The CIA recently declassified it’s “Simple Sabotage Field Manual“, which was used in World War II to sabotage operations (1944). A friend pointed out that on page 28, section 11 titled General Interference with Organizations and Production, strangely resembles the strategies of baptists in church meetings and decision making processes. I thought it was too funny not to share.
General Interference with Organizations and Production
- Insist on doing everything through “channels”. Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.
- Make “speeches”. Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your points by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.
- When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration”. Attempt to make the committees as large as possible – never less than five.
- Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
- Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
- Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
- Advocate “caution”. Be reasonable and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.
- Be worried about the propriety of any decision – raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.
See the actual document here. We all need to laugh at ourselves every now and then.
Matt Capps 
Thanks for sharing – excellent thoughts. Sadly, I have seen these tactics at pretty much every church business meeting I have moderated within the Baptist faith. Church business meetings are the bane of church leaders and I am convinced have done far more harm than they are ever worth. The next generation will need to figure out how to get things done in a new format as the current Sr. adults in churches everywhere are not about to let go of the standard business meeting model, which continues to divide churches and do irreparable damage to good people, namely pastors and church leaders. Having been openly ambushed and attacked in numerous business meetings (I call them BM’s for short), I have many times wondered how many people in the pews would tolerate such treatment in their jobs. They would not, because in the secular world, the employee would be called into a private meeting with a supervisor as opposed to being openly attacked and humiliated in front of a room full of people. Were they placed in the spotlight and publicly slandered they would cry foul – this isn’t fair! Yet, they see nothing wrong with attacking the pastor in such a manner.
God led me out of the pastorate after 30 years of ministry and I am now working full-time in a secular job and doing bi-vocational ministry. Ugly business meetings were a part of my decision to make this transition. This is a facet of church life I am daily thanking God to be away from.
Thanks for letting me share – and vent!
Blessings.