Meeting for Worship with attention to business opened with a period of silent worship and a reading of the Land Acknowledgement.

1.      Approval of Agenda

The Clerks presented the proposed agenda, which was approved.

2.      Approval of March 8, 2026  Minutes

A draft of the March 8, 2026 Monthly Meeting minutes was circulated in advance of meeting for business. Suggested changes have been incorporated into the final version.

The March 8, 2026 minutes were approved.

3.      Co-Clerks’ Introduction

The clerks provided an introduction and expressed thanks for entrusting them in the role of presiding clerk and for approving the structure of co-clerks. They asked for patience as they grew into their new roles.

The Clerks expressed appreciation for the work and support of  the former clerk in the transition of the clerking responsibility. They also thanked the recording clerks. Special appreciation was expressed for the many years of service of the “retiring” recording clerk.

We were reminded that it takes a village to raise a clerk.

4.      Ministry and Counsel Committee report

The membership of the committee was shared, and the clerk of Ministry and Counsel highlighted a couple of items.

Tech Hosts

Ministry and Counsel responded to the Tech Committee’s concern about the difficulty of recruiting tech hosts for meeting for worship. First, they acknowledged the necessity of having a designated tech host for every worship in order to be able to offer hybrid meetings. The hosts prevent disruptions, monitor people coming and going on Zoom, mute people as needed, act as an “etiquette keeper,” and make the worship experience go smoothly.

They noted that the role of Tech host is similar in a way to the role of the closer at meeting: the person who serves that role has a different experience of worship. They can’t enter a meditative silence as completely as usual since they need to stay aware of everyone on Zoom. We want to acknowledge with gratitude the work of our volunteer tech hosts, work that can easily be taken for granted – especially when things go so seamlessly!

A more complete report from the Tech Committee was given later, but Ministry and Counsel made some recommendations to help solve the problem of us not having enough tech hosts to continue adequately supporting all our meetings for worship to be hybrid. The committee is seeking 2 or 3 additional volunteers, beyond the loyal volunteers who have been taking this role for the past many years, to ensure that all the slots are covered.

Ministry and Counsel believes that the Meeting should not offer hybrid worship if we can’t find anyone to cover it, since the tech host’s duties are essential. (These duties are distinct from the role of Audio/Visual Tech.)  We recommended to the tech committee that they consider hiring the office manager, to be the “back-up” tech host if no volunteers are available on a given Sunday. This solution would have to be approved by Liaison and Review, and there would be an additional financial cost.

Ad Hoc Safety Committee

Ad Hoc Safety Committee is under the care of Ministry and Counsel. Ministry and Counsel supports subcommittees like this one by hearing updates as they go along with their work and offer input. Issues the committee brought up to Ministry and Counsel include the need to develop a system for keeping track of who has keys to the meeting house, to address the presence of people who come here to the building but do not attend meeting, and to collaborate with Mayim Rabim to address their additional safety concerns.

Friends were reminded that Mayim Rabim locks the doors when they are in the building. Please honor their approach to safety and keep the doors locked while you are here and double-check that they are locked when you leave.

State of Society Report

Minneapolis Friends Meeting is asked to write an annual report about the highlights, accomplishments, and challenges we’ve experienced during the past year. Ministry and Counsel seek input from all members and attenders about what should be included.

Ministry and Counsel generated a list of highlights. These were read and Friends were asked for additions. A few suggestions were made.

• Adopting a human rights statement as an important faith witness
• Reflection on the quality of worship we have experienced in the last year
• Reporting on the difference the solar panels have made
• The participation of Quaker Voluntary Service fellows in our meeting
• The meeting’s management of a successful transition from the retirement of our meeting coordinator to a new office manager.

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5. Friends Committee on National Legislation report

Every two years Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) reviews its priorities. Meetings are asked to submit five federal policy issues that are priorities for our meeting.

Meetings’ priorities inform recommendations that an FCNL committee submits to staff. Ultimately decisions are made by the staff who take into consideration the current context and where they believe FCNL’s advocacy can make a difference.

