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Calling letter for nominations to Meeting for Sufferings for the triennium Yearly Meeting 2012- Yearly Meeting 2015

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To clerks of area meetings, General Meeting for Scotland, Meeting of Friends in Wales and Young Friends General Meeting 

Calling letter for nominations to Meeting for Sufferings for the triennium Yearly Meeting 2012- Yearly Meeting 2015

Dear Friends,

Nominations are requested for service on Meeting for Sufferings for the triennial period Yearly Meeting 2012 – Yearly Meeting 2015. Please pass this letter to the clerk of your nominations committee. It will assist us to have the nominations by the end of April 2012 or before.

Yearly Meeting held at Canterbury 30 July - 6 August 2011changed the composition of Meeting for Sufferings so that nomination is now for one representative together with an alternate.

Please note the triennial period is Yearly Meeting 2012 - Yearly Meeting 2015. Friends should be nominated for this period. All current representatives end service at Yearly Meeting 2012 and any who continue service will need to be renominated.
 
Guidance for the Nominations Committee:

  • Please forward the name of one Friend (in membership) to act as the representative on the form provided.
     
  • Please at the same time forward the name of a Friend (in membership) to act as the alternate. The alternate should be treated as someone who has the same capability and ability to represent as the alternate. Only one at a time will attend meetings, but both will receive all the papers and minutes, so they can keep fully abreast of the work of Meeting for Sufferings.

The representative and alternate nominated by Young Friends General Meeting are not required to be in formal membership of an area meeting, but to be part of YFGM.

Further guidance on the ways the representative and alternate relate together is found in the attached background information. Some of this may be a useful job description to give the Friends being approached.

We look forward to receiving your nominations. Please do contact me if you have any queries or need other assistance.

Michael Hutchinson
Assistant Recording Clerk

Nominations to Meeting for Sufferings YM 2012 – YM 2015 : background to the changed composition.

A revue group reported to Yearly Meeting this year on the functioning of Meeting for Sufferings and Britain Yearly Meeting Trustees since the trustee body was first set up.

Yearly Meeting in session accepted the recommendations of this group, including a reduction in the membership of Meeting for Sufferings.

Yearly Meeting then minuted:

AT THE YEARLY MEETING
HELD IN CANTERBURY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT
30 July - 6 August 2011

Minute 33 : Meeting for Sufferings - appointments for the triennium 2012-15
In accordance with minute 26 of this Yearly Meeting, area meetings are asked to nominate one member and one designated as an alternate to serve on Meeting for Sufferings for the triennial period beginning at the rise of Yearly Meeting 2012 until the rise of Yearly Meeting 2015. Nominations are to be forwarded to the Recording Clerk for appointment at Yearly Meeting 25-28 May 2012. In making nominations we ask area meetings to take into account the primary role of Meeting for Sufferings: that of seeking, in worship, the vision which shapes our work.

LIS BURCH, Clerk

Advice to area meetings for the nomination process (in addition to Quaker faith & practice 7.07).

The Review Group in its report (1.3) advises us that in nominating Friends to serve on Meeting for Sufferings, area meetings are reminded that between sessions of Yearly Meeting, Meeting for Sufferings is the place where deep worshipping discernment of the Yearly Meeting’s vision, its direction and priorities of faith and action should be taking place; the Meeting must have the spiritual authority to speak in the name of Quakers in Britain.

Further advice on the alternates:
The same the same qualities are needed and appropriate for both nominations: the representative and the alternate.

Various models may be used in nomination: eg the alternate might be an experienced previous representative, who could deputise if needed but always be involved by receiving papers, sharing views, helping with follow-up. 

The use of alternates might best be agreed by the two appointed individuals according to their personal circumstances, but the overall emphasis is for continuity and consistency in regular participation in Meeting for Sufferings. In cases of doubt or difficulty, further advice can be obtained from the Recording Clerk.

Also:

  1. Representatives need to understand and be experienced in our meetings for worship for church affairs.
     
  2. They should be Friends of spiritual maturity, with a good grasp of our testimonies and of our structures.
     
  3. They need to appreciate and be willing to engage in Meeting for Sufferings’ primary function of discernment (Review report 1.4).
     
  4. They need to be able to foster communication between their area meetings and Meeting for Sufferings (Review report 1.6).
     
