Minneapolis Friend Meeting
Minutes of the Monthly Meeting for Business
September 8, 2019
[Names and some content have been edited for publication on the web]

Attendance: J Kraft—Presiding Clerk, S Snyder—Recording Clerk , 37 attendees

1. Silent Worship
   Query: “Do you respect that of God in everyone though it may be expressed in unfamiliar ways or be difficult to discern? Each of us has a particular experience of God and each must find the way to be true to it. When words are strange or disturbing to you, try to sense where they come from and what has nourished the lives of others. Listen patiently and seek the truth which other people’s opinions may contain for you. Avoid hurtful criticism and provocative language. Do not allow the strength of your convictions to betray you into making statements or allegations that are unfair or untrue. Think it possible that you may be mistaken.” –Advices and Queries, Britain Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, 1995
2.  Approve Agenda: Agenda was approved with addition of report from the Welcoming and Outreach Committee.
3. Approve Minutes: Minutes of the August 11, 2019 Meeting for Business were approved.
4. Ministry and Counsel (M&C) Report – S Olson:  In addition to the usual attention to pastoral care needs among friends, the focus of the M&C September meeting was the re-organization of the Ministry and Counsel Committee. The restructuring of M&C’s responsibilities has been a topic of discussion for many years. It became more compelling after the retirement of our former Director of Ministry, P Jones. M&C has found it increasingly difficult to meet the additional responsibilities of pastoral care and also give proper attention to oversight of the meetings for worship and the spiritual life of the community.
   In the past year the committee has given increased attention on how to respond to this situation. It tried increasing the meeting time by a half hour but this proved insufficient to address the problem. In late July the committee organized a listening session on pastoral care to gain more input from the meeting community. Four themes emerged from this session. 1) Gratitude for the care received from P Jones and so many other members of the community since her retirement. 2) The challenge of admitting when we need help and asking for care so it can be offered by the meeting community. 3) The potential need for training related to developing confidential relationships with others in meeting. 4) The need for involvement by all members of the community rather than expecting one committee to provide all needed care. An effective committee needs to “light the fire of the whole community’s involvement in care and keep it burning.”
   Earlier in the year a sub-committee proposed that Ministry and Counsel’s responsibilities be divided between two new committees. A ministry and worship committee would have oversight of the meetings for worship and the spiritual well-being of the meeting community. A care and counsel committee would facilitate responses to the pastoral care needs of individuals and families. At its September meeting M&C worked its way through a 2.5 page document outlining statements of purpose for the respective committees and lists of tasks. M&C will host another listening session on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 10 am to consider the proposal for restructuring ministry and worship issues. The committee anticipates being able to share a completed draft document with meeting for business in October.
   Throughout its deliberations on pastoral care, the committee has been mindful of the words of Isaac Pennington (1667). “Our life is love, and peace and tenderness; and bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations against another, but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand.” Pennington invites us to become our best selves by becoming a genuinely caring community.    Discussion: Friend understood that the new pastoral care committee would facilitate care but not be expected to be the sole provider. Yes, everyone will be invited to offer their gifts in response to care needs. Friend wondered if the September 28th threshing session would be open to everyone. Yes. There was some discussion about conflicting events on September 28.th Look for an item in the next bulletin for clarification. Friend noted that M&C has had more responsibility for pastoral care than may be good. There is need for a process to identify and involve more members of the community in providing pastoral care. Yes. That is one of the charges proposed for the new committee.
5. Reports
   1. Welcoming and Outreach Report—E Souther:  Welcoming and Outreach tries to foster an open and welcoming community for newcomers and empower current members and attenders to share their experience of this community with others outside the meeting. This past year the committee 1) arranged for greeters at the doors, 2) corresponded with persons signing the guest book, 3) hosted two mid-morning programs to learn more about why people come to meeting and stay, 4) planned a “Coffee with a Quaker” program (no one has signed up thus far, but sign up slips are available on the elevator table), 5) hosted an ice-cream social for the neighborhood, and 6) hosted a welcoming for a new member. The committee hopes to have a named clerk soon to facilitate communication. The work of the committee has felt spirit-led. Members are gladdened by the many visitors and new attenders who have come to meeting for worship this past year. Discussion: Friend asked how persons who sign up for coffee with a Quaker are matched with a Friend. The committee makes this judgment. The Clerk and other friends thanked members of the committee who have so faithfully reached out to welcome new attenders. It has truly been a spirit-filled service
