CMM 2007-01-14

Minutes of Meeting for Worship for Business

Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

1st Month 14, 2007

(As revised 2/11/07)

Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting gathered in a regularly called Meeting for Worship for Business at the Merrimack Valley Day Care Center in Concord, NH.  Friends present were Lois Booth, Don Booth, Ruth Heath (treasurer), Rich Kleinschmidt (recording clerk), Zane Knoy, Jay Smith, Sara Smith (clerk), Kathy Urie

The meeting was opened by the clerk with a period of worshipful silence.

1.1  Minutes.  The minutes from 2006 12th Month were revised and approved.

1.2  Committee on Ministry and Counsel.  The Committee on Ministry and Counsel was once very focused, but recently has had difficulties.  In November [2006.11.3], they recommended that the committee be laid down and that functions previously delegated to the committee be handled by the Meeting as a whole.  The Nominating Committee was asked to investigate and prayerfully prepare a recommendation.  That report was ready last month but held over for today [2006.12.5].

Following the Nominating Committee report, we focused on how we should respond to this situation that was in many ways disheartening.  We learned that the committee felt drained by loss of members and by requests for pastoral care.  While we saw that the responsibilities of old committee had become a drain on the limited resources available, we were reluctant to abandon the dream of a committee that would serve as a source of energy and spirit for the Meeting.

We decided to form a Committee on Care of the Meeting.  They will start with an open meeting and will have no assigned tasks.  We hope that the group will find inspiration to help us respond to the challenges that our Meeting faces.

The meeting ended with a period of worshipful silence, purposing to meet again on the second First Day of Second Month or at the call of the clerk.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Richard Kleinschmidt, Recording Clerk

Accepted as the approved record when signed,

/s/ Sara Smith, Clerk