Meeting for Business Minutes
Minneapolis Friends Meeting
May 13, 2018
[some information has been edited or deleted for publication on the web]

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, Terry Hokenson—Acting Recording Clerk, plus 33 attendees

1. Gathering Query and Worship— Clerk opened with a reading from the Quaker Faith and Practice of the Britain Yearly Meeting Fifth Addition. Number 14 in the Advices and Queries: “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”
2. Approve Agenda—Approved
3. Approve April 2018 Minutes—Minutes were approved with corrections.
4. Reports
   1. Ministry & Counsel (M&C) Committee report — S Olson   Read list of committee members and their charge: to oversee and care for the worship, spiritual life, care of the membership of the meeting and tend to requests for membership and marriage under the care of the meeting. 1) In May, M&C responded to two requests for care committees. Care committees meet with a person or persons several times to offer spiritual support and problem-solving. M&C only facilitates the process; you are the care within a care committee. We all need to care for each other through tender-hearted listening, expressions of concern and creative problem-solving. 2) Summer schedule begins May 27, Memorial Day weekend. We will worship only at 10 AM. The 1st and 3rd Sundays of June, July and August will be un-programmed. The 2nd and 4th Sundays will be semi-programmed. M&C will read queries on the 5th Sunday in July. The regular schedule resumes on September 16th. Childcare for infants through six years of age will be facilitated by nursery committee and available from 10AM to 11AM. Children do not have to wait until the first hymn to go downstairs. For June, July, August and Sept. potluck will be held at 11 am on the first Sunday of the month. Meeting for Worship for Business will be at 11 am on the second Sunday of the month. We will again have a fellowship time on the third and fourth Sundays of the month. R.C. and N.H. will be coordinating the fellowship times. Sign-up sheet for the fellowship time was passed around. Discussion: Anything intergenerational being planned for the summer? Presiding Clerk noted a query will be prepared for the 5th Sunday and that intergenerational programs are scheduled during the school year.
   2. Stewardship and Finance Annual Report — M Johnson
      1. Finance Committee Annual Report: the committee’s charge: Establish and manage the Meeting’s operational budget, listening to and guiding committee clerks, and in line with the direction of the Monthly Meeting. Maintain records of the operating finances, including payroll and taxes, and track and report on contributions to Meeting. Accomplishments: 1) Established the 2018-2019 budget. 2) Paid all bills, contributions, and payroll. 3) Distributed annual contribution statements. 4) Reported regularly on the Meeting’s operational finances. 5) Recorded and disbursed miscellaneous funds outside of general contributions. 6) Budgeted for an unknown situation during our transition, 6 months of a possible new Director of Ministry or other position. Challenges: 1) The Meeting is still in a transition stage, making it difficult to know whether we need to budget salary for future positions, such as Director of Ministry, building steward, or another. Currently, our revenue needs are less than when we had a salaried Director of Ministry. 2) Communication glitches led to underpayment of a salary. (This has been remedied.) 3) We will be contributing to the Quaker Voluntary Service program next year, so that will increase our revenue needs. 4) Moving forward we will probably require more revenue to maintain our aging Meeting house. Upcoming points of attention: 1) Reviewing and organizing our paper records (electronic ones are great). 2) Communication among committee members and transitioning committee membership roles. 3) We have one new member this year, R.B. Half of the committee has been on Stewardship for more than 5 years, I think. 4) Arrange for annual audit.
      2. Stewardship Annual Report for 2017-2018 (draft): Total income for fiscal year 2017-18 was $108,163. That represents 95% of what we had budgeted – $113,606. This is more than we collected last fiscal year. The number of contributors this year is about the same as last year (97 households or 101 individuals). Expenses were not quite as high as budgeted, partly due to the retirement of our Director of Ministry. Since we weren’t sure whether or not we’d be hiring a new a Director of Ministry, our budget included some salary for the position for the months of Oct 2017 through March 2018. We did not spend that allocation. Small Repairs Expenses were higher than expected because of a few large items: motion detector for front door light, cracked pipe in nursery, fixing drinking fountain and kitchen sink, timer on north door light, and fire extinguisher maintenance. Fall Friends Camp expenses were significantly less because we had just a one-day gathering with no overnight stay. We have met our budget, and recommend funding the Trustee Building Fund and the Mission-Service-Fellowship Fund. The report does not show these or the Meeting’s charitable contributions, but we will pay those as budgeted, and still have a Net Income of $24,867. (Do not recommend funding Sabbatical Fund at this time.) Previously, Friends have wanted to know the range of giving for the top 10 givers? It is roughly $4K to $10K. Discussion: Does the Meeting have a fund or nest egg? Yes. In our operating bank account we have about $51K in general funds. Discussion: Friend asked whether $73,000 is what we usually have in the checking account. No. It will be going down to $63,000 and annual contributions will soon be paid. Two recommendations are in the budget, so no approval is needed. Question: What about our obligations to help fund Quaker Voluntary Service? Reply: It is in the budget for next year.
