Simple sharing of worship with Friends from other meetings nurtures our knowledge and understanding of each other and helps build a culture of informed charity, ready interest, unity, and faithfulness. The NEYM Ministry & Counsel (M&C) Subcommittee on Intervisitation and Travel in the Ministry has undertaken a five-year plan to encourage this kind of visit. Already, more than a dozen Friends have agreed to participate.
How to participate: Contact the committee. Volunteers will be asked to make three visits during the ensuing year, attending worship in meetings not their own. We will suggest one visit nearby, one perhaps an hour or so away, and one at some distance. We can help with contact information, and if you wish to substitute different meetings, that's great. Visitors will be asked to report after each visit, using a simple form provided by the Subcommittee; they are encouraged as well to report briefly to their own meeting and M&C. These reports will enable us all to track which meetings are being visited, and identify ways of improving our process. Our committee will report to Yearly Meeting Ministry & Counsel at least once a year.
The result will be several hundred visits of friendship each year, and we hope that this program will get more Friends accustomed to visiting their Friends near and far within the Yearly Meeting. We believe that such simple visits, offering the gifts of presence and acquaintance, will be very nourishing to the life of our meetings.
For more information, contact: Brian Drayton, clerk, brian_drayton@terc.edu, or the other members of the committee (contact info in minute book): Rebecca Leuchak, Beth Gorton, Clifford Harrison, and Debbie Humphries.
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updated November 28, 2011