Britain Yearly Meeting Trustee Ellie Harding invites Quakers in Central England to engage with national work looking at Simplifying Structures.

The pandemic has changed how we build communities, work together and spiritually connect with others. Local and area meetings have been thinking about how to simplify their roles so that more energy can be released back into the life and community of our meetings and our witness in the world.

Britain Yearly Meeting’s trustees have been considering about how we can do the same through simplifying our central governance. We have been encouraged by Meeting for Sufferings to ‘take a radical approach to our structures [and not be] constrained by the historical development of different bodies’ (MfS 20/12/08).

Britain Yearly Meeting is currently governed by 500 committee roles drawn from around 13,000 members. This structure is heavy on staff time, as well the time of those who volunteer. Many Friends would like to contribute, but find the time commitment daunting. Others simply don’t enjoy committee work. So it’s important to find other ways for more people to be involved. We want to make the best use of all our leadings, talents, interests and time.

Come to a workshop!

Carolyn and Ellie, two of the Yearly Meeting Trustees, are leading workshops to explore how Friends from across the yearly meeting want to help shape the future of our work. The workshops will be lively and interactive.

There is a specific West Midlands event on November 15th, but people are welcome to join whichever suits them best, and there are a number of ‘All Friends’ meetings too. Additionally, we have tried to make one a Young Friends meeting. You can view all of the available dates and times on the first page of the booking form.