*Meeting for Sufferings*

7 December 2019

Henry S. Thompson, SE Scotland AM representative

All the papers for the meeting are available online at

  https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2019-12-agenda-papers

The minutes and other follow-up material are available from

  https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2019-12-follow-up-package

*Annual Reports*

We received annual reports (all in the linked-to agenda above) from
the four 'standing' committees: Quaker Life Central Committee (QLCC),
Quaker Peace and Social Witness Central Committee (QPSWCC), Quaker
Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR) and Quaker
World Relations Committee (QWRC), and had some thoughtful
deliberation, but no action was called for.

*QCCIR and Churches Together in England (CTE)*

The most surprising bit of information concerned our membership in
CTE, the the English constitutent of the Christian ecumenical bodies
in the UK.  In brief, the same-sex marriage issue has led to our
representative being uninvited from attendance.  Details in CIRCular
[1] and press statements from BYM and CTE [2].  We were led to
Re-affirmi the legitimacy of our presence in the ecumenical movement,
while rejecting the relevance of an individual's sexuality in making
appointments: We're committed to the ecumenical project for the long
haul.

*Has the word 'overseer' had its day?'

Maybe yes, maybe no...  An Area Meeting raised this question, we
declined to take a position, deferring to the Book of Discipline
Revision process.

*Central Nominations*

We returned to a proposal which we knocked back at our meeting in
November 2018, now revised.  We agreed to combine the work of the
existing Committee on Clerks and Central Nominations Committee.

The result is a larger single body (a "new Central Nominations
Committee") with flexible sub-structure replacing the two separate
bodies, nominating:

  * Clerks of YM and MfS

  * Other regular central roles: No central public list of posts for
    which the existing or new groups are responsible exists, but
    here's a partial list, being those appointed at YM in May 2019
    (with actual numbers):

    Britain Yearly Meeting Trustees (6)
    Yearly Meeting Agenda Committee (5)
    Yearly Meeting Arrangements Committee (3)
    Yearly Meeting Elders (9)
    Yearly Meeting Epistle Drafting Committee (6)
    Quaker Stewardship Committee (5)
    Yearly Meeting Agenda Committee (3)
    Yearly Meeting Pastoral Care Group (1)
    Yearly Meeting Publications Group for Quaker faith & practice (1)

  * _Ad-hoc_ roles, e.g. review groups (at least 1 or 2 small ones per
    year) and occasionally big (Review of Yearly Meeting, coming up,
    with 4 _ex officio_ members and 4 to be nominated) to very big
    (Book of Discipline Revision, 20+ members)

*Budget*

In her introduction, underlining the vulnerability to aging that we
face, the YM Treasurer said that five people, giving 8,000GBP between
them, contribute 30% of the her Area Meeting's income.

As a result of the plans for Meeting-centred support, the budget
projects a deficit, and is expected to do so for some years forward,
so reserves will be lowered.

[1] https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/circular-2019-12
[2] https://www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-events/news/churches-plan-for-new-president-falters-because-of-same-sex-marriage