   3. Peace and Social Concerns (P&SC) Report – R. Barrett. One of the functions of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee is helping the Meeting select one to three peace and social concerns focus topics for each year and to support a Meeting group to create a Meeting-wide event or activity or action for each of the chosen topics. The focus for the 2017–18 year was Embracing Diversity, encompassing immigration/sanctuary, religious diversity, cultural diversity, racial justice, and diverse opinions. We are proposing a new focus for 2018-19 – “Promote policies that reduce economic inequality and poverty, encourage fair compensation for workers and health care for all”. This is in line with the Friends Committee for National Legislation priorities for the year. Friends APPROVED this focus for 2018-19. A second item for Meeting approval is hanging a poster outside the meeting house promoting awareness of torture, since June is “Torture Awareness Month”. Meeting has done this in the past. The banner was displayed. Friends APPROVED hanging the banner outside during June. Discussion: Friend wanted to know if banner could be left up longer than a month. Presiding Clerk requested that this not be considered today.
   4. Quaker Voluntary Service Update – L. Butler reported: Greetings from the Meetings in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston and Portland, OR. All were represented at the Leadership Training Conference April 19-22, 2018 held at Pendle Hill. M. S. and M. N. from Twin Cities Friends Meeting as well as L. B. from MFM attended this conference. Other members from our Local Support Committee (now officially recognized by the national staff and approved by the three local meetings): E. S., T. W., J .J. from MFM, ME, Mb, T. S., and A. F. from TCFM, and C. B. and D. M. from Prospect Hill meeting.
      1. QVS is a voluntary program for young adults with at least a college degree, some with Master’s degrees, who want to spend a year of service in a community service program or project and live in intentional community during that time. They are paid a stipend for their year. At the same time, the sponsoring organizations pay a fee to QVS, along with funds raised by local Friends’ Meetings and the national staff. A house has been secured for their residence at 3241 Park Ave South in Minneapolis. There are currently six site locations who have committed to receiving a Quaker Fellow for 11 months of service starting after Labor Day this year and going until August of 2019. So far there are eight candidates who have been interviewed by Sonja S., the Local Program Coordinator. This is a part-time paid position reporting to the national staff; Sonja is a member of the Laughing Waters meeting. As the Local Program Coordinator, she is the liaison with the work sites which now include: Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater, Green Central Elementary School (Mpls Public school), Bridging, a Housing Support program, Our Savior Church Community Outreach program, Interfaith Power and Light, and possibly Friends School.
      2. Work Activity of the Local Support Committee includes: Spiritual Nurture for the Fellow on a 1:1 ratio; Program Support with events and activities for the Fellows and respective Meetings; Building Support for the maintenance of the residence; Hospitality for the creation of a welcoming and supportive atmosphere; and Fund Raising to address any on-going or unexpected expenses of the local group of Fellows. Involvement by all three of the respective Meetings will include: identifying, screening, training and matching Spiritual Nurturers to each Fellow; providing food in the form of pantry items, consumables (both hot dishes and snacks); invitations to worship and attend events at each Meeting; and joining with other volunteer programs around the Twin Cities (who meeting regularly) like Lutheran Volunteer Service, Catholic Workers and others. Discussion: How many Fellows will there be? Six, one per site. Friend expressed disappointment at hearing we should not expect the Fellows to join the Meeting just because it is a Quaker program. L.B. says they will be introduced to silent worship. T.W.: there will be more female than male Fellows, so we will need more female nurturers. Friend responded that some of the Fellows are not Quaker.
5. Other Items 
   1. Continuing to host the community choir – Presiding Clerk: this has been a very successful community choir and they would like to continue, returning in the fall. There are more than 60 people in the choir. Clerk requested that we hold off on the decision until a later date. Comment: some choir folks would like to hear back soon. Clerk suggested having someone take charge of coordinating with the choir and asked for volunteers. Allen G. volunteered but would like some guidance from Meeting.
   2. Transition minute:   A draft document (see Attachment #1 for full document), containing two proposed minutes regarding the Meeting’s transition, was distributed and read by the Clerk. Discussion: Many supported all or most of both minutes. A request was made to change references to “leadership”, since we are all potential leaders within the Meeting. Another Friend questioned if pastoral care needs are truly being met and whether we could outline a procedure for requesting pastoral care needs. There was some confusion over what options are being proposed, and another commented that the minutes are somewhat negatively stated, since our goal is to continually improve the functioning of the Meeting and to be open to changes as needed. Friend expressed concern that the minutes need a little more work, and the Presiding Clerk agreed that we do not have unity on this matter.
   3. Religious Education Advancement – Presiding Clerk: we may need a committee to generate a proposal to establish a religious education committee. Discussion: Why don’t we have a religious education committee now? Answer: It was laid down when attendance had dropped to only two students, but now the number has grown, considerably. Next year we expect to have 12 middle and high school students. Friends added that he thought it would be good to have more direction, going forward, for both the teachers and parents as well as to better understand the curriculum we are using. Suggestion was made to have Nominating put together a religious education committee. Clerk directed Nominating to form a Religious Education Committee.
6. Correspondence: feedback to visit of Tom and Rae in New Zealand (handwritten notes on letter of introduction they took with them).
7. Transition to semi-programmed meeting for worship at 11:15 am.

