The Visionng Group
“There was a realization that the very unnamable and experiential mystery of Meeting for Worship holds us together and from this flows the love, community, and service which sustain us.” (FMC Epistle 2010)
We were fortunate, at the beginning of the pandemic, to have Zoom already available, so no Sunday worship was missed. When we opened the meeting house that summer we began having hybrid worship. We have worked hard to make it the best possible experience. Some feel that all events should be hybrid to include those who cannot come in person, that to do otherwise is not inclusive. This has been the goal for four years, but we have never discerned this goal as a community. We learned that there are also Friends who find it difficult to worship with the technology. Some have stopped coming to worship.
In January 2023, Ministry and Counsel formed the Visioning Group to explore with the community how to meet this challenge. The focus of the group is to meet as best we can members’ desire to have meaningful worship experiences. It is now composed of a variety of Friends from our community–some who attend on Zoom and others who attend on site. Current members are Walker Bristol, George Campbell, George Capaccio, Susan Davies, David Doms, Cynthia Knowles, Afroze Mohammed, Michael Shanahan, Sandy Sweetnam. We planned a process like that addressing the masking/COVID issues. There were three Listening sessions. We then developed this survey so that we could reach as
many as possible, knowing that many do not speak in groups and worry about expressing what they perceive to be unpopular opinions. We are experimenting with various combinations which might occur once a month, with hybrid on other Sundays. We hope to bring a proposal for discernment by Meeting for Worship for Business which will provide options for all to feel “the experiential mystery of meeting for worship”. What is God asking of us?
Click here for a Summary of the Visioning Survey.
Click here for a recording of the Visioning Survey Summary
