Church (Not Business) Reports

In the morning, I shall probably be attending what we call, in the Congregational Church, a Church Meeting. In the Congregational Church one typically begins such meetings with reports. Unlike business meetings, the purpose is to bear testimony to the Lord's activity in His Church. If any report is merely a business report or news report -- even primarily a business report or news report -- one has lost the plot. OBSERVATION: There is good reason for starting Church Meetings with such "testimony". In the New Testament, one finds that decisions were taken after just such reports. For example Acts 15: "The whole assembly fell silent as they listened [to what] God had done ... Then the apostles decided." Personally, I feel that God-centred reports change something before decisions are made.