Meeting for Sufferings: Mid-triennium review for Sufferings
Representatives reviewed the role and work of Meeting for Sufferings
The triennium of the present Meeting for Sufferings runs from Yearly Meeting 2015 to Yearly Meeting 2018.
All members of Sufferings, which includes both representatives and alternates, were invited to the first meeting of the triennium in July 2016. The Meeting included a section devoted to induction.
Not all representatives and alternates were able to attend that Meeting for Sufferings and there have, since then, been changes of representatives in roughly half of the Area Meetings and other bodies that form Sufferings.
The meeting on Saturday 4 February is roughly half way stage of the triennium. It was felt to be a good time to review the role and work of the group and this was dealt with at the end of the morning session.
Anne Ullathorne, clerk of Sufferings, introduced the item and stressed that representatives and alternates should review some important questions: What is Meeting for Sufferings for? How does Sufferings currently work? What is it doing well and what might be improved?
Friends were reminded that the history, functions and constitution of Meeting for Sufferings are set out in Quaker faith & practice chapter 7. Anne Ullathorne also reminded Friends that ‘there is no centrally managed work that is done that is not affirmed by Sufferings’.
Representatives then broke up into ‘home groups’ and were asked to record key points from their discussions on paper. Friends reflected on issues such as the conduct of Meeting for Sufferings, whether it was welcoming enough, on the relationship between the Sufferings representative and their Area Meeting, and on opportunities that might be taken up.
Feedback from the groups was received after the lunch break. Friends agreed that Sufferings was working well in terms of doing what it is asked to do. However, a concern was expressed about the depth of its ‘prophetic voice’.
Friends said that they liked draft minutes, small groups and residential weekends. Issues that had come up in the home groups was the need for stronger engagement by Local and Area Meetings, faster responses, the need for Sufferings to be more proactive, and the need for a better understanding of Yearly Meeting processes and of ‘what groups have responsibility for what decisions’.
