2020 Guidance for clerks: Holding online Meetings for Worship for Business
2020 Guidance for clerks: Holding online Meetings for Worship for Business / Meetings for Church Affairs
Like Meeting for Worship, Meeting for Worship for Business is a fundamental part of Quaker life. In An Introduction to Quaker Business Practice Eden Grace writes that ‘To ask a Quaker to describe the Meeting for Business is to ask for a testimony of the core of our faith.’
In Meeting for Worship for Business Quakers make Spirit-led decisions. The decision-making process is a way of seeking unity but it is not consensus – it does not require everybody to agree. In Beyond Consensus Salvaging Sense of the Meeting Barry Morley wrote that ‘Sense of the meeting is a gift. It came to the Quakers through their commitment to continuing revelation. They discovered that the Light which had come to teach the people could lead them to revealed corporate decisions. The Quakers cherished the gift. They handed it down as a spiritual heirloom from generation to generation, even as the Jews hand down their covenant with God.’
Within EMES, the Executive Committee has held some of its Meetings for Worship for Business online for several years. Governing bodies of organisations within the Section such as the Quaker Council for European Affairs and the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva also do this.
Although some people are used to this practice, the number of people participating is usually relatively small. However, with the pressing need to combat climate breakdown by limiting our travel, as well as restrictions enforced by governments during pandemic lockdowns, larger gatherings are moving online.
This was the case for the EMES annual meeting, which took place online on 1 and 2 May 2020. Over 60 people participated in each of the Meetings for Worship for Business. Below are a list of resources that Friends may find useful when preparing for their own Meeting for Worship for Business online. They come from EMES, Woodbrooke – the Quaker Study Centre and FWCC Section of the Americas.
https://fwccamericas.org/_wp/2020/05/08/planning-online-annual-sessions/
https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Tips-for-clerking-meetings-online.pdf
https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/about/online-mfw/setting-up-mfw/
