FMSA Considerations About Our Current State of Affairs — Report of 7/28/24 Forum
On Sunday, July 28, 2024, Friends gathered following Meeting for Worship to consider five questions on the topic of where we are as a Meeting. Fourteen Friends participated in person, two on Zoom, and one Friend answered the questions by email in advance of the forum. The questions and responses to them are located in the Appendix to this report.
This discussion had its genesis in the concerns expressed at the end of 2023 as they related to the Meeting’s operating finances and its ability to conduct various aspects of its work through the committee structure typical of most Quaker meetings. Various “tweaks” had been implemented during 2023, such as a task list where individuals could choose a time and date to volunteer to accomplish one of tasks involved with having Meeting for Worship each Sunday. These changes have met with limited success.
The goal of this report is to provide fodder for additional discussion about the state of the Meeting and our future together as well as material for discussion within committees to consider what work should be continued or laid down and how we must adapt to the realities of modern society. Quakers have been faced with societal change throughout their existence when critical inflection points require action, and they have done so without altering the essence of their beliefs. We will discuss this report at a forum on September 22, 2024. Please read it thoroughly and come prepared to discuss it and possible ideas for next steps. We will not be reading this report on September 22, we will hopefully be stimulating actions that can permit the Meeting to move forward in its development.
The cover of this report is a word cloud created from the responses to the questions posed in the forum. What started as almost 900 words was reduced to approximately 65 words after eliminating or combining duplicates, articles of speech, or words with only one or two mentions. The most visible words in the word cloud are the ones that appeared most often and give a window into the heart of the Meeting.
What follows are the themes that emerged from Friends responses to each of the questions posed. These themes are intended to get at the sense of those responses. After moving through the themes associated with each question, there is a list of possible strategies that may address some concerns. Nothing here is cast in stone, and whichever strategies are developed, they must be compatible with the notion of who we are and what we are trying to accomplish. Much the same way a clearness committee helps people test leadings and congruence with their values and the needs they aim to address; we as a Meeting must do the same.