*Meeting for Sufferings*

1 February 2020

Henry S. Thompson, SE Scotland AM representative

All the papers for the meeting are available online at

  https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2020-2-agenda-papers

The minutes and other follow-up material are available from

  https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2020-02-follow-up-package

*Trustees consultation*

The Clerk of BYM Trustees reported on the state of the Meeting-centred
support initiative and related issues.

She acknowledged concerns about decisions wrt meeting-centred support.

Re-envisioning trustees as responsible for the 'simple charity' which
supports BYM as a 'simple church': more work coming on that.

As an Area Meeting, we can/should feed back to Trustees: What do _we_
need from the centre to help us be simpler?

In response to Trustee's call for expressions of interest in first
steps towards Meeting-centred support, specifically hosting local
development works or acting as 'hubs': 38 responses were received.
 * One hub will be announced later this year as an experiment;
 * Local development worker roll-out will begin 'immediately', will
   take years, still aiming to have one such worker "in reach of"
   every meeting

Paul Parker, BYM Recording Clerk, spoke about the devolution of
central functions, saying that this would be a gradual process.  There
will continue to be wealth of specialist expertise in London.
Discussions have started with QLCC on what kinds specialist expertise
is needed and when it needs to be _in London_.

*Speaking out*

We returned to this matter to hear more [see report on Sufferings
2019-10-04] from Friends House staff on how they approach this.

They drew out two continua along which they see themselves as helping
us to approach public statements:
 * Complelled to witness <--> Compelled to achieve change
 * Be distinctively Quaker <--> Voice all concerns

Our decisions at York Gathering in 2009 on same-sex marriage was
mentioned as an instructive example of how witness without the
expectation of change none-the-less _achieved_ change.

*Diversity*

Sam McNair reported very impressively on a 
Diversity and Inclusion gathering held at Woodbrooke, 17-19 January.
During a small-group reflection session on this, I found the following
points that were shared particularly helpful:

 * Gay people of gender X may find X->Y trans people challenging to
   their own choices wrt their own dismorphia

 * Not all trans people are prepared/able to 'come out' to everyone in
   a new meeting: how would we as a Meeting cope with a gradual spread
   of knowledge?

 * In our struggle to understand how a Meeting might be a Quaker
   meeting and yet take what we find to be a very unQuakerly approach
   to LGBTQ issues, one Meeting reported having gotten great value
   from taking an African Meeting as the equivalent of a pen-friend,
   'twinning' with a Meeting from Ghana

 * What we need to understand better is how we as Meetings can, in
   individual cases, find a way to make a space that's safe for people
   who are labouring under the experience of being 'other' to share
   that in some way.  They may have been waiting a long time for the
   opportunity...