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Burlington Quarterly Meeting of The Religious Society Of Friends
Steering Committee Meeting
Second Month 16th 2008
Woolman Memorial Mount Holly New Jersey
Friends of the Burlington Quarter Steering Committee gathered for fellowship at half past nine in the morning of Second Month 16th 2008 at the Woolman Memorial in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Minute No. 1. Opening Minute. Burlington Quarter Steering Committee met at Woolman Memorial Second Month 16th 2008 near the stated hour of ten in the morning and settled into opening worship with 15 Friends attending. Tad LaFountain was clerk, Susan White, recording. Other Friends present were: John Andrews (Crosswicks), Fran Campbell ( Mt. Holly and Coordinator of Quarter), Pat Fowler ( Mt. Holly ), Joe Jordan (Rancocas), Sally Miller ( Mt. Holly ), Sarah Miller ( Mt. Holly ), Gary Nisley (Little Egg Harbor), Frank Smith (Rancocas), Joy Smith (Princeton), Charlotte Spillane (Little Egg Harbor), Jack Walz ( Mount Holly ), Norma Waters ( Mt. Holly ), Allan White ( Princeton ). A Friend unable to sit with us today who sent regrets was Carolyn Shafer from Barnegat.
Clerk lifted up our particular thanks to the John Wolman for hosting both the Steering Committee and Ad Hoc Committee today. Also to Friends who provide refreshments. The agenda was considered and approved.
Minute No. 2. Financial Matters . No report.
Minute No. 3. Called Quarterly Meeting on Quaker Quest. Friends considered that session held last week at Mt. Holly Meeting, and offered the following:
- A Friend asked how many people who came to the programs then joined a meeting. British Friends deliberately did not make counts.
- Another Friend offered that the Quaker Quest program could be a powerful way to have inreach within our Meetings, and build community within our Quarter
- A Friend who has spent considerable time in the business world suggested that we could do well to look at the inputs and outputs, the costs as to money and time. Part of the problem with the Making New Friends program our Yearly Meeting used for a time, was that we did not work to keep Friends within our congregations.
- The terms Hope and Salvation came to mind, as elements of Faith. Quakerism is a hopeful religion. Salvation does not have to wait for the next life, and it is not predetermined. Rather, we can seek God in each person in our everyday lives. Why is it that the notions of Hope and Salvation are not mentioned more often among Friends? Listening to Quaker Quest program last week was not finding an immediate solution to problems of membership - having more people alone does not guarantee future success for the Society of Friends..
- Quaker Quest emphasizes no history and no Quaker jargon in the very beginning, but these can be brought into the discussion later on. Plain speaking would not use Quaker jargon overmuch. A Friend asked what we should put on our signs, for example “ First Day School ” or “Sunday School”? If we use language which is not readily understood, we could put off those who might be interested in coming in and learning more about Quakers.
- A Friend offered that we could do well to use the term “church” instead of “Meeting.” At 70 he is the youngest member of his Meeting, and would like to see membership built so that there could be a younger generation within his Meeting.
- Christian to describe the Society of Friends is also a question among some Friends. A Friend offered that the goal of some of the evangelical churches is to die. A joy within Friends is to live so as to fulfill spiritual responsibility to yourself and those around you. A Friend lifted up that there are many within our faith community who do not consider themselves Christian. A Friend who has studied the history of religion pointed out that George Fox was trying to get the Society of Friends to go back to what was called the Primitive Christianity of the time of Jesus.
- Christian theology which came in late centuries can be divisive. We do not have to thresh out all the later theology in order to recognize the God within. Another Friend offered that so many people come to Quakerism because they have been damaged spiritually by being told they had to believe in this or that.
- Clerk offered that Quaker Quest is an effort worthy of support, especially in light of what happens at Haverford where the first series of Quaker Quest sessions in North America is planned. Quaker Quest also lifts up the possibility of presenting ourselves as inclusive and welcoming, rather than exclusionary and off-putting. Friends approved this senses of the Quaker Quest program.
Minute No. 4. Coordinator's Report . Fran Campbell reported that she has deposited minutes from our Quarter at the Haverford Historical Collection. Receipt is attached to paper copy of these minutes.
She then presented a Coordinator's Report where she lifted up the following work that she has done:
- Completed Newsletter and sent it to printer.
- Updated Burlington Quarter Web Page with Recording Clerk.
- Attended February meeting for Tri-Quarter Gathering. Friends of Chester Quarter are being invited to participate in Tri-Quarter this fall. She has invited the Yearly Meeting Indian Committee to present a session at Tri-Quarter.
