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GOVERNANCE & MINISTRY
by Dan Hotchkiss
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Two Ways to Vote
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Excerpt
by Dan Hotchkiss We vote a lot in congregations. Sometimes we do it with our hands—and sometimes with our feet. By “voting with our hands,” I am referring to the politics of congregational decision-making: conversation, group discernment, and consensus-seeking, in which voting may play only a small role. Boards and committees often wrangle and discuss until consensus has been wrested from the grip of an exhausted disagreement—the vote itself may be anticlimactic. At congregational meetings, voting may be the most scripted, least important thing that happens. Mood and tone may matter more, and carry a more nuanced message to the congregation’s leaders, than a formal motion. But politics is not the only way to influence decisions in the congregation. Congregants are not just voters—we’re also customers. We vote with our feet by simply showing up or staying home, by giving or not giving money, or by participating in one program and
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