Notable Minutes, Process and Policies

Sandy Spring’s Approval of Patapsco as a Preparative Meeting

On 1/3/1999, Sandy Spring Friends Meeting approved recognition of Patapsco Friends Meeting and Seneca Valley Friends Meeting as Preparative Meetings under its care.  In so doing, it approved the following statement of understanding, which was developed by an ad hoc committee with representatives from each Meeting.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SANDY SPRING MONTHLY MEETING AND ITS PREPARATIVE MEETINGS

The period of time spent as a Preparative Meeting is seen as the time for this new group to learn to work together, in the manner of Friends, and to establish the committees and procedures that will allow it to function in good order as an independent Monthly Meeting. It is the role of the parent Monthly Meeting to support, nurture, and work with the Preparative Meeting in setting up suitable infrastructure and learning to use it effectively. To this end persons and groups in the Monthly Meeting should be concerned to demonstrate and teach good Quaker practice as they work with the members of the Preparative Meeting community on the various aspects of establishing and maintaining a viable and vibrant meeting community. We understand that the relationship between the Monthly Meeting and its Preparative Meeting(s) is not static and should be expected to change.

Since the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice describes (pp. 86-87) the role of the Monthly Meeting in handling of membership requests, marriages under the care of the Meeting, and finances involving the Preparative Meeting(s), these items are addressed in some detail below. The nurture and support aspects of Overseers concerns and the family relations aspects of the Marriage and Family Relations Committee as well as the areas of general concern and overlapping work of other committees should be considered within the following guidelines:

a. Each Preparative Meeting committee should name one of its members to receive minutes of the related Monthly Meeting committee, share items of concern with the rest of the Preparative Meeting community, and bring concerns of the Preparative Meeting to the Monthly Meeting committee.

b. Each Monthly Meeting committee should name one of its members to receive minutes of the related Preparative Meeting committee and facilitate interactions, joint activities, nurture and support of the Preparative Meeting committee as appropriate.

c. Concerns arising in the Preparative Meeting should be considered by its meeting for business or the relevant Monthly Meeting committee before coming to the Monthly Meetings meeting for business.

Membership

The purposes of joint committee work on memberships and marriage requests include providing the Monthly Meeting with adequate information for consideration of the request; joint interviews to provide a reasonable blend of persons with knowledge of the individuals involved and of the processes; and participation by both the Preparative Meeting and the Monthly Meeting in considering the request.

a. Members of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting of Friends who worship with the Preparative Meeting will retain their membership in the Monthly Meeting until the Preparative Meeting is established as an independent Monthly Meeting.

b. Persons who worship with the Preparative Meeting who desire membership in the Religious Society of Friends should apply for membership in Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting. The person desiring membership would write to the Clerk of the Preparative Meeting of their desire to become a member. The Preparative Meeting’s Ministry and Oversight Committee would receive the request, share it with the Monthly Meeting Overseers, and make arrangements for an interview of the applicant at a time and place convenient to all. It is understood that the interview process will include members of both the Preparative and Monthly Meeting Committees and that more than one interview will at times be desirable.

Upon completion of the interview process, a report will be made to the Preparative Meeting’s meeting for business by their Ministry and Oversight Committee. If the Committee recommends approval of the membership request and the Preparative Meeting concurs, the Preparative Meeting will forward the report and the approval to the Monthly Meeting Overseers for their consideration. Overseers will consider the reports and information from their members of the interviewing group. If they concur in the recommendation for membership, the request will be brought to the Monthly Meeting’s meeting for business for the customary first and second readings and approval of the membership. Members of the Welcome and Nurture Committee will be recommended by the Ministry and Oversight Committee of the Preparative Meeting and will include Friends from the Preparative Meeting and the wider Monthly Meeting as appropriate.