The five areas that our Meeting plans to submit to FCNL include:

1. Climate change is a top concern of our Meeting. FCNL should continue to work for solar and wind energy.
2. FNCL should continue to ameliorate the conditions of immigrants
3. FCNL should continue its long history of opposition to war and the transfer of weapons that support war.
4. FCNL will continue to support Native Tribes in asserting their tribal rights including for water resources
5. FNCL will continue to advocate for the rights and survival of Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank.

There were some questions and suggestions given.

• Can we add something about abolishing the ICE agency? This is FCNL’s position at this time. FNCL is pursuing designations of safe spaces – schools, court houses, faith communities, no masks, positive identification, and requiring judicial warrants to enter people’s homes.
• Do our priorities address the invasion of Iran and attacks on Lebanon? FCNL is working on this. They are working against the supplemental Pentagon funding proposed by the Trump Administration.

Attendees were encouraged to get involved – let your congress people know you mind and write to the entire Minnesota Congressional delegation.

For more information on FCNL and its approach, it was suggested that Friends visit the web site. There is a lot of information on FCNL and their priorities.

The meeting accepted the FCNL priorities report.

6. Ad hoc safety committee report

Since September of 2025, Ministry and Counsel has discussed ways to help the Meeting prepare for a variety of possible safety concerns. In February of this year, the Meeting formed an ad hoc committee to research several areas of concern and return to the Meeting with recommendations.

In March, a workshop was held for Quakers on disaster preparedness. The facilitator strongly encouraged every Meeting to create a preparedness plan. Some of the reasons he shared were:

• To protect our people and those in our care.
• To protect our assets including our buildings.
• To continue activities and service to the community even if something happens.
• Insurance could be cancelled if no plan exists.

 

Following the recent Disaster Preparedness seminar, the ad hoc committee identified several gaps and next steps for the meeting. While the exercise focused on large-scale disasters, we should prioritize the risks most relevant to Minnesota and to a congregation setting. This includes planning for medical emergencies (our most likely scenario), clarifying who is prepared to respond to disruptive or distressing situations during meeting, and establishing a clear, agreed-upon policy for weather-related closures, especially during winter storms, as recent confusion during a blizzard showed the need for clarity. We should also plan for more likely regional disruptions such as extended power or water outages (over 24 hours) and severe fire, wind, or tornado damage.

In addition, the ad hoc committee met with Mayim Rabim, who shares our building and has recent experience with security concerns, including bomb threats. While such events are unlikely, they highlighted practical improvements we should address ensuring emergency lighting works, considering basic safety upgrades (e.g., flashlights, visibility measures, securing lower-level spaces), and exploring external cameras. There is also an opportunity to partner with Mayim Rabim on a grant to fund security improvements, and they are eager to collaborate.

This work represents a roadmap rather than a single action. We propose that relevant committees take on specific areas (medical preparedness, weather, and fire policy, building safety, and security planning) and bring recommendations back to Meeting for Business.

What would this look like?

The Property Committee exploring physical safety measures for the building, including fire or safety drills and safety improvements, Care and Counsel exploring ways to address disruptive or distressing situations that might occur during Meeting including training on the defibrillator, Ministry and Counsel working with the property committee to identify safe spaces in the building and the Technology committee exploring the merits of technologies that might help secure our building.

Each committee could work with the ad hoc committee on an advisory basis and bring back recommendations to the Meeting in each of the areas of concern. This is a roadmap for a long-term project.

In addition, the ad hoc committee recommends creating an ongoing liaison relationship with Mayim Rabim with respect to security of both of our congregations and the building.

Many improvements can be made at no or low cost, and the Meeting can choose what to prioritize.

Discussion

Thanks were expressed for the work of the committee.

The Ad Hoc Safety Committee was encouraged to consider a sign that indicates federal agents are not welcome in the building. Also consider a safety plan for those in the building when governmental agents do access the building.

