Discernment — personal and corporate — do we have to bring God into this?
- What are the “rules”?
- Why not vote?
- Why read back the minutes during the same meeting for business in worship as decisions are made?
- How do we deal with disagreements, conflict?
Resources
-
Spiritual Responsibility in the Meeting for Business, a short article by Patricia Loring (1992)
- Frequently asked Questions about the individual’s part in group discernment, excerpted from Practicing Discernment Together: Finding God’s Way Forward in Decision Making, Lon Fendall, Jan Wood, & Bruce Bishop. Newberg, OR: Barclay Press (2007).
- Glossary of Terms, excerpted from Practicing Discernment Together: Finding God’s Way Forward in Decision Making, Lon Fendall, Jan Wood, & Bruce Bishop. Newberg, OR: Barclay Press (2007).
Further Reading (available in the Meeting library)
- Barry Morley, “Beyond Consensus: Salvaging sense of the meeting,” Pendle Hill Pamphlet #307 (1993).
- Micheal Sheeran, Voteless decisions in the Religious Society of Friends, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (1983).
- Patricia Loring, Listening Spirituality, Vol.2: Corporate spiritual practice among Friends, Washington, DC: Openings Press, 1999.
- Michael Birkel, “The Mind of Christ: Bill Taber on Meeting for Business,” Pendle Hill Pamphlet #406 (2010)
Videos on the Quaker Discernment (short)