- Met with Joe Laufer, Burlington County Historian, to discuss an exhibit of pictures of Quaker Meetinghouses in Burlington County . Since there is so much cleaning to be done at Mansfield , she recommended the possibility of using Mt. Holly Meetinghouse. Mt. Holly Meeting is now considering
- Suggested that the south side of Mansfield needs to have large pieces of wood and other items removed, There is also heavy vacuuming and other cleaning to be done there. The Mansfield Property Committee can address this.
- Received donations for Mansfield , including a vacuum.
- Discussed getting software from Yearly Meeting to use in circulation of books from Mansfield Branch of Yearly Meeting Library.
- Reported a problem with ants and mice at Mansfield .
- Facilitated heater repair at Mansfield .
Minute No. 5. Calendar. Our next Quarterly Meeting will be at Crosswicks Third Month 15 th.
There will also be a Threshing Session on the Burlington Conference Center , held at the Burlington Meetinghouse, on March 9, 2008. Friends asked for more details about the Burlington Meetinghouse meeting. The tone for the new announcement of this meeting has changed drastically, with a sense of the notice now being that they will see if there is a “way to go forward,” with the implication is that there may already be an end point to that agenda. Friends lifted up serious concerns about the closed tone of the announcement. Clerk suggested that Friends as led should consider participation in this Meeting.
A Friend suggested that we might consider sending a statement of our concern forward. Friends then approved the Clerk of Quarter drafting a letter stating our concerns to be sent forward to Arthur Larrabee, our General Secretary who issues the announcement for the session, and other responsible Friends who will be involved.. .
Minute No. 6. New Business and Announcements Maurie Stevenson sent greetings to us all. He is recovering from surgery, and is doing well.
Minute No. 7. Minutes and Closing. Minutes of today's meeting were considered, revised, and approved. After a period of silent worship, with 16 Friends present, meeting closed at about half past the hour of eleven, to meet again in Quarterly Meeting Third Month 15 th 2008 according to Divine Will.
Susan White, Recording Clerk.
Burlington Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Burlington Quarter Ad Hoc Committee
Meeting 16 February 2008
Woolman Memorial
Minute No. 1. Opening Minute . Friends of the Ad Hoc Committee of Burlington Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends gathered after the Burlington Quarter Steering Committee Meeting at Woolman Memorial in Mt. Holly , near the hour of half past eleven in the morning of First Month, 19 th , 2008, and settled into opening worship with 16 Friends present. Clerk was Joy Smith (Princeton), recording Susan White ( Princeton .) Other Friends present were : John Andrews (Crosswicks), Fran Campbell ( Mt. Holly and Coordinator of Quarter), Pat Fowler ( Mt. Holly), Joe Jordan (Rancocas), Margaret Mansfield (Mt. Holly), Sally Miller (Mt. Holly ), Sarah Miller ( Mt. Holly ), Gary Nisley (Little Egg Harbor), Frank Smith (Rancocas), Joy Smith (Princeton), Charlotte Spillane (Little Egg Harbor), Jack Walz ( Mount Holly ), Norma Waters ( Mt. Holly ), Allan White ( Princeton ). A Friend unable to sit with us today who sent regrets was Carolyn Shafer from Barnegat
Minute No. 2. Continuing Work on Research on Other Quarters : Tad LaFountain, clerk of Quarter, reminded Friends that at our last meeting, we had each agreed to query another Quarter within our Yearly Meeting to learn about their structure and function. We could then be better prepared to understand a wide range of possibilities for our work in Burlington Quarter.
Friends who took on this work were:
- Abington – Carolyn Shafer
- Burlington – Joy Smith
- Bucks – Gary Nisley
- Caln - Joe Jordan
- Chester – John Andrews
- Concord – Sally Millner
- Haddonfield – Fran Campbell
- Haverford – Tad LaFountain
- Philadelphia – Louis LeFevre
- Salem – Jean Jordan
- Southern - Bill Robbins
- Upper Susquehanna – Allan White
- Western – Susan White
Minute No. 3. Organization and Function of Quarters. In discussion, Friends lifted up the following points in considering how Quarters are organized and function:
- Reports from 9 of the 12 Quarters have been received, and were sent to clerk of Quarter, who assembled them into an overall report which was distributed to those present today. Clerk noted that there is a remarkable lack of formal organization within many Quarters. Perhaps this follows on our Yearly Meeting putting little emphasis on Quarters in recent years. There was a universal request from Quarters studied to know what we have learned form this study. As to organization, there is only the universal presence of a Steering / Planning Committee, and someone fulfilling the finance function, and not other structures. There is a nominating committee in perhaps half the Quarters.
