Meeting for Sufferings: Quaker membership and nominations
'Why do we have membership? What is it for? Is it still necessary? And, if yes, what form(s) could it take?'
The morning session ended with Friends agreeing a way forward on the issue of Quaker non-members serving on Central Committees.
The issue had been brought to the October MfS, where Friends had considered the recommendation from a group set up to review the long-established policy of appointing only members to Central Committees. As the minute noted at the time: ‘Since we have not reached unity, but realising the importance of the issue, we ask Meeting for Sufferings Arrangements Group to consider how the matter of membership can return to Meeting for Sufferings for further discernment.’
With Arrangements Group keen to return to the matter ‘as a substantive issue, perhaps at our residential meeting in 2023’, MfS representatives were asked to think about the following questions, both individually and in their Area Meetings: Why do we have membership? What is it for? Is it still necessary? And, if yes, what form(s) could it take?
Margaret Bryan added: ‘We will let Area Meeting clerks know. We really do hope that your Area Meetings or your own Meeting will get a grip on this: members, or attenders, or “floating voters”. It is very easy for us, as members of Meeting for Sufferings, to have a view that is quite narrow, and we want to hear a wide variety of views. We do expect to return to this later next year.’
As the morning session closed, Robert Card, assistant clerk, who will take over, reminded Friends that this was the last MfS with Margaret Bryan as clerk. The occasion was honoured with a tea party during the lunchtime break.
Next week: afternoon session. Minutes at www.quaker.org.uk/mfspapers. You can hear Rosie Carnall discuss the Book of Discipline revision process in episode one of our new podcast. Episode two will include audio clips of some proposed new content.
