Letters - 18 April 2014
From membership to politics
Membership
I welcome David Hitchin’s second letter (11 April) and would like to comment on the significance of membership to both applicant and the Meeting, especially the importance of the visit for membership.
For long-term attenders, the move into membership may confirm that the applicant is already a Quaker and ‘member of the family’. Yet, to put their convincement into words and share its expression with the visitors is a rite of passage. I have on several occasions visited with a partner and written the report for Area Meeting. I have come away awed by the experience, having got to know the applicant on a different level. I have also helped two long-lapsed members to ‘let go’ their membership.
Sadly, my own experience fell short: in a few minutes the two dear old Friends ‘visiting’ me for membership were quite satisfied I was an OK Quaker. I came away deeply unsatisfied with my doubts and confusion unclarified and untested. I had similarly been unsatisfied nine years earlier at 21: I was invited by an overseer [from a different Monthly Meeting] to tea. I thought, ‘At last! Someone at Meeting is going to talk to me about my beliefs’, but rather, as I had not attended Meeting in college term-time for a year, it was suggested I should resign. Though I do not regret the end results of either process, I would encourage Meetings to follow up new members’ experience of becoming a member, and if a possible termination is envisaged, to offer a visit without any mention of leaving.
Janet Sturge
I was surprised and disappointed to read Eric Walker’s letter (4 April) suggesting that membership of our Society does not necessarily involve financial commitment. Of course, nowadays, a member who does not contribute financially is unlikely to have their membership terminated, but belonging to any society has financial implications and duties. Unlike secular bodies, Friends do not have a fixed membership fee, but that does not absolve any member from a responsibility to contribute to the running costs of their Local Meeting and the Society nationally. Even if a Meeting owns no property, its activities cost money – for rent, postage, phone calls and so on.
I am very grateful that when I applied for membership, as a very hard-up nineteen-year-old, my visitors made it clear to me that I should still try to contribute something, even though, on an income of ten shillings a week, it would only be a matter of a few pence. It made me realise that being a member was not just a matter of religious feeling, but of shared responsibilities and everyday practicality.
Sheila Savill
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