No one wants to read the rules for any sport until they NEED those rules to save the day. The NFL and NCAA constantly review the rules to protect football players and clarify things that make close calls more certain. Mavericks fans in Dallas want to create rules for influencing or controlling general managers now that Luka has been traded away to the Lakers. Across Texas, school districts are facing the challenge of creating more safety on campuses to comply with new rules, but they are doing so without the funding to get it done. In each case, they care DEEPLY about the rules when decisions, funding, student safety, or professional sports results are on the line.

For churches, the Bylaws define the “rules of engagement” for protecting mission, confidentiality, hiring, decision-making, and standard beliefs and practices. They are also a rather lengthy set of documents that few have an interest in reading. But every week, those bylaws direct how we do things. After years, what made sense in 2000 no longer seems to function in 2025. We have made practical adjustments, but those have been stopgap measures in many ways until we could do a deep dive to make more significant decisions together as a church family.

For instance, our old bylaws talk about sending offering envelopes to church members at a time when almost 80% of our members give electronically. A few have told me, “The only check I write is the one I write to the church.” Even those get fewer and fewer each year. But that instruction is in our old bylaws.

So many months ago, we enlisted and authorized a team to review our “rules of engagement” so we could sift them for things that are antiquated or wasteful and consider what needs to be added for our church now that 25 years have elapsed since we had our last significant overhaul of those bylaws. They have worked tirelessly, invested many late nights, considered the same kinds of bylaws used by various churches, and sought to propose guidelines that fit our church’s mission, personality, history, and future. In a couple of weeks, that team will present their draft to the church in a church conference. We’ll all get a chance to read, hear the reasoning, and consider the kinds of changes that are proposed.

I know–it may seem like something that’s not a big deal for you…until we all need to be on the same page as we make decisions.

That’s the nature of them; you don’t appreciate them until you need them!