Editor's Note:
Upper Dublin Meeting (PA) spent two forums considering General Secretary Thomas
Jeavons' report on the challenges facing Yearly Meeting [September/October 1999
PYM News]. After those forums, Robert Tatman wrote his thoughts in a memo to
his Meeting. The Monthly Meeting decided to forward the following paragraph to
PYM News, saying "it speaks to our condition."
he most important thing I learned from my
work with the [PYM] Long-Range Committee was that there are two hallmarks of a
thriving Meeting: a vibrant meeting for worship, with a living ministry, be it
in words or in silence; and a strong, energetic, noisy First-day School. Please
note that these are not preconditions. They are results. But they both start in
the same place — with the earnest commitment of Friends to the spiritual
growth of the Meeting. A Monthly Meeting has a life-cycle of its own. It waxes
and wanes, pushes the limits of its meetinghouse sometimes and dies back to a
small core at others. The answer to the loss of membership is not aggressive
"outreach" (as unprogrammed Friends call evangelism). The answer to the loss of
membership, the key to reviving Monthly and Quarterly and Yearly Meetings, will
not be found in any kit, any gimmicks, any textbook. The key lies in
re-focusing our prayer lives, as individual Friends and as Meetings. Without
that, all of our outreach activities are like the seed that fell on sand —
any roots that sprout are so shallow that the least wind will blow them away.
But with strong prayer lives, with lives that witness our faith to the world,
with lives that make others ask, "What makes that person different? I think I
like the difference" ... if we truly live in the Life and Power that taketh
away the occasion of all wars, if we remember that we are, after all, a
religious organization, and act on that realization, we can turn ourselves
around.
Robert F. Tatman
Upper Dublin Meeting (PA)
