Dealing with Disruption

There came a change in South African politics a few years ago, where representatives sought to disrupt proceedings at all costs. To this day, I am not sure they have good control of this, although a more personable president has helped. It happens in the Church, too. People attend a meeting (thankfully, rarely) with only one goal in mind: to disrupt and shut it down. I have had an effective approach. A Congregational Church is a direct democracy. That is, every person attending has executive authority. In the midst of disruption, I have put the situation itself to the people, and called for a vote. OBSERVATION: But not too soon.

POSTSCRIPT: It goes without saying, it must be a real vote: proposal, amendments, discussion, those in favour, those against, those abstaining (within the constraints, though).