Minneapolis Friends Meeting

Minutes of the Meeting for Business Minutes

April 8, 2018

9:00-9:45 am        Unprogrammed Meeting for Worship 

9:45-11:15 am Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business Attendance:  John Kraft—Presiding Clerk,  Stephen Snyder—Recording Clerk [most names and some materials have been edited for the web]

1.  Gathering Query and Worship—“Are your meetings for church affairs held in a spirit of worship and in dependence on the guidance of God?  Remember that we do not seek a majority decision nor even consensus.  As we wait patiently for divine guidance our experience is that the right way will open and we shall be led into unity.”  –from Advices and queries, Quaker Faith and Practice, Britain Yearly Meeting. 1995.

2.  Approve Agenda—Approved

3.  Approve February Minutes—Minutes were approved.

4.  Reports

     a. Ministry & Counsel (M&C) Committee report—Sandy O.  The Clerk of M&C, listed the current members of the Committee and its charge.  Each month the M&C holds individuals and families who are challenged by personal transition, health or other problems in the Light and tries to identify who would be the best resource for these people.  Caring and ministry is something we all do for one another.  If we have not seen somebody at meeting recently we can reach out with a phone call or message.  M&C was pleased with the positive response to the March Introduction to Friends sessions and thanks everyone who helped make this successful – participants, coordinators, presenters, and child care providers.  The Committee also affirmed the summer schedule for 2018.  As of May 27^th—Memorial Day weekend—Friends will worship only at 10:00 am.  The first and third Sundays of June, July and August will be unprogrammed.  The second and fourth Sundays will be semi-programmed.  M&C will provide queries for the fifth Sunday in July.  The regular meeting schedule will resume on September 9^th.   The summer schedule will be posted on the Meeting website.  M&C conducted a membership clearness committee for Juliet Nail and is pleased to recommend her for membership.  Meeting approved acceptance of Juliet Nail into membership. 

     b.  Liaison and Review Committee (L&R) Annual Report —Barbara Z. Barbara explained that L&R serves as liaison between the paid staff and the Meeting, provides general oversight of personnel and makes salary recommendations to the Stewardship and Finance Committee. Accomplishments during the past year included providing support for the retiring Director of Ministry; assisting with formation of the Transition Committee and supporting its work; creating a job description for the position of Interim Meeting Coordinator and the extension of this position; providing support for the Coordinator; and defining parameters and providing oversight of the Sabbatical Fund. These tasks were sometimes challenging as Meeting is still in the process of working out the future direction for leadership resulting in a number of “gray areas” regarding responsibilities in the Meeting.  There were also differing expectations about the use of the Sabbatical Fund.  Going forward, L&R will continue to give attention to the leadership needs of Meeting, will continue periodic meetings with the Interim Meeting Coordinator and provide oversight of the Sabbatical Fund.  The Committee has felt it a sacred privilege to serve the Meeting and continues to learn with and from the Meeting Coordinator as she follows the leadings of the Spirit. Barbara noted that she was giving the report as outgoing clerk of L&R as Jeannette R. will be taking over as the new clerk.  Discussion: Friend asked if L&R also supervises and supports the building maintenance personnel and if that was going well.  It was noted that the Property Committee, not L&R, is responsible for the janitor’s position.  Clerk suggested that this question be taken under advisement so Meeting could move on to other agenda items.

     c. Membership and Attendance Report –Carolyn VandenD. Carolyn, Interim Meeting Coordinator, presented a synopsis of membership and attendance during the past year.  She counted 120 adults in Meeting—about the same as the 121 last year.  Of these 59 were members who attended worship and 61 were attenders at worship. Two new members were welcomed into Meeting, two died, one transferred membership and one withdrew. There has been significant growth in the number of children attending with a total of 22 compared to 15 last year.

d.  Religious Education Coordinators Report—  Julia R. and Sue T.  Sue noted that she and Julie are sharing the role of coordinators for the first day school program.  Currently there are 11 children in the lower grades and 9 in the older grades with12 adult volunteers serving the program.  The children are divided into two age groups with 4 volunteers for each age group.  The children have been exploring Quaker and other religious traditions during the year.  As coordinators, Julia and Sue spend most of their time organizing volunteers for each Sunday and for the periodic retreats which are great community builders.  Kids love the overnights.  Sometimes it has been a challenge to insure there are adequate volunteers each Sunday and to find adults to chaperone retreats. The coordinators are very grateful for all volunteers who have served.  Currently there is no set curriculum so teachers create their own curriculum each week.  There has not been much forward planning.  The coordinators invite Meeting to think about what Friends want from the first day school program.  Julia noted that the coordinators are somewhat new to Friends, and could use some experienced Friends to serve with them to help plan the program.  Meeting has a great program going.  Friends are encouraged to volunteer and participate.   Discussion:  Friend suggested Meeting consider forming a Religious Education Committee so all the responsibility doesn’t fall on one or two coordinators.  Another Friend noted that there may be a need for three age groups next fall—elementary, middle school and high school.  Clerk thanked the coordinators for their report and work with the children and asked if there was unity in asking the nominating committee to seek another person to work with the coordinators.   Friends felt more time was needed for discernment about the first day school program and suggested this be placed on the agenda for meeting for business in May. Clerk agreed.

     e. State of Society report to Northern Yearly Meeting –Barbara Z.  Barbara read the proposed state of society report and noted that it was prepared with input from a broad range of Friends.  Discussion: There was some discussion of whether the use of the word “tribal” was appropriate and whether Meeting wanted to include a song to be sung as part of the report. There was not agreement on a song to include and it was unclear whether anyone from Meeting was prepared to sing the song as part of the report. Meeting agreed to forgo including a song this year and approved the state of society report with the understanding that the writers would make a judgment about using the word “tribal”.  Friends expressed thanks for the work of Carolyn and Barbara in preparing this year’s report.  The report reads as follows: 

State of Society Report to Northern Yearly Meeting May, 2018  

This past year has been one of grace-kissed leave-taking and adaptive change. For the past 39 years, Patricia Jones, friend, anchor, and mentor, has offered her time, her gifts, and her heart to Minneapolis Meeting in her role as Director of Ministry. We give thanks for the rich relationship we have shared with her and for the thoughtful goodbye she and the planning committee allowed us.

