Representative Council - previous reports and papers

Representative Council, 13 - 15 April 2012

Deepening the Life of the Spirit

From 13th to 15th April Quaker Life Representative Council gathered at 2012 Woodbrooke Study Centre in Birmingham to explore theme 'Deepening the Life of the Spirit'. During the weekend there were two keynote talks: Ginny Wall, Woodbrooke's Spirituality Tutor, introduced the theme by reflecting on the place of spiritual practice in our lives, while Gerald Hewitson spoke about his own experience of deepening his spiritual life through prayerful practice. 

You can listen to and download the talks here. 

 Nine workshops, covering a variety of spiritual practices, ranging from Bible study to walking meditation, were also offered at the event by Woodbrooke tutors, Appleseed tutors, the Experiment with Light group and The Kindlers. Quaker Life representatives each had the opportunity to take part in three workshops during the course of the weekend.

 Quaker Life, in collaboration with Woodbrooke, commissioned Ginny to develop a resource book to distribute to those attending the weekend and to all meetings, to help Friends share some of what they experienced with others in their meetings, so nourishing and deepening the spiritual life of the meeting community. This book, entitled Deepening the Life of the Spirit contains brief guidance for a variety of practices that can help Friends deepen their experience of the Spirit (some covered at the weekend, some not), suggestions for finding out more about each practice, and a general book and links list. It is also available to buy from the Quaker Centre bookshop for £4 -  www.quaker.org.uk/shop

Representative Council, 28 - 30 October 2011

Discovering the Best in our Area Meetings

Below is the resource for facilitating Appreciative Inquiry. This is an adapted version of the programme followed by Quaker Life Representative Council, which involved all Representatives exploring the subject of Strengthening Area Meetings in facilitated Home Groups over a number of sessions.

Representatives received paper copies of the first version of this pack, which has now been adapted further. This final revision includes one significant change to make it consistent with the model most readily available on the Web. The version used at Representative Council of a ‘5D’ model tailored to that specific setting has been reconfigured to the more usual ‘4D’ model, to make it easier for anyone wishing to find out more by searching the Net. For the same reason, the American spelling of ‘Inquiry’ is retained: Appreciative Inquiry - a model used worldwide in many settings and applications - is often referred to simply as ‘AI’.

The process detailed in the resource pack is still modelled on the one pursued at Representative Council. It can be used in a number of ways - in its entirety to run a similar programme in an area meeting, in selected parts relevant to a meeting’s needs, for adapting to suit a meeting’s own purpose, or as a fund of ideas. At its simplest, it might serve to prompt an area meeting to consider just one question in depth, e.g. What is the smallest change in our area meeting that would make the biggest difference?

• Facilitation Notes
• Question Slip
• Handout 1 - Appreciative Inquiry
• Handout 2 - The 4D Cycle
• Handout 3 - Discovering the best in our Area Meeting
• Handout 4 - Positive Questions for strengthening our Area Meeting
• Handout 5 - Action Planning

Representative Council, 19-21 March 2010

With nearly 100 Friends attending this gathering, it was one of our largest Representative Council meetings yet.  With limited capacity at Woodbrooke some Friends needed to stay in outside accommodation but thankfully it didn't rain all the time so Friends didn't get too wet walking between the accommodation blocks.

Being the start of a new triennium we welcomed many new representatives and deputies to the Council.  It was a also a joy to see representatives continuing from the last triennium, many of whom were able to offer guidance to those attending for the the first time.

Although much of the weekend was centred around induction for new Quaker Life Representatives, we also had time to explore the Quaker Business Method.  Members of Young Friends General Meeting led this session and helped us to unpack the many positve aspects of the our Quaker Business Method but also to recognise some of the pitfalls and reasons why we do things in this manner. Whilst beginning with a very lighthearted role play, we moved in to the deeper consideration of this in smaller group work.

During the weekend we heard from representatives about the concerns, the joys and the challenges experienced by Friends locally.  This helped us to feel more conneceted with each other and provided ideas for how we might do things differently in our own meetings.  We heard too about the many services offered by Quaker Life that supports us in our worshipping communities and importantly how to report these back to local and area meetings.

On the Sunday morning, the sun finally came out and lit up our reflections session and our Meeting for Worship.

This was a wonderful gathering, of community, of learning and of worship.

For further information, please contact:

Quaker Life Representative Council Secretary

Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ

Tel: 020 7663 1143

Email: aidanf@quaker.org.uk