1	Outward Witness of Our Beliefs Through Service Newtown Friends Meeting – October 28, 2007 Martin Ogletree and Susan Hoskins
2	There are so many concerns and needs in the world around us It can feel compelling or overwhelming Many leadings and concerns have been brought before the Meeting Many people are involved in individual witness
3	We sense that we need to explore Witnessing our beliefs as a community, and Developing a process to guide discernment
4	What is the Meeting’s role in supporting an individual with a leading or becoming involved as a community? What is a Leading? How have Friends supported leadings in the past? What are some recent examples of Newtown Meeting’s involvement in community service?
5	What forms of support might the Meeting community offer? Clearness Committee for discernment Standing Committee / Monthly Meeting input Ad Hoc Committee for planning Group involvement in working on project Financial support or channel for donations Official minute of Monthly Meeting support Official traveling minute from Monthly Meeting
6	What limits constrain the Meeting’s response? Tax exempt status as a religious organization Not a political organization Limited term as channel for financial support Will require time of Controller and/or Treasurer Budgetary constraints limit direct support Limited uses of facilities and grounds Requires thorough planning and coordination Protection from any liability Insurance may need to be purchased Time required for Quaker process
7	These examples illustrate the kinds of questions that get raised about our relationship with service Where do the ideas come from? How do they get presented to the Meeting? Is there a spiritual component underlying the service? How are proposals evaluated by the Meeting? What is being asked of the Meeting?
8	Some Queries As Friends, do we have more of an obligation to certain forms of service? Do Quakers have unique responsibilities to provide leadership in Friends’ institutions? Does our unique Quaker perspective obligate us to provide leadership in the areas of our testimonies (SPICES)?
9	We feel it is timely to seek a sense of the Meeting about our relationship to service as a witness of our beliefs, and to develop a corporate process for discernment and action.
10	We feel that undertaking this journey together will be rewarding and will strengthen our community. We also know that raising such an issue up for Divine guidance can bring us to a new understanding that will be closer to the Truth, which none of us can envision at this starting point.
11	We need to actively listen to one another, respond respectfully / tenderly, and trust the process of letting the Spirit work among and through us.
12	A threshing session is an opportunity for Friends to explore a question, or questions, as a community. It is an opportunity for a wide range of sharing from many members of the community. A threshing session does not seek a fast decision. It is free from a goal orientation. We seek clarity, a sense of the community. It is an opportunity for the wonder of Quaker process to take place, where the sense of the community becomes clear and the community is strengthened and moved forward by both the process and the direction that is discerned. The truly wondrous part of being involved in seeking as a community in this way is discovering how the end result is far greater than any one of us envisioned at the start, and feels right to all. It is important to listen to each other actively, tenderly and fully.
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