A member encouraged the committee to identify how communications between Mayim Rabim and the Meeting should happen. In the past this happened through the meeting coordinator, but this probably is not part of the meeting office administrator’s responsibilities. In the past, there have been some challenges with this communication.

The clerk shared that Mayim Rabim can be a great asset to the safety planning. They have completed a formal safety audit and plan to do another one. They also may have access to financial resources to support safety plan implementation.

A member asked if the safety committee had considered food safety in the building as this might lead to medical emergencies. The committee had not considered this but will ask this question of the potluck committee.

A Friend brought up that the tech committee‘s charge only includes the meeting’s capacity to provide hybrid worship.

Another Friend thought that the next steps were not well defined enough to approve proceeding. By when should these items be considered and addressed? There was a desire for a more precise description of the action and way forward.

A corollary concern was raised that committees are busy – and may not have bandwidth to address safety issues.

After a discussion on process, the clerks agreed to send an email to the relevant committee clerks to get a discussion going. Member of the Ad Hoc committee can provide more information. An update will be given at an upcoming monthly meeting.

The meeting accepted the report.

This is the first step. Committees were reminded to consider all the financial impacts.

6.      Technology committee report

Reminders and Clarifications

Communications with tech support

• Communications with the Meeting’s tech host about meeting business meeting should be sent to mfmzoom2(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com. Please do not use their personal email address unless the emails are personal in nature. This is to help to protect their time.

Requests for Zoom and Hybrid Meetings

• Requests for setting up a zoom meeting should come from a committee. These requests should be sent to the Meeting’s Office Manager.
• Hybrid meetings. Remember the option of the conference room. You can request the conference room by sending a request to the Meeting’s Office Manager. Requests will be scheduled based on availability.
• Hybrid meeting in the large room: Requests should be sent to the Clerk of the Technology Committee. Approval is based on resource availability.

Weekly Material Submission Deadlines

• All Midmorning Program materials, Business Meeting items, and Second Worship hymns need to be sent to the office manager by Thursday at noon. They will forward materials to: MFMZoom2(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com">MFMZoom2(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com and the tech committee clerk.

Zoom Hosts Needed

• We had conversations with Ministry and Counsel about the tech committee. This committee has not missed a hybrid meeting. But currently we only have 5 people who serve as Zoom hosts. We are happy that two people have stepped forward to volunteer AND two more zoom hosts would be helpful.
• We’ve worked hard to simplify the Zoom hosting role. The tech host has been generous in taking on the infrequent by more complicated tasks.
• We are coming to the conclusion that if we have no zoom host, we will not have the hybrid option.
• To ensure consistent coverage, the Technology Committee recommends 9–10 Zoom Hosts. We are currently at 7. Special thanks to two new volunteers.

A more detailed walk through is available for those who are considering becoming a Zoom host. This role is similar to being a closer at meeting in that it does change people’s experience of worship. It’s challenging It’s a gift to the meeting.

7.Nominating Committee Update

The clerk of Nominating Committee shared a couple of additions to the nominating slate and asked for approval.

Friends approved those appointments.

8. Thee Quaker Video premiere

That video is online – also on Thee Quaker Video Website. We will show this in the future.

9. Memorial minutes for Kate Wolfe-Jenson and Dan Jensen

The meeting recorded the deaths of Kate Wolfe Jensen and Dan Jensen.

There is a difference between an obituary and a memorial minute. A memorial minute is a description of the spiritual life and light of an individual. The tone is simple and focuses on fruits of the sprit rather that worldly achievements. This minute is approved by the meeting and recorded.

The clerks sought and identified volunteers to develop these two memorial minutes

10. Correspondence and Announcements

Thanks to the office manager for responding to the communications that are coming in from meetings around the world and to a member of Peace and Social Concerns Committee for archiving these communications.

There is a survey about the Meeting’s web site being distributed. The committee that is working on the website redesign encouraged responses. There are paper copies available but responding electronically is preferable.

11.  Closing Silence