As with any membership request that needs more seasoning, the Preparative Meeting Ministry and Oversight Committee, the Preparative Meeting’s meeting for business, or the Monthly Meeting’s Overseers may suggest further meetings for clearness before the membership request moves forward. Care shall be taken to see that a spirit of love and understanding accompany this process.

c. Persons who worship with the Preparative Meeting(s), who are now members of other Friends Meetings, may request transfer of their membership to Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting. Transfers of membership follow the same process as requests for membership, except that the interview is usually less formal, and transfers do not lie over for a second reading in the Monthly Meeting’s meeting for business.

Marriage

a. Weddings are held under the care of the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting. Members or non-members of the Society may marry under the care of the Monthly Meeting, if their request for marriage has been approved by the Meeting. Persons who worship with the Preparative Meeting and wish to be married under the care of the Meeting should request approval from months in advance of the proposed wedding date. The request should be in writing, signed by both persons intending to marry, and indicate that they have considered the questions in Appendix F-l of Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice.

b. The procedures for consideration of marriage undriage under the care of the Monthly Meeting from persons in the Preparative Meeting will follow the same principles as those for a membership request. The request is directed to the Preparative Meeting Clerk. The Preparative Meeting Ministry and Oversight Committee will work with the Monthly Meeting Marriage and Family Relations Committee to set up a group for the clearness process which includes members of both the Preparative Meeting and the Monthly Meeting Committees. When this process, or series of interviews, is successfully completed, the request will be considered by the Preparative Meeting Ministry and Oversight Committee, the Preparative Meeting’s meeting for business, the Monthly Meeting Marriage and Family Relations Committee and then come to the Monthly Meeting’s meeting for business for the customary first and second readings and approval. The marriage oversight committee will include members from both the Preparative and Monthly Meetings.

Financial Arrangements

The worship groups appreciate the willingness of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting to underwrite their basic expenses from the Monthly Meeting reserves as the need arises. They hope this promise will continue when they become Preparative Meetings. The following paragraphs set out guidelines for the financial arrangements under which the Preparative Meetings will operate at first. We see the main areas of concern as the sharing of records and and information and integrating the Preparative Meeting budget process into the Monthly Meeting process. We recognize that as a Preparative Meeting matures, it will become ready for a separate checking account and an Assistant Treasurer for that Preparative Meeting. Process and details for these matters can be worked out by the Preparative Meeting and Monthly Meeting Finance Committees when they are needed.

As a worship group Howard County has no finance committee, and Seneca Valley has a very small committee. Each group has had a person serving some of the record keeping and informational functions of a treasurer. So as to allow each group to choose the structure that will best serve its evolving needs, this document will simply refer to the “Finance Person(s)” for the Preparative Meeting to include a treasurer, finance committee, or whatever small group the Preparative Meeting sets up to oversee its financial affairs and to be the point of contact with the Treasurers and Finance Committee of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting. The Preparative Meeting will determine the process it will use for authorization of payments from its funds, and the Clerk of the Preparative Meeting will inform the Monthly Meeting Treasurers in writing. The Finance Person(s) for the Preparative Meeting will receive information from the Monthly Meeting Treasurers and Finance Committee and will be the one(s) to sign vouchers authorizing payments by the Monthly Meeeting Treasurer for expenses of the Preparative Meeting.

Record keeping and Information Sharing

Information on income and the portion from donations received each month would be helpful for the Preparative Meetings. We have worked with the Treasurers and Finance Committee of the Monthly Meeting and the Preparative Meetings on ways to provide more information without undue burden on the Meeting Treasurers.

The Monthly Meeting Treasurers and Finance Committee will try to track and will work with the Preparative Meetings to identify what expenses the Monthly Meeting is incurring on the Preparative Meeting’s behalf. Preparative Meetings would budget these costs and pay for them as they are able. A Preparative Meeting may include in its own budget contributions to specific outside organizations.

Separate record keeping by the Preparative Meeting Finance Person(s) may be helpful so the Preparative Meeting can have more detailed records of income and expenses than the Monthly Meeting Treasurer maintains. These records should be reconciled periodically. A thorough review should also be done at the time the Preparative Meeting becomes a separate Monthly Meeting.

