The right way to run a church meeting

Every Latter-day Saint knows how to conduct a meeting.

Not that we ever get lessons in doing it. We merely watch other

church members lead meetings, knowing that anybody might have such a

calling someday, and it seeps into our bones.

That's one of the reasons Mormons tend to do well in management

positions in our worldly employment. Most of us know how to take charge

of a group of people, without being bossy, and get things done.

Sacrament meeting, priesthood meeting, Young Women and Relief

Society follow their own predictable template. We just plug in the

names.

• Greeting

• Announcements

• Opening song

• Invocation

• Introduce visitors

• Business

• Teaching

• Benediction

Sacrament meeting, being more formal, skips the introduction of

visitors and adds the sacrament hymn and administering the sacrament.

It also has a closing hymn.

Priesthood, Young Women and Primary have the closing prayer in the individual quorums or classes.

And except for the specialized needs of Primary — mostly arising

from the fact that children tend to be a skeptical, easily distracted

audience — that pretty well covers our regular meetings.

But there are other meetings that we often handle more clumsily:

Stake leadership meetings. Presidency and bishopric meetings. Ward and

high council meetings.