General Meeting for Scotland: Kate Arnot & Alison Burnley report

‘Service is part of our spiritual journey.’

Our Meeting was held on 8 June at Glasgow Meeting House. There were nineteen Friends in person and thirty-four on Zoom. The good news is that membership increased by five (two by convincement and three transfers in), but sadly there were also three deaths recorded.

More good news was in the report on the Families Weekend, held 3-5 May in Pitlochry. Fifteen parents and grandparents, and fourteen young people aged between four and fifteen, attended. The theme was: hearing, respecting and honouring children and young people’s voices regarding rights, democracy and political engagement.

We received the trustees’ annual report for 2023, including the accounts which had a small, planned, deficit. We heard from our Parliamentary Engagement Group about its work with the Scottish Parliament, including setting up a small group to engage with land reform. In general, the Scottish Parliament is more open to engaging with Quaker concerns than Westminster although hopefully this will change. We agreed a process for signing (and co-signing) letters and/or petitions.

Finally, there was a substantive discussion on nominations, aims and processes. This was very ably introduced by our local development worker for Scotland, Zoe Prosser, who outlined five principles enabling a good nomination process. The minute said, ‘Discernment within a nominations system must be based on strong communities of faith. When we have difficulties in operating the process, in finding Friends to serve, in accepting service, in fulfilling our service, they may be telling us that there are fundamental issues within our Quaker communities that need addressing. The principles operate from our meetings being communities where we know and support each other. Nominations process is the more difficult if we do not know each other, do not support Friends in the roles in which they serve and don’t seek a common responsibility to make things work.

‘There are practical issues too. Are our meetings for business clear about what they are asking for in seeking Friends to serve? Is the term of service and role description clear? Is there ongoing role support, training or ‘apprenticeship’ available? Are we communicating with our meetings on the opportunities for service through a schedule of roles?

‘We are aware of the pressures on all of us that make acceptance of roles difficult and the dwindling number of Friends available. The nominations process can become a burden to those involved, and this too is a warning sign that we need to heed. We can get things wrong. A measure for a successful nominations process is when it becomes a joy, in matching Friends to roles that can develop and show Friends their potential, in building the collective experience and development of all. Service is part of our spiritual journey.’

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