Budget

Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting’s budget year is the calendar year. The Treasurers of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting will provide the Preparative Meeting with a six-month statement of income and expenses in July so the Prehe Preparative Meeting can use this information in preparing their budget. The annual operating budget of the Preparative Meeting should be approved by the Preparative Meeting in their meeting for business in time to forward it to the Monthly Meeting Finance Committee by the second Sunday in October for inclusion in the Monthly Meeting Budget. The proposed budget is presented to the Monthly Meeting for Business in November and brought back in December for approval.

Members of the Preparative Meeting need to participate in the Monthly Meeting budget process. A representative is encouraged to attend the budget development sessions of the Monthly Meeting Finance Committee. The Monthly Meeting Budget should be considered at the Preparative Meeting’s business meeting. Preparative Meeting members are encouraged to participate in the Monthly Meeting’s budget considerations during the November and December Meetings for Business.

Additional Items of Concern

The Preparative Meeting needs to let the Monthly Meeting Trustees know about appropriate insurance for any rented facilities and/or any real or personal property which should be covered under the Monthly Meeting insurance.

A Preparative Meeting can request that the Monthly Meeting establish a special fund for a particular purpose, following the process Monthly Meeting committees use. (A “Minute to Establish the Fund” is brought to the Monthly Meeting’s meetieeting for business, usually after consultation with the Finance Committee and the Trustees. This minute states the purpose and duration of the fund, who is in charge of it and who is authorized to request payments from the fund, how money in the fund will be handled when the fund is no longer needed, and whether the fund should have earnings of the Monthly Meeting’s investments allocated to it.)

Committees, Process and Policies

The Work of our Meeting, 1998

THE WORK OF OUR MEETING

(as approved by the Meeting for Business, 1 November 1998)

ACTIVITY

HOW ORGANIZED/HANDLED
Lead the affairs of the meeting Clerk/Assistant clerk
Manage financial affairs Treasurer
Take notes/publish Business Meeting minutes; maintain Meeting records Recording clerk
Publish a newsletter for members/attenders (making sure to send to new comers) Recording clerk – For now, minutes sent out by will serve as newsletter.
Working with Sandy Spring Friends Meeting on Preparatory Meeting status Ad hoc committee – sunset once decision is made by SSFM on preparatory meeting status
Point of contact with Mt. Hebron Mt. Hebron coordinator
Facilitating discussion groups Ad hoc committee of participants
Facilitating meetings for healing Ad hoc committee of participants
Prepare directory Directory editor
Maintain name tags Oversight by directory editor
Maintain records of who holds keys to Mt. Hebron house Directory editor
Order pamphlets and related supplies for new attenders Directory editor
Follow-up with new comers (e.g., send a note or make a phone call Directory editor
Coordinate simple meal, maintain meal supplies Hospitality coordinators – sign-up sheet, written procedures
Maintain/develop a Meeting library Library Coordinator
Oversee the spiritual health of the meeting, including annual state of the meeting message M&O
Visiting/caring for ill members/attenders M&O
Interviewing persons who apply for membership or marriage M&O
Facilitate formation of clearness committees as requested by members/attenders M&O
Planning social activities M&O, individual initiative, sign-up sheets
Open/set up/clean/close meeting M&O, sign-up sheet, written procedures
Greeting visitors M&O, sign-up sheet, written procedures
Nominate members/attenders to committees and functions Nominating Committee
Providing for young children’s religious education RE Committee
Providing for mid-elementary through junior high age childrens’ religious education RE Committee
Providing for teen religious education RE Committee
Providing for adult education Ad hoc/as requested of RE Committee
Promote peace and social justice To be handled during business meeting – committee of the whole.
Outreach to other Friends meetings and organizations, facilitate visitation by Friends from other meetings to our meeting (i.e., Friends traveling under a concern or visiting for the day) Item to be prepared by Susan and John for discussion at business meeting
Reach out to inform local community of our existence and beliefs, including Seeker Sessions, notices in paper and phone directory, web site, etc. Item to be prepared by Susan and John for discussion at business meeting
Planning for becoming a full meeting Needs to be a business meeting agenda item
Minutes-Peace, Peace and Social Concerns

