At Oxford Meeting we have many and various committees who are responsible for different aspects of the life of our meeting. Each group reports to the business meeting usually once a year about their work and activity.
In a large meeting clear communication can be difficult. Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s going on, especially if you don’t attend business meeting. It’s also important for the office team to know what the meeting is dealing with, and to share as widely as possible what’s happening around the buildings and garden.
Trying to help with communication in a fragmented time, a couple of years ago we organised a monthly Zoom meeting for a representative of each group in Oxford Meeting to attend and share what their concerns, joys, and issues might be. We formed a Communicating Group. This is not a formally appointed group, each group or committee is encouraged to send a different person each time, who is then asked to report back and share anything that was raised within their own group/committee.
We meet on the Monday preceding a Sunday business meeting (which normally means the last Monday of a month) between 17:30 and 19:00, (though we try to finish in an hour). This gives our Clerks of the Meeting, who prepare the agenda for the following Sunday’s business meeting, a chance to hear from all corners of the meeting.
No decisions are made in the Communicating Group. That is the role and place of business meeting in the way we work. No minutes are taken, quite deliberately. This is an open conversation — a chance to listen, ask questions, share, and explore ideas together. There’s often humour and mutual support for those serving the meeting and I hope it’s an enjoyable gathering for all. We do produce short notes about what was raised; these are meant to serve as aides-mémoire for those reporting back to their group or committee. Why not ask in your group/committee who goes to the coordinating meeting, and ask if you can come along?
Our next meeting will be on 26 September at 17:30 on the Afterword Zoom, and we’d like to extend an invitation to all who’d like to come along and hear for yourselves about – What’s going on!
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Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 521 • September 2022
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW
Copyright 2022, Oxford Quakers