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1 Meeting for Sufferings
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2
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3 2 December 2017
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4
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5 Henry S. Thompson, SE Scotland AM representative
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6
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7 All the papers for the meeting are available online at
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8
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9 http://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-dec-2017-updated-agenda--papers-package
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10
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11 The minutes and other follow-up material will also appear sometime
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12 soon linked from
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13
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14 http://www.quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/meeting-for-sufferings/papers-and-minutes
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15
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16 The first item is perhaps the most significant decision Sufferings has
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17 taken in the whole of my first term so far: we are asking YM2018 to
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18 agree that we should set about revising our Book of Discipline and
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19 that Sufferings should manage the creation of a Revision Committee to
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20 undertake the necessary work.
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21
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22 *Book of Discipline Revision Preparation Group*
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23
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24 "By the Holy Spirit, guard the good deposit entrusted to you."
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25 2nd Letter of Paul to Timothy 1:14
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26
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27 Sufferings endorsed the recommendation from the Group for "a full
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28 revision" of our Book of Discipline, and forwarded it to YM Agenda
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29 Committee, asking them to bring this YM in 2018.
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30
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31 A bit more detail:
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32 * The 1994 revision merged the 2 existing books ("Church Government"
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33 and "Christian Faith and Practice in the Experience of the
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34 Religious Society of Friend" _without_ any review of the CG bits;
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35
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36 * YM2014 was asked to commence a revision, but did not reach unity;
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37
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38 * Sufferings then established the Revision Preparation Group charged
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39 with better preparing us for the question when it came back again;
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40
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41 * They in turn launched the "Reading Quaker Faith and Practice"
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42 exercise, which was much more successful than they had expected.
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43 Three kinds of outcomes were reported back to them, broadly
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44 speaking:
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45
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46 - Engaging with the book and the process
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47 - Understanding why revision is appropriate
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48 - Listening to differences
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49
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50 * Following on from the last of these, they established a "Theology
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51 Think Tank", whose report, in the form of a small book entitled
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52 _God, words and us_, has just been published and is available from
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53 the Friends House bookshop.
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54
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55 * They concluded that the Church Government parts really need a
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56 complete rewrite:
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57
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58 - The only completely up-to-date CG parts are online;
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59 - Lots of supplementary information is also available but not
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60 'officially' part of 'the book'
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61
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62 * A key part of their recommendation is to separate core from
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63 supplementary material. For example, in the (new in 4th edition)
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64 Chapter 16 on Marriage the first 15 sections are 'core, the rest
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65 'supplementary'
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66
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67 * Sufferings _expects_ that if YM agrees, Sufferings will be asked to
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68 appoint (and oversee) a Book of Discipline Revision Committee.
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69
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70 In conclusion, Sufferings endorsed the following summary
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71 recommendations and asked that YM2018 agree that:
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72
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73 "the time is right to begin a revision of our book of discipline.
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74 This revision should:
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75
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76 "1. begin with, but not be limited to, church government, namely the
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77 sections which focus on our procedures and corporate discipline.
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78
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79 "2. divide material between that in the main body of the book, which
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80 lays out principles, and supplementary material, which gives
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81 details.
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82
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83 "3. draw on the richness of theological thought in our yearly
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84 meeting, now and historically, seeing diversity as fundamental to
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85 our community, not as a flaw
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86
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87 "4. give a Revision Committee the freedom to be creative while
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88 remaining in close contact with the yearly meeting."
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89
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90 *Finance report*
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91
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92 Overall summary: Anticipated 2017 deficit down from last year, about
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93 125,000GBP, out of 12MGBP. A further 2MGBP is available from 'legacy
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94 funding' for new projects. The Hospitality Company, which manages
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95 Friends House and Swarthmore Hall, represents nearly 1/2 of
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96 centrally-funded staff, but turns a profit for us as a whole, which
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97 goes for our 'charitable work'. Although the planned 2018 budget is
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98 almost unchanged from 2017, and not only were contributions are up, a
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99 bit, in 2017, and Trustees are budgetting for that to happen again in
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100 2018, a 700,000GBP deficit is forecast.
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101
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102 *Investments in Israel-Palestine: West Bank"
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103
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104 In response to a minute from Devon AM, Trustees responded that we hold
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105 no current investments in West-Bank-active companies, Investment
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106 policy guidelines are currently under revue by Trustees.
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107
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108 *Lobbying Act*
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109
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110 Trustees are supporting an exploration of bringing a case for judicial
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111 review to force the passage of an amendment to remove the
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112 vulnerability to retrospective application of the Act in the case of a
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113 snap election.
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114
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115 *Sanctuary Everywhere Manifesto*
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116
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117 A second draft of this has come to us from the Forced Migration
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118 Advisory Group. It combines good will and aims with some inopportune
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119 phrasing. MfS offered some further amendments to try to address this,
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120 and then returned it with our approval as amended.
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121
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122 *General Meeting for Scotland*
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123
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124 Adwoa Bittle (GM Clerk) gave an intro to GM, with a lot of good
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125 detail, including our campaigns wrt Fracking, Militarism in Schools
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126 and Economic Justice.
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127
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128 See the GM website: http://www.quakerscotland.org/
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