Proposals (Not)

I remember the first proposal I made as a minister. I felt that the Church needed a photocopier. There were compelling reasons why it should have one, and we had more than enough money to buy one. I even read from a book which said that a photocopier was vital to a Church's operations. Our leadership turned my proposal down unanimously. It doesn't seem important now, but I was traumatised at the time. Someone suggested that I should lobby in future. OBSERVATION: I must have learnt my lesson. Hardly ever have I made proposals since -- and I still don't lobby. It may seem hard to imagine a minister leading meetings without proposals, but it works. I ask questions, and (I didn't do it in earlier ministry) I engage in friendly argumentation.

POSTSCRIPT: Questions may look like this: "OK folks, we have this item before us, what do you think? Have we thought of this side of things? And this? Do we feel ready for a proposal?"