   2. Peace and Social Concerns – J G Hunter:   Peace and Social Concerns is an open committee where other friends join in periodic meetings with the six committee members. Its mission includes: 1) proposing recipients of the Winter Envelope Gift, 2) serving as a clearinghouse for social concerns requests received by the Meeting, 3) supporting individuals who take on peace and social concerns actions, 4) working with the Stewardship and Finance Committee to allocate funds in the budget for the work of friends, 5) helping Meeting select and respond to 1-3 peace and social concerns focus topics each year.
      The focus for 2018-19 was to “promote policies that reduce economic inequality and poverty, encourage fair compensation for workers and health care for all.” Accomplishments included 1) recommending recipients for the White Envelope Gift and the carbon tax donation, 2) funding bus transportation for the Quaker Earth Care Witness participants in April, 3) offering several movie night programs and coordinating R Hanson’s workshop, “Diagnosed Body, Diagnosed Earth: Walking Cheerfully Anyway,” 4) coordinating a display of the Torture is a Moral Issue banner on the meetinghouse in June, and 5) hosting a table at the Veterans for Peace Storytelling Event at Landmark Center.
      The proposed focus for 2019-20 is gender justice and well-being. This focus will be on both men and women and include actions related to the #MeToo movement, justice for rape and sexual abuse victims, work pay equality, health and wellness, the epidemic of male suicides and acceptance of gender fluidity.
      The main challenge for the committee is attracting wider participation of friends in its programs and work and finding action-oriented social justice issues that the Meeting might work on. The committee makes time for silence and prayer in its work and has often felt guided by spirit as it sorts through the many issues and requests it receives. Discussion: Friend noted that the September 2019 issue of Friends Journal has wonderful article on the way a North Carolina Friends school handled sexual abuse allegations that could serve as a model for other churches. Friend noted that the Trustees had met with members of the Mayim Rabim congregation about partnering with peace and social concerns and wondered about follow up. There have been ongoing discussions with Peace and Social Concerns and two members of the congregation participated in the recent meeting for worship at the federal building where the Homeland Security offices are located. Friend noted that at least 20 persons worshiped together at the federal building. The clerk and others thanked those who organized and participated in this witness and the committee for its good work.
   3. Child Welfare Report and Procedures Draft – D Herron:  Members of the committee have been meeting for two years to prepare a policy on child welfare updating the original policy adopted in 1994-96. The purpose of the new policy is to provide a safe and secure environment for the children who participate in our programs and activities. The policy lays out a number of guidelines to protect the safety of children and to protect our staff and volunteers from false accusations.
      1. Persons wishing to work with children must have been involved with meeting for minimum of six months, complete an application, be interviewed in person. The interview will be done by Child Welfare Committee. A criminal background check is the last step.
      2. The goal is to always have two unrelated adults present when children are in the meetinghouse or classrooms but it provides for one adult to supervise if certain conditions are met.
      3. There are check-in/out procedures, guidelines for teens working with children, participation of sick children, use of restrooms, the internet, texting, and bans on corporal punishment and dispensing of medication.
      4. Types of abuse are defined and procedures for reporting and responding to allegations of abuse are spelled out.
         Doug noted that the care and safety of children is the responsibility of everyone in the Meeting and urged all members and attenders read over the policy carefully.  Discussion: Clerk noted that the policy will be brought back to meeting for business later in the year once friends have had an opportunity to read it. Several friends offered comments and the clerk asked that they be sent by e-mail to R B Cornelius, clerk of the committee. Several friends expressed appreciation for the thoughtful and thorough work of the committee in preparing this child welfare protection policy.
   4. Visioning Session – Clerk
      Clerk noted that there will be a visioning session on November 9th from 10 am to1 pm. Judith James will be explaining more about the session and visioning process at the Mid-Morning Program on October 20th.
6. Correspondence:  M Martin, a Pennsylvania Friend, wrote requesting help in finding accommodation for her nephew in Minneapolis. He is a wind turbine engineer who will be working in the area and is looking for a place he might rent two months. Friends can reply to M Martin at her facebook page:
7. Meeting closed after a time of silent worship at 12:15 pm.

