To Monthly Meeting Clerks, Ministry & Counsel Clerks, Representatives
to New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM) Ministry & Counsel, and all interested Friends,

 

Dear Friends across New England,

We are all seekers of Truth, each in our own way, on our own paths. Every monthly meeting takes on its own character, a product of the beliefs and paths taken by its members. And this is good, and as it should be. But let us not forget that we can learn from our neighbors and that our neighbors can learn from us.

Go forth!

Through our presence, our words, our leadership, we can help one another along the path to knowledge of God and God’s desires for us. The Traveling Ministries and Intervisitation Program (TMIP) Committee encourages all members and attenders of meetings in New England to visit other meetings as opportunity arises or as the Spirit leads.

TMIP also wishes to support the life of our local and wider communities by sending forth Friends who have a particular gift or experience to share. The lists enclosed with this packet present the names of those who have expressed interest in traveling within the Yearly Meeting. Many have workshops prepared, which they can present at your meeting, while others have an area of knowledge that they can bring to bear on an issue of concern. Others rejoice in the chance to share worship with Friends in different settings.

If your meeting has an area of concern that does not appear to be represented on this list, please contact Jonathan Vogel-Borne, NEYM Field Secretary at the NEYM Office, 901 Pleasant St, Worcester, MA 01602, fieldsec@neym.org, 617/354-3808 or 508/754-6760 (Tuesdays), as we expect other Friends to be added to the list as time goes on. If you are aware of Friends who have gifts to share, we encourage you to speak to them and to contact us with the recommendation.

Please review the list and make it available to others in your meeting. Remember that funds are available from the Yearly Meeting to provide honoraria and traveling expenses, if that is helpful. If you have not yet brought this opportunity to the attention of your meeting or you would like to schedule another visit, please:

1.        Set possible dates to invite traveling Friends to your meeting. Contact Jonathan Vogel-Borne at the NEYM Office, 901 Pleasant St, Worcester, MA 01602, fieldsec@neym.org, 617/354-3808 or 508/754-6760 (Tuesdays), to arrange for a visit. Feel free to suggest individual Friends within the YM who might be asked to visit (see list of names and topics in the enclosesd packet). In planning for a specific type of visit, you may request any or all of the following:

a)       A simple visit: Friends would be invited to attend your meeting for worship and perhaps gather with you informally afterward.

b)      A workshop, retreat or adult First Day School: You may wish to host a workshop, retreat, adult First Day School, or quarterly meeting program on a topic of your choosing. See list of names and topics in the enclosesd packet.

d)       Young Friends or First Day School Class visit: School-aged Friends in your meeting might want to host a visit of similar aged Friends from another meeting.

e)       Spiritual support: Perhaps your meeting would like to invite specific Friends from outside your meeting to sit with you in prayer. These Friends could be asked to consider the spiritual health/strength of your meeting, to listen to your process in dealing with conflicts, or to facilitate a session or two on what call God might have for your meeting.

2.       Ask your meeting to recommend names of Friends who could be asked to travel on behalf of this program. Friends traveling under this program should be firmly grounded in their local meeting and include:

•         Those who serve on NEYM Ministry & Counsel;

•         Those who have given a workshop in a Quaker setting (i.e., NEYM, FGC, Pendle Hill, etc.);

•         Those Friends who, through a clearness process, are recommended by their local meeting.

 

We hope that in visiting with one another we will learn to cherish our diversity, challenge each other to greater spiritual growth, and advance, step by step, in the direction of that perfect state known as gospel order.

 

—In the Light,

 

Tom Antonik, Beth Gorton, Rebecca Leuchak, Bruce Neumann (clerk), Cornelia Parkes,
Gail Thomas, Jonathan Vogel-Borne

The TMIP Subcommittee of NEYM Ministry & Counsel

 

 

Packet Contents:    

—Workshop Offerings from the NEYM Traveling Ministries and Intervisitation Program

—Gifts, Skills & Offerings of Visiting Friends

—Workshop Categories