The Clerk is appointed to take a meeting through its business and to write the minutes. It is the role of the Clerk to put aside their own thoughts and opinions, and instead listen for the sense of the meeting.
Other Quakers often grimace when you mention you’re Area Meeting clerk. “Oh, that must be a lot of work,” they respond, shaking their head. Yes, it is a lot of hard work – but there’s a lot of joy too. Hard work, a joy and a privilege to do.
Really? A Joy and a privilege? Okay, so maybe those aren’t the words we’d use at 5pm on a wet winter Saturday or 9pm on a cold autumn evening and we’ve got a 45-minute drive home with a head full of things to remember and regrets about what we did or didn’t do during item five on the agenda. But ask us when someone sends an email saying they’d like to apply for membership or thanking us for an opportunity that we’ve been able to offer or when the spirit moves a meeting and we get to put that discernment into words – ask us then and we would say it’s a joy and a privilege.
What do we actually do as Area Meeting clerks? Most of our work ebbs and flows in monthly to six-week cycles focused on the next Area Meeting. We develop the agenda and the papers as well as, when needed, liaising with the other people involved in making the meeting happen, whether they’re speaking to an item or preparing the food. We’re there on the day to clerk – the part of the role that people are usually most familiar with – then afterwards ensure the minutes go where they need to go and that any follow-up action happens as it needs to.
We also look at the cycle of Area Meetings more broadly, planning for the year ahead and remaining mindful of what needs to happen and when. When will each branch report? What are the topics we’ve been asked to consider? What’s coming in from Local Meetings and Yearly Meeting? What do we need to go back to again? What might be coming down the line in a month or a year? At the same time, we try to stay responsive. What is happening in the world around us that needs holding in the light? What are the issues within our Quaker communities that need space for consideration?
Throughout the month, we do a lot of signposting: pointing people towards the resources they need or the right people to speak to about an issue. We maintain links with different parts of the Area Meeting, from Trustees to Outreach and Communications Committee. There can be a lot to take in, but you also gain a much firmer grip on how Quaker processes work (as well as being even more convinced that they can be simplified!).
In all of this and more, we are supported by our wonderful office support worker, Helen. The practical work that she does for the Area Meeting, day in, day out, means our role as clerks can remain rooted in the spiritual and not be totally consumed by the admin involved in such a large and diverse organisation as Central England Quakers. We can focus on holding space for our faith and practice – and when you hear first the hubbub of conversation over food followed then by the peace as Area Meeting for Worship for Business begins, you know that it is a joy and a privilege to be a part of it.