- Also the lack of reports from Monthly Meetings to Quarter is fairly universal. The reports are not being generated because from the Yearly Meeting level down no one cares. A Friend who was active in our Yearly Meeting several years ago reported that the Yearly Meeting administration stated that they no longer wanted to receive reports from Monthly Meetings or from Quarters. Therefore, Friends got out of the habit of doing reports for the Quarter. A Friend who was a clerk of one of our Meetings at an earlier time reported on the process she used to generate that report. What will happen to the reports once generated?
- In terms of handbooks, most Quarters do not have them, and where they do exist they are very much out of date. Directories are often used in place of a handbook, and are kept up to date. The Bucks model, where there is a handbook, could be used by other Quarters if that would be useful. The Bucks Quarter Handbook is functional rather than being made on a spiritual basis. It is organized according to categories of work within the Quarter. Could this approach help us, or would we want something with a spiritual foundation.
- No Quarter has a Religious Education committee. Programs for children and young people make young families welcome at a Meeting. Kids represent tangible evidence of a future. Quarters usually are made up of both large Meetings, and also smaller Meetings. The smaller Meetings often do not have programs for children and Young Friends. The Yearly Meeting has eliminated the Quaker Work Camps which was an important overall program for young Friends.
- A Friend lifted up a concern that Quarters do not trust Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Another Friend noted that trust must be earned. A Friend reminded us that in the past Quarters of our Yearly Meeting had come to the financial rescue of the Yearly Meeting. Another Friend offered that Religious Education can often be found in larger Monthly Meetings. A Friend lifted up the lack of peers for children in some Monthly Meetings. Could the Quarter or Yearly Meeting offer opportunities for children to have Quaker peers, as was done in the past? Today, there are very active programs among Philadelphia Friends for children. It seems like Religious Education might be given a high priority within the Society of Friends.
- Young Young Friends annual camping weekend at Blairstown, a program of our Quarter, has been held for the last ten years, and draws some 50 children and 50 adults each year. Also, children have good programs at Tri-Quarter Gathering each year.
- Larger bodies invest truest in smaller bodies. For example, within our own Quarter it is the responsibility of our own Trustees to determine at what point the Property Committee of Mansfield needs to refer decisions to them.
- Fellowship is lifted as a high priority among Friends across each Quarter.
- The sense of the term Trustees was examined, and is related to incorporation.
- If the Protestant reformation was about removing ritual, then the Quaker Meeting is the ultimate fulfillment, so long as our ritual does not become dealing overmuch with budget and management of physical assets.
Minute No. 4. Future Directions.
Friends suggested the following in considering how we can take our work forward:
- A Friend lifted up that Monthly Meetings do not exist to support the Quarter, nor the Quarter to support the Yearly Meeting staff and central organization. Instead, our function as a Quarter is to support our Monthly Meetings, and the Yearly Meeting's job is to support both the Quarters and the Monthly Meetings The job of this Ad Hoc Committee is to examine whether we are doing the best job we can to support our Monthly Meetings. If a Meeting falls below critical mass to function effectively, how does the Quarter, and also other Monthly Meetings, support that Meeting?
- Could we use the term “Network” instead of “Committee” to identify working groups within a Quarter? This could make service on a Quarter group be more open and inclusive, instead of finite and closed?
- Would Friends be comfortable recommending to Quarterly Meeting that the clerk of Steering Committee, then the Clerk of Trustees, and then the Assistant Clerk of Trustees, in that order, serve as the Acting Clerk of our Quarter when needed? But in no case would the same Friend serve as clerk of Quarter or clerk of Steering, and also serve as clerk or assistant clerk of Trustees. Friends approved.
- Could we share the clarification that the Mansfield Property Committee is a subcommittee of the Trustees? Friends approved.
- Could the Ad Hoc Committee also recommend to Quarterly Meeting that we continue our work in discerning the most appropriate way forward so as to refining structure and function of our Quarter, so as to best discharge our mission to support our Monthly Meetings? Friend approved.
- Could clerk of Quarter, for our next meeting, create a draft report on what the Ad Hoc Committee is trying to do, how work has gone forward, and what recommendations are?
Friends approved.
Minute No. 5. Minutes and Closing. Minutes of today's meeting were considered, revised, and approved. After a period of silent worship, with 16 Friends present, meeting rose near quarter of two to meet again in Quarterly Meeting Third Month 15 th , 2008 according to Divine Will.
Susan White, Recording Clerk.