. Reports are,
well, reports. And, when reports are presented like linked sausages, they can
get to be, well, like a lot of reports.
Unquestionably, the work of an association is vital for Baptist life. Part
of the prescription for keeping associational life healthy is having informed
members of the local churches that form the association.
Even the best-run associational meetings can seem a little long. Reports are,
well, reports. And, when reports are presented like linked sausages, they can
get to be, well, like a lot of reports.
Unquestionably, the work of an association is vital for Baptist life. Part
of the prescription for keeping associational life healthy is having informed
members of the local churches that form the association. And, one of the ways
Baptists do this is by getting as many members of the churches of the association
together and letting them know about what the committees of the association
are doing. Accountability and inspiration.
Reliable word is, a Louisiana Baptist association was having a meeting that
was fulfilling its purpose of hearing lots of reports. Associational leaders
were talking about what had been done, what had not been done, what would be
done, how much it costs, who had done it.
Then came a report of a mission trip. The director of association missions
waxed eloquent. The trip was inspiring to all who went, and God seemed to have
accomplished great things among the people on the field. The audience was moved.
The obviously inspired speaker ended his report of reasonable length by taking
a deep breath and then asking, “Does anyone have any questions?” He
again urged anyone to feel perfectly free to ask any question. “Any questions?”
Certainly, he wanted questions about where folks sign up to support financially
and go personally on the next one.
Questions did not come. Until a young lass about eight years of age, raised
her hand, then stood for recognition.
“You have a question?” the director of missions asked?
Maybe the child had inspired words from God that would brand themselves on
the minds of the listening audience. Maybe she wanted to announce that through
this report, God had called her to missions. Maybe she wanted to know how she
could give her piggy bank of coins to help the people in the foreign land. The
audience waited with baited breath to hear the question from the lips of a child.
Then she spoke. “Yes. What time is it?”
She may have heard the report. She may have been interested. But what she wanted
to know more than anything else was not addressed. Perhaps she was hopeful the
time her mother told her the meeting would end was at hand. Who knows the mind
of an eight-year-old? She just wanted an answer.
The church can spend a lot of time telling people what we think they ought
to know, what we are sure they should know. But unless they want to know, the
world does not listen, until we answer the question most on their hearts. Jesus
seems always to have started his conversation with lost people at their point
of felt need, and so should we.
Back to the associational meeting. The young lady at her tender age was naive
of Baptist ways. If they were in a Baptist worship center, all she had to do
to know the time was look on the back wall.