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author Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
date Sun, 14 Jun 2020 14:25:20 +0100
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1 *Meeting for Sufferings*
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3 1 February 2020
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5 Henry S. Thompson, SE Scotland AM representative
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7 All the papers for the meeting are available online at
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9 https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2020-2-agenda-papers
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11 The minutes and other follow-up material are available from
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13 https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2020-02-follow-up-package
14
15 *Trustees consultation*
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17 The Clerk of BYM Trustees reported on the state of the Meeting-centred
18 support initiative and related issues.
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20 She acknowledged concerns about decisions wrt meeting-centred support.
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22 Re-envisioning trustees as responsible for the 'simple charity' which
23 supports BYM as a 'simple church': more work coming on that.
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25 As an Area Meeting, we can/should feed back to Trustees: What do _we_
26 need from the centre to help us be simpler?
27
28 In response to Trustee's call for expressions of interest in first
29 steps towards Meeting-centred support, specifically hosting local
30 development works or acting as 'hubs': 38 responses were received.
31 * One hub will be announced later this year as an experiment;
32 * Local development worker roll-out will begin 'immediately', will
33 take years, still aiming to have one such worker "in reach of"
34 every meeting
35
36 Paul Parker, BYM Recording Clerk, spoke about the devolution of
37 central functions, saying that this would be a gradual process. There
38 will continue to be wealth of specialist expertise in London.
39 Discussions have started with QLCC on what kinds specialist expertise
40 is needed and when it needs to be _in London_.
41
42 *Speaking out*
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44 We returned to this matter to hear more [see report on Sufferings
45 2019-10-04] from Friends House staff on how they approach this.
46
47 They drew out two continua along which they see themselves as helping
48 us to approach public statements:
49 * Complelled to witness <--> Compelled to achieve change
50 * Be distinctively Quaker <--> Voice all concerns
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52 Our decisions at York Gathering in 2009 on same-sex marriage was
53 mentioned as an instructive example of how witness without the
54 expectation of change none-the-less _achieved_ change.
55
56 *Diversity*
57
58 Sam McNair reported very impressively on a
59 Diversity and Inclusion gathering held at Woodbrooke, 17-19 January.
60 During a small-group reflection session on this, I found the following
61 points that were shared particularly helpful:
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63 * Gay people of gender X may find X->Y trans people challenging to
64 their own choices wrt their own dismorphia
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66 * Not all trans people are prepared/able to 'come out' to everyone in
67 a new meeting: how would we as a Meeting cope with a gradual spread
68 of knowledge?
69
70 * In our struggle to understand how a Meeting might be a Quaker
71 meeting and yet take what we find to be a very unQuakerly approach
72 to LGBTQ issues, one Meeting reported having gotten great value
73 from taking an African Meeting as the equivalent of a pen-friend,
74 'twinning' with a Meeting from Ghana
75
76 * What we need to understand better is how we as Meetings can, in
77 individual cases, find a way to make a space that's safe for people
78 who are labouring under the experience of being 'other' to share
79 that in some way. They may have been waiting a long time for the
80 opportunity...
81