The Arrangements Committee invites all interested friends to this online meeting to discuss ideas for how our 33 local meetings can feel supported and connected to the area meeting.   In the zoom conversation held on 29th July, a concern was raised about support for smaller meetings. 

Meetings of all sizes can face the same problems.  Some find they change rapidly from managing well to not managing well, depending on their role-holders.   There are also meetings which are not small in terms of attendance, but have a very small number of experienced Quakers and a lot of newcomers. 

We will consider the following elements in the life of a Quaker meeting: 

• Eldership, including right holding of MfW 
• Pastoral Care including any possible grant giving to individuals 
• Clerking and right ordering of business meetings 
• Keeping the local meeting informed of papers and events via Notices and circulation methods 
• Contact person(s) required by QiL AM – eg: premises committee, safeguarding, GDPR and data protection, nominations, donations encourager, finance (expenses, budget;  accounts if in Option 2) 
• f. Distribution of helpful contact details to roleholders and friends generally  
• g.  Social and learning opportunities  
• h. Conflict and difficulties among people in the meeting 

Our aim is not to hear about issues in detail but to use them as examples to see if we can create a ‘road map’ of where local meetings should turn when they identify a problem. 

NE Thames elders have shared details of how their elders and pastoral friends have met quarterly for decades.  They will present a proposal for taking this forward London-wide.   If the approach in the NET paper is supported, we could consider the topics of eldership and pastoral care together. 

Do get in touch if you think we have missed key aspects in the life of a local meeting. 

arrangements@quakersinlondon.org 

MEETING LINK: https://meet.google.com/meet/ivf-cbpt-wen?authuser=0&hs=122&ijlm=1794330408547