Church (Not Business) Reports

In the morning, I shall be chairing the Church Meeting, the highest executive in a Congregational Church. We begin the meeting with Church reports. These are not, however, the same as business or news reports. According to a statement that we have on every agenda, they "bear testimony to the Lord's activity among us". This is the emphasis. OBSERVATION: There is good reason for starting our meetings with such "testimony". In the New Testament, one finds that decisions were taken after just such reports. For instance: "The whole assembly fell silent as they listened [to what] God had done among the Gentiles ... Then the apostles decided ..." (Acts 15). Personally, I think that such God-centred reports change something before the decisions are made. Mere business or news reports would not do the same.