Meeting for Sufferings: Simplification
A simplification working group had discerned three central functions to be reassessed from core principles
After an update on the agenda for Yearly Meeting in session (30 July to 8 August 2022), and a minute from Manchester and Warrington AM calling for increased consideration of the plight of the Uighur communities in China, the Meeting received a paper from BYM trustees on a process for simplifying Quaker structures. A simplification working group had discerned three central functions to be reassessed from core principles: setting a spiritual direction; establishing strategic priorities and allocating resources; and ensuring that work is carried out effectively. New ways of approaching these are to be workshopped by MfS representatives over the next two months.
Friends found this work ‘impressive’. One said that he was happy to endorse the project because after a six-year term he had come to the view that MfS was ‘no longer fit for purpose’. Trustees were pleased with the positive response: ‘I didn’t know if we were at the same point, but it seems we are step-by-step’, said one.