  5. Area meetings need to consider ways in which they can support and encourage their Meeting for Sufferings representative and alternate, and how they can help them in involving and communicating with local Friends (Review report 1.8).
     
  6. The new Meeting for Sufferings will need Friends who have a degree of confidence in meeting in large meetings for worship for business.  The needs of the (smaller) meeting must focus on its brief of discernment and must allow as much time as possible for this in full plenary business sessions. The representatives in the new Meeting for Sufferings will need to be able to respond well to working together in full session. Time for getting to know each other will be found in break times, over meals and at residentials.  

Representatives on appointment will be given induction and a handbook. Advice to prospective new nominations can be obtained from current and past representatives.

The Review group report was printed in Documents in advance and is available on the Britain Yearly Meeting website at  http://www.quaker.org.uk/ymgprep  See pages 71 onwards.

Quaker faith & practice chapter 7 describes the role and constitution of Meeting for Sufferings.
The Yearly Meeting decision means that some of this is now out of date.

Chapter 7 will be revised in due course to reflect the changes made by Yearly Meeting 2011.
The current Quaker faith & practice sections 7.05 (membership), 7.06 (area meeting representatives), 7.08 (committee representatives) and 7.09 (co-options) will need to be re-written or deleted. Section 7.07 (advice to area meetings) still holds, but may also be revised for a new chapter 7. The functions and operation of Meeting for Sufferings as otherwise described in chapter 7 do not change.

For your reference, the following summaries the new membership:

Meeting for Sufferings now comprises the following: 

  1. about 72 Friends, together with an alternate* for each, appointed by the Yearly Meeting on the     nomination of area meetings, serving for triennial periods from Yearly Meetings 2012, 2015, etc., with service normally limited to six years
     
  2. Friends appointed by the Yearly Meeting on the nomination of certain standing committees appointed by Meeting for Sufferings, being officers or other named representatives, in accordance with the following schedule:
    Quaker Communications Central Committee 1
    Quaker Finance & Property Central Committee 1
    Quaker Life Central Committee 1
    Quaker Peace & Social Witness Central Committee 1
    Quaker Committee for Christian & Interfaith Relations  1 
    Quaker World Relations Committee 1
     
  3. one representative appointed by the Yearly Meeting on the nomination of Young Friends General Meeting, being an officer or another able to speak in its name;
     
  4. one representatives each appointed by the Yearly Meeting on the nomination of General Meeting for Scotland and Meeting for Friends in Wales, subject to review in due course;
     
  5. the clerk and assistant clerk of Meeting for Sufferings, the clerk of Yearly Meeting, the clerk of the Britain Yearly Meeting Trustees, all other Britain Yearly Meeting Trustees, the clerk of the Central Nominations Committee, ex officio;
     
  6. the Recording Clerk, the Assistant Recording Clerk, and all members of the Management Meeting, ex officio.

Meeting for Sufferings is empowered to invite other Friends, committee members or staff members to participate for specific business. 

In case of vacancy by death, release or resignation under a, b, c or d above, the nominating body may forward the name of a Friend to serve for the remainder of the triennial period to Meeting for Sufferings who may make an interim appointment up to the next Yearly Meeting which then can make an appointment to fill the vacancy.

Permission for the attendance of other Friends at a particular meeting may be given at the discretion of the clerk of Meeting for Sufferings

* The term ‘alternate’ as used to describe the additional appointment by each area meeting or other body to Meeting for Sufferings describes another Friend who could alternate in attendance with the first-named Friend in ways in which suits them and the area meeting, or be available to deputise for them if they were unable to attend. Each nominating body will decide which best suits their situation. The area meeting should always have one Friend in attendance. The power in section g, above, can also be used if neither named Friend from an Area Meeting were able to attend.

Meeting for Sufferings Arrangements Group and the Assistant Recording Clerk
8 September 2011

Nominations to Meeting for Sufferings for the triennium Yearly Meeting 2012- Yearly Meeting 2015

Please returm the form by the end of April 2012 or before to Margaret Small, RCO, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ, or email the information to her on margarets@quaker.org.uk

Nominations to Meeting for Sufferings for the triennium Yearly Meeting 2012- 2015 application form (Word Document 50kb - new window)