Attachments:

Ministry and Counsel Report, September 8, 2019
Respectfully submitted by S Olson

1) Current members of the Ministry and Counsel Committee are H Flores, B Hendricks, K Herron, J Nail, S Olson (clerk), N Smith, S Snyder and C VandenDolder. Ex officio members are B Coffin, J Kraft and G McJunkin.
2) The charge of Ministry and Counsel (M & C) is to oversee and care for the worship, spiritual lives, and care of the membership of the meeting. We tend to requests for membership and marriage under the care of the meeting.
3) At our September meeting we focused on pastoral care concerns by reviewing how we had reached out to attenders and members. We also brainstormed who might be the best resource to contact other persons who seemed to us to need some tender, loving care.
4) The primary focus of our September meeting was the re-organization of our committee. By talking to prior clerks of Ministry and Counsel, I have learned that re-configuring Ministry and Counsel to form other committees has been considered for many years. The need to actually do so has become more compelling because of the retirement of our former Director of Ministry, P Jones.

As I have previously reported, we have been tending to this issue for more than a year. We tried adding another half hour to our meetings and found that was not a sufficient solution. A subcommittee within Ministry and Counsel drafted task descriptions which the full committee is now reviewing. We also held a listening session on July 31, 2019.
Four themes emerged during the listening session. Several persons were grateful for care they had received from P Jones and others were grateful for the many ways they had been assisted by community members. Anticipation of who might need care was a second theme. As we considered this issue we noted that it can be challenging to admit that we need help.
A third theme of the listening session was a potential need for training, especially related to developing relationships with others while maintaining confidentiality. A fourth theme was the nature of an effective pastoral care committee. One person noted an effective committee needs to “light the fire of the whole community’s involvement in care and keep it burning.” Another said pastoral care cannot be separated from spiritual care. Finally, someone noted that even the most well-functioning committee might not be able to provide enough care. We will still need to reach out to each other.
At our September Ministry and Counsel meeting we moved from considering whether Ministry and Counsel needs to be restructured and took several steps beyond receiving input. We got into the nitty-gritty-details of what new committees would actually do.
During our deliberations this month and in preceding months we have been guided by the words of Isaac Pennington who in 1667 characterized a Quaker meeting by saying, “Our life is love, and peace and tenderness; and bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations against another, but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand.” Pennington invites us to become our best selves by becoming a genuinely caring community.
In general, we propose that Ministry and Counsel become two committees—Ministry and Worship which will foster the spiritual growth and well-being of the meeting community and Care and Counsel which will facilitate the care of individuals. At our September meeting we worked our way through a 2.5 page document—statements of purpose for the respective committees and lists of tasks. We wrestled mightily. We listened respectfully. I am very glad to report that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Our listening session on July 31 focused on pastoral care. Another listening session on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 10 am will consider the ministry and worship issues. We anticipate being able to share our completed document with you next month.

5) As we move from the final day of our summer schedule today to our fall schedule next week, please be mindful of the need to put most announcements in the bulletin. Moving from a deep state of worship to a long list of announcements is challenging. You can trust that others do read the bulletin. We know this because individuals report how many phone calls and cards they have received if their name has been listed in the bulletin!

Annual Committee Report
Peace and Social Concerns Coordinating Committee
September 8, 2019

Members: (the P&SC committee is an open committee and other MFM member periodically attend meetings)
Peace and Social Concerns Coordinating Committee Charge:
The mission of Peace and Social Concerns Coordinating Committee is to coordinate activities that focus on five items:

1. Proposing recipients of the Winter Envelope Gift (formerly the “White Envelope Gift”)
2. Serving as a clearinghouse for peace and social concerns requests that come to the Meeting
3. Allowing for and supporting and offering (if asked) clearness to groups and individuals who take on peace and social concerns action in the Meeting
4. Proposing the annual contributions budget allocations to the stewardship committee
5. 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

Focus for 2018
The Peace and Social Concerns Committee had as its focus for the 2018–19 to “Promote policies that reduce economic inequality and poverty, encourage fair compensation for workers and health care for all”.

2018 Accomplishments

• Coordinated with the Meeting the Winter Envelope recipients and Annual Meeting Contributions.
• The committee selected the recipients for the 2018 carbon tax donations.
• Bus transportation was purchased for the QEW visit on Apr. 12-13 from the P&SC budget.
• The committee continued the movie night program showing a number of films during the year.
• The committee coordinated with R VandenDolder on displaying the Torture is a Moral Issue banner on the meeting house in June.
• The committee coordinated the presentation of R Hanson’s workshop “Diagnosed Body, Diagnosed Earth: Walking Cheerfully Anyway” at the meeting house.
• The committee hosted a table at the Veterans for Peace Storytelling Event at Landmark Center.

Focus for 2019
The proposed focus for 2019-20 is Gender Justice and Well Being. This focus will be on both men and women and include actions related to #MeToo movement, justice for rape and sexual abuse victims, work pay equality, health and wellness, the epidemic of male suicides, and acceptance of gender fluidity.
Challenges:   We are an open meeting, gathering the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Outside the regular committee members, we have not attracted many additional attenders to our monthly meetings.They committee is currently considering ways to broaden meeting participation and finding action oriented social justice issues for the meeting to work on.
How does the committee leave itself open to the leading of the Spirit? We make time during our meetings for silence and prayer. We attempt to bring our committee’s and the larger meeting’s leadings to our monthly meeting for consideration.
How has the committee experienced movement of the Spirit in its meetings or as it carries out its work? We often deal with large agendas including requests from many petitioners. We often seem to be able to sort through to the things that the Spirit may be nudging us towards. Our current consideration of meeting needs and interests in social justice activities feels to be Spirit led.