Testimony on Land Mines (2/17/1998)

Friends Worship Group of Howard County
(Under the care of Sandy Spring Friends Monthly Meeting)

Mt. Hebron House, 2331 Mt. Hebron Drive, Ellicott City, MD
Clerk: Susan Rose • 5455 Wingborne Court • Columbia MD 21045
410 730-2230 • [email protected]

February 17, 1998

Testimony before the Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee
Senate Joint Resolution 3
International Ban on Antipersonnel Land Mines

POSITION: SUPPORT Senate Joint Resolution 3

I thank the Chair and Members of the Committee for this opportunity to testify before you today. My name is Jan Schmidt, and I am co-clerk of the Peace and Social Justice Committee of the Friends Worship Group of Howard County of the Religious Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers.

From its beginning the Society of Friends has held that preparation for war and the use of its instruments are contrary to the life and spirit of Christ. For 350 years Quakers have given their active support to efforts that substisupport to efforts that substitute cooperation and justice for force.

In this spirit, our Friends Meeting strongly supports international efforts to ban the manufacture, stockpiling, transfer, sale, and use of antipersonnel land mines. We know that antipersonnel landmines kill and maim thousands of men, women and children each year. Many of these land mines were deployed in wars long over and yet today, as we sit here, innocent civilian lives will be destroyed in any or all of the 64 or more nations where unmarked landmines are hidden.

In addition to the death or maiming of innocents, landmines create economic havoc on these developing nations. Farmers cannot safely plant crops, refugees are stranded in unfamiliar places, hospitals are unable to afford adequate care for the victims, and the cost required to clear the landmines add untenable economic burdens on these struggling economies.

For more than 25 years, the United States has been a major manufacturer and exporter of antipersonnel landmines. The United States economy is strong. It does not need to continue the production of antipersonnel land mines to maintain a strong economy. While we produce and export these weapons, we spend millions of taxpayer dollars on removing landmines and providing aid to victims of these terrible weapons in nations around the world.

Where is the United States leadership now? Nations across the world joined hands in Ottawa to take action to negotiate gotiate a ban on the production, exportation and use of antipersonnel land mines and the United States was not and is not now a full participant in this urgent activity. We pray that the United States government will take an active leadership role in the Ottawa Process and, without conditions, will join these other nations to end the manufacture, stockpiling, sale and use of all antipersonnel landmines.

We commend the sponsors of SJR 3 for this resolution and strongly urge a favorable report from the committee.

Patapsco

Spiritual State of the Meeting Report, 1997

REPORT ON SPIRITUAL STATE OF
HOWARD COUNTY FRIENDS WORSHIP GROUP
December 1997

In 1997, the Group grew in the Light. Outward signs of this growth included meeting in Mt. Hebron House, a new home; establishing First Day School sessions for very young children, pre-schoolers, and a teen; starting a library; holding two series of Seeker sessions; initiating a monthly adult education program; cultivating berries to raise funds; holding a threshing session on outward witness; doing outreach and outward witness as individuals and in small groups; and successfully ending the first year’s committee terms and appointing persons to new committees and roles. In the fall of 1997 the group experienced a deepening of its spiritual community as it searched for and found unity around its decision to apply for status as a preparative meeting.

Meetings for worship continue to attract up to 20 adults, and as many as 12 children attend First Day School. The messages in Meeting frequently touch on the joy of worship. Moving business meeting from the morning hour before meeting for worship to a less constrained evening hour allows Friends more time to hold matters in the Light. Business meetings are well attended; although, no one time seems feasible for every member of the community.

As it looks forward to becoming the Patapsco Preparative Friends Meeting, the Group faces several challenges. These include sustaining the spiritual life of the Meeting; developing and refining business processes; and developing a vision for outward witness.

Approved at Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, February 1, 1998