Attachment #1:

Proposed minute to lay down the Ad Hoc Transition Committee and bring the interim period of the transition process to an end.

BACKGROUND

1. At the September 2017 meeting for business, P. Jones, the Director of Ministry, announced her intention to retire at the end of September 2018. This announcement was received with much grieving and sadness, but also deep gratitude for her many years of leadership and service to the Meeting.
2.  At the January 2017 meeting for business Meeting agreed to form an Ad Hoc Transition Committee to help Meeting with a process of listening and discernment around the question of the future leadership structure of Meeting. The Committee used a number of approaches to listening and gathering information from Friends about the hopes, fears and needs of Meeting going forward. The Committee brought its final report to meeting for business in March 2018. Meeting is so very grateful for the caring work of this Committee and its findings.
3. The Transition Committee identified five areas of concern about the future of Meeting in the absence of a paid director of ministry.
   1. Providing consistent and confidential pastoral care
   2. Supporting growth of Meeting clerks, committees, members and attenders and transferring knowledge of Quaker faith and practice.
   3. Coordinating the work of the committees in Meeting.
   4. Connecting new attenders to the life of the Meeting including young families
   5. Attending and responding to the building maintenance and operations in a timely manner.
   6. Additionally the meeting has identified another areas for focused attention –  Religious education
4. Throughout the interim period following the announcement of Pat’s retirement plans, the existing leadership structure began addressing these concerns.
   1. Ministry and Counsel, its sub-committees and Mid-Morning Program Committee have gradually assumed responsibility for pastoral care, conducted a memorial service, offered mid-morning programs on spiritual deepening and community building and arranged for closers, music and speakers for meetings for worship.
   2. Peace and Social Concerns and Quaker Voluntary Service work has provided educational programs around peace and social justice issues and afforded opportunities to witness Friends testimonies in the wider community.
   3. Welcoming and Outreach organized welcomers, friendly meals and a 4 week Introduction to Quakers series for the growing number of new attenders and young families in cooperation with Ministry and Counsel.
   4. The Social Committee facilitated opportunities for fellowship and community building through its monthly potlucks.
   5. Nominating Committee invited newer members and attenders to be more connected to the meeting community through service on committees.
   6. The Religious Education Coordinators and volunteers have provided a program for the growing number of children.
   7. An assistant clerk position was created to facilitate communication and coordination among the committees in Meeting.
   8. The Property Committee has taken steps to identify building maintenance needs and priorities.

Much has been going very well during this interim period and Meeting gratefully acknowledges the work of everyone who has made this possible.

PROPOSED MINUTES

1. Recognizing that change and transition are an ongoing part of the life of any community Meeting agrees to bring the interim period to an end and go forward with the existing structure. The clerks and committees in Meeting will continue to hold the concerns arising out of the transition process. As concerns or problems arise, they will be addressed through the usual Friends process of conducting business. While confident in our existing structure, we are aware of our human frailties and limitations. We will continue to improve and remain open to the possibility that Meeting may need to consider additional paid staff to support the meeting in fulfilling some of our needs.
2.  With great gratitude for their significant work, thoughtful and spirit led guidance and service, Meeting agrees to lay down the Ad Hoc Transition Committee. Meeting recognizes that addressing the needs of the meeting community is a shared responsibility of all members and attenders, not just those in positions of leadership. As we engage together in the work of meeting we grow spiritually and become more connected as a community. Let us go forward with confidence and openness to guidance of the Spirit within and among us.