Midwinter Gathering 2012

Epistle
25th day of the 2nd month, 2012

Grand Rapids Friends Meeting was blessed to receive Quakers from around the state, joining together as Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting. Grand Rapids Friends are presently gathered for our 50th consecutive year of worship. Thanks is given to Georgetown United Methodist Church, Jenison, Michigan, for use of their sanctuary and kitchen.

Philip Baisley, traveling in ministry from Earlham School of Religion, helped Friends to identify our meetings through the lens of family and the importance of our ability to “welcome people home.” Friends explored this identity through the sharing of our views of Quaker meeting with images presented as crest.

Friends were blessed by the presence of Laura Norlin and her spouse Hannah McDermott of Atlanta Friends. Laura shared from her experience of being a birth right Friend and growing into that, through her belonging with Grand Rapids Friends. Especially powerful, was Laura’s memory of being free to explore the meaning of Inward Light, seeking, in the manner of Friends, no strings attached, but for the silver thread that holds us all with love.

We were invited to worship share, with queries, on how our meetings are bringing us to fuller understanding. This opened space for soulful fellowship.

A third presentation by Philip Baisley allowed for Friends to consider what the future of our meetings might look like. Some envisioned new meeting spaces, and some envisioned young members grown to adulthood. New faces, and older faces, and faces that will seemingly not change, were all envisioned as Friends looked ahead in time. The question raised — “what will First Day look like tomorrow, and in 2022.” A future with attention to welcoming was a theme, with meeting houses being open to their communities and newcomers, new doors through which new Friends might enter, and meeting space without walls — only simple circles representing a continuity of presence.

The Mid-Winter Quarterly gathering ended with worship in the manner of Friends.

Submitted by.
Rick Todd Epistle Committee
Kalamazoo Monthly Meeting

Scot Miller Epistle Committee
Grand Rapids Monthly Meeting


Notes taken at GPQM Mid-Winter Gathering (Friday 2/24/12 and Saturday 2/25/12)
(By Walt Marston and Mike Holaday)

Friday evening – Dr. Phil Baisley

Vital Meetings …

1. Know who they are
a. Small meetings (less than 50) are known as “family size” because they act like families; more than anything they’re about family/relationships.
b. Identity is defined by (1) history, (2) core values, (3) uniqueness, (4) a shared sense of the future (“Where are we going?”). OTOH, “it’s never about the pastor.”
2. Celebrate who they are
a. We’re not a bunch of (unconnected) individuals.
b. Vital meetings connect people.
c. Vital meetings see people, not theologies, or categories (“On the news she’s a Muslim but in Meeting, she’s one of us.”)
d. Vital meetings capitalize on the relational nature of small meetings.
e. In general, note that it’s a mistake to assume that a small meeting isn’t a vital one, or a meeting that’s not growing isn’t a vital one. On the contrary, small meetings that take advantage of the unique properties of small meetings can certainly be vital—this was Baisley’s theme in a nutshell.
3. Communicate who they are
4. Ask questions about who they are. Following are the Atlanta Meeting’s “leading questions”:
a. What is the personality of our Meeting?
b. Do we seek to attract people like us, or different from us?
c. What ministries is God leading us to undertake, given our personality?
5. Build on their strengths, and take their weaknesses one at a time
6. Willing to be flexible
a. Willing to stretch their imaginations.
b. Look for the one thing the big churches don’t do.

Family crests. The exercise involved filling in a blank escutcheon with images that reflect the identity of our meeting, hence it was dubbed “a meeting for worship with attention to drawing.” This was done in small groups, by meeting. We did several for GRFM. Let’s pull them together – or re-do exercise together.

• History
• Core Values
• Uniqueness
• Vision of the future
• Evangelism = good news
• Small meetings connect people
• Stories

Example of Williamsburg, Indiana – where Phil Baisley pastors
Book Where The Wind Blows – about vital meetings

Saturday morning: Laura Norlin on growing up in a small meeting

Laura talked about the four main gifts she received as she grew up in the GRFMM:

1. Introspection
2. Listening
3. Centering
4. Integrity

Saturday afternoon: Dr. Phil Baisley on Getting from here to there: 2012 – 2022

We began with a visioning exercise in which we were invited to imagine ourselves walking into Meeting the next morning, the last Sunday in February, 2012:

• What did we notice as we came in?
• Who was there?
• Who wasn’t there?
• Where were people sitting—in their usual places or somewhere else?
• What else?

Then we were invited to imagine ourselves walking into meeting on the last Sunday in February, 2022, and consider the same questions. Afterward we reflected together within Meeting groups on what we had “seen” and what it might suggest about where we think we’re going.

Roadblocks to Change:

1. When who we are becomes the comfortable place we want to stay (place to move from).
2. Quaker process (don’t let it drag you down)
3. Yesterday’s innovators can be roadblocks to new change
4. Change is not permanent (it’s changing)
5. Distrust of another generation coming up
6. Change hurts

• Change Without (too much) Pain: If it comes from God, it’s still going to hurt.
• Choose your changes wisely (look at weaknesses)
• Steps along the Way:
• Articulating and communicating who we are
• Enjoying the change
• Meeting for Worship...

• For drawing
• For timeline
• For visioning
• Get children involved at every step