We were blessed to have individuals willing to form an ad hoc Transition Committee to help us listen to each other’s thoughts and dreams about the Meeting’s future. Since the Director of Ministry’s departure and with the skillful help of this committee, we have begun the dance of transition – one that includes general anxiety about our future; reassurance when we consider the amazing gifts present in the Meeting; both impatience that we have not chosen a future staffing path and worry that a staffing path will be chosen too soon; celebration that we are in the company of such loving, committed Friends, willing to take on demanding roles; trust that God is with us. We are grateful to have an Interim Meeting Coordinator to help offer continuity in the midst of the changes.

Looking forward, many of the challenges we face remain the same as if we glance back: welcoming new-comers, particularly young adults and young families; integrating new attenders into the life of the Meeting; nurturing and encouraging spiritual growth and understanding of Quaker faith and practice; cultivating a new generation of leadership; supporting and maintaining a vital program for youth; responsible stewardship and care of the meetinghouse. We bump up against our limitations as the lives, work, and family commitments of members and attenders can leave insufficient time and energy to accomplish all the Meeting would wish.

We are grateful for the foundational work we have done over the years with Winds of Change, Quaker Quest, and our relatively new Welcoming and Outreach Committee. Though effort is still needed, we, as a Meeting, have grown to be more welcoming place. We give thanks for the new attenders among us – the very young (two babies!), the youth, the young adults, and the young at heart – and for the lives and witness of Arne Anderson and Dick Magraw who both died this past year. We delight in the Meeting children, spanning from 3 years old through high school, and appreciate the loving constancy of those who teach first day school and who offer other opportunities that enrich our students’ faith experience.

Worship continues to enrich us and bind us to each other and with God. We miss the musical ministry of Nancy L. at semi-programmed worship and are grateful for those who are offering their time and musical talents to Meeting. We cherish the richness and unity of having our two worship times melt into one during the summer months.

We are fed by worship, Experiment with Light groups, Friendly Meal mixers, Friends General Conference Spiritual Deepening sessions and our Introduction to Quakerism series, as well as by the many other formal and informal groups within the Meeting. These means of spiritual cultivation, coupled with our involvement in Quaker Voluntary Service and hosting the new SW Community Chorus, encourage us to feel we are growing spiritually, as Friends, as a Meeting community, and in connection with our wider community.

We are anguished as we consider how compromised the Earth and many of its inhabitants are and how difficult it is for us – individually, as a Meeting, and as a society – to make the changes necessary for just societies and a healthy planet. At a time when our culture seems increasingly divisive, we struggle against the seduction of partisanship and resist the “us vs. them” mentality. We yearn to embrace, with our hearts as well as our minds, that there is a Divine spark in every being – even those with whom we find little common ground.

We trust God will be with us through our cares, worries, losses and successes, large and small. We, all of us, are in Her care.

     f. Nominating Committee update– Doug H.     

Nominating Committee recommended and Meeting approved the nomination of Terry K. to serve as a Trustee of the Meeting 

     g. Ad Hoc Transition Committee Report— Jeannette R. At the request of the Clerk, Jeannette put forth two options for moving forward with the transition.

Option one is to continue as we have been for an interim period.  Within this option Meeting could address some of the challenges identified by the Transition Committee such as building maintenance, hiring staff to help with various needs such as first day school, clerk training, pastoral care and coordination of committee and other work. Option one assumes Meeting needs more experience and time to gather information to inform its decision making about a leadership structure for the future.

Option two is to create a planning committee with a clear charge to review and recommend a leadership structure to best meet the needs of Meeting going forward. Option two starts from the assumption that Meeting already knows what its needs are and so is ready to plan and recommend a leadership structure.   Discussion:  A Friend suggested a hybrid approach involving the Nominating Committee and M&C in creating a new committee to recommend a process for going forward.  Jeannette and others felt many friends were not yet ready to begin a planning process.  Friend said getting clarity about whether to hire a new director of ministry might help Meeting move forward.  Jeannette urged Meeting to be flexible on this point as there are a number of needs that have been identified and it is not yet clear a new director of ministry would be the best way to meet them. The Transition Committee suggests looking at functions and then letting the structure flow from meeting those functions.  Friends sensed there is need for more exploration and experience before moving to a planning process.  People want Meeting to move on and make progress, but if Meeting remains tender to God’s leadings there is no reason to rush into a decision.  Another Friends suggested that change and transition have always been part of the experience of the Meeting community and will continue to be in the future. Perhaps is it time to lay down the idea that Meeting is in an interim transition process and to go forward with our existing leadership structure.  Problems and needs will arise organically and can be addressed incrementally in the manner of Friends through the committees and meeting for business.  Clerk sensed there might be movement toward unity.  However, as the hour for business was drawing to an end Meeting approved a suggestion that the Clerks formulate a minute to be considered at next Month’s meeting for business.

5. Transition to semi-programmed meeting